Xerium Completes Renovation Program at 4 Machine Clothing Plants, Further Optimizing Global Footprint, Cost Structure & Lead ...
October 22 2015 - 4:15PM
Business Wire
Xerium Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:XRM), a leading global provider
of industrial consumable products and services, has announced that
it has completed the renovation program at four machine clothing
plants that took over two years to design, construct, equip and
commission. The Company is aggressively pursuing growth in its
popular products, growing grades and regions that are outpacing
global industry growth. This global renovation program, involving
facilities in North America, South America, Europe and Asia
reconfigures its 10-plant machine clothing footprint to serve its
customers more effectively with better lead times and global
availability of its innovative and rapidly-growing portfolio of
patented technology. Key highlights of these projects:
This Smart News Release features multimedia.
View the full release here:
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20151022005796/en/
Huycon 2.0 Forming Belt for Nonwoven
Fabric Machines (Photo: Business Wire)
North America – the expansion of
the Kentville, Canada forming fabric plant to manufacture woven
dryer fabrics in North America for the first time in over a decade.
The expansion transitions Xerium from a position of being
competitively disadvantaged in dryer fabrics to improved
responsiveness to customer quality and delivery expectations. The
existing sales force can now leverage relationships in
complementary products to accelerate penetration in this currently
underserved market. The commissioning of this newly expanded
facility and the installed assets was completed in Q3 2015.
South America – the renovation and
expansion of the Piracicaba, Brazil plant to manufacture spiral
dryer fabrics. Xerium previously manufactured spiral dryer fabrics
at its smaller and higher cost Argentina plant. Upon closure of
this facility, Xerium made the strategic decision to purchase all
new production equipment and modernize its product technology. This
initiative, the largest of the four, will enable Xerium to offer
both higher quality products and shorter lead times, while
operating under a significantly more advantageous cost structure
and was fully operational in Q3 2015.
Europe – the expansion of the
Gloggnitz, Austria plant to produce belts and fabrics for nonwoven
fabrics machines. Xerium has installed special-purpose machines,
which will more than double its global capacity for its nonwoven
products portfolio. Concurrent with this expansion, Xerium enhanced
its product technology to deliver higher levels of performance on
the most modern nonwoven production lines and will provide global
support for a variety of product types from this site. This
expansion further leverages one of Xerium’s most cost competitive
and high quality facilities. The expansion is on schedule to reach
its full production rate capability by year-end 2015.
Asia – the expansion of the Asahi,
Japan plant to produce Xerium’s most advanced forming fabrics for
containerboard machines. Xerium has historically manufactured
machine clothing for large containerboard machines in its European
plants and shipped them to Asia. This investment enables Xerium to
serve the Japanese and the entire Asian markets locally with
shorter lead times, significantly lower shipping costs to the
customer while delivering Xerium’s most modern product portfolio.
The commissioning is underway and remains on schedule to reach its
full production rate capability by year-end 2015.
Mr. Harold Bevis, President and CEO of Xerium, commented
regarding these business transformation projects; “Xerium is
committed to quantifiably increasing profits of its customers.
These investments enable Xerium to strengthen our partnerships by
being closer to its customers with transformative innovation,
on-site product experts, and in-region short lead times. The pace
of technical breakthrough requests from our customers continues to
quicken. We must have shorter product life cycles and faster supply
chains to compete and win. Our products and services make a
difference for owners of sophisticated large machines, and these
machines are dispersed globally. We are very optimistic that these
machine clothing programs will be another successful step in our
transformation to deliver better financial and operational results
and continue to improve our growing stature of supplier of choice
in the most attractive regional markets. We do not expect to
achieve sales growth by waiting for, and then riding, a global GDP
growth cycle. With uncertain global economic conditions, we are
strategically deploying our people, innovation, and know-how into
expected growth regions.”
ABOUT XERIUM
Xerium Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:XRM) is a leading global
provider of industrial consumable products and
services. Xerium, which operates around the world under a
variety of brand names, utilizes a broad portfolio of patented and
proprietary technologies to provide customers with tailored
solutions and products integral to production, all designed to
optimize performance and reduce operational costs. With 27
manufacturing facilities in 13 countries around the
world, Xerium has approximately 3,000 employees.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This press release contains forward-looking statements. The
words “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “anticipate,”
“goals,” variations of such words, and similar expressions identify
forward-looking statements, but their absence does not mean that
the statement is not forward-looking. Actual results may differ
materially from these forward-looking statements and estimates as a
result of various important factors, including, without limitation,
the factors discussed in our annual report on Form 10-K for the
fiscal year ended December 31, 2014, which is on file with the
SEC and is available in the investor relations section of our
website at www.xerium.com. Any forward-looking statements are as of
the date hereof, and we assume no obligation to publicly update or
revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, whether as
a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as
may be required by law.
View source
version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20151022005796/en/
Xerium Technologies, Inc.Cliff Pietrafitta, 919-526-1400Chief
Financial OfficerIR@Xerium.com
Xerium (NYSE:XRM)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
Xerium (NYSE:XRM)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024