James M. Borneman, Editor In Chief

O

ne gets the impression that 30 years of research and development (R&D) into problem solving and unique manufacturing capabilities provide a broad palate from which to operate and create an array of textile products and solutions. Founder Jeff Bruner likes to say that The Quantum Group takes on projects that other textile companies cannot, or will not, pursue. Quantum and its sister companies have a wide range of knitting and weaving capabilities, as well as fiber extrusion of mono- and multifilament yarns.

Getting A Start In Textiles

Jeff Bruner established The Quantum Group in 1985 having just completed a five-year career at Burlington Industries. He had a degree in fabric design from the then Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science (PCT&S), now known as Philadelphia University. “I specialized in knitting and really wanted to be the best,” Bruner said. Later, he attended Leicester Polytechnic, United Kingdom, to continue his knitting studies.
After working for Hoechst Fiber in New York City as a development engineer for knit fabrics, Bruner returned to PCT&S to teach knitting and perform research. He spent his summers visiting knitting machine manufacturers throughout Europe to continue his practical knitting education. After a stint as a consultant for Owens Corning, Bruner left teaching for a position at Fiber Glass Industries in Amsterdam, New York. He was then asked to join Burlington Industries in Greensboro, N.C., as a product development manager to introduce Burlington to the weft-inserted warp-knitting business. Ultimately, the politics and bureaucracy of Burlington in the early 1980s didn’t agree with Bruner. “I just really wasn’t equipped to deal with it,” he said. “That’s when I went out on my own and formed The Quantum Group.”

The Quantum Group

In the early days of the company, Bruner presented many seminars on multiple textile subjects and continued contract R&D work. One early customer was General Motors (GM). Quantum developed an elastomeric seat suspension material for GM. It was used as a B-surface material which means it’s not seen, replacing the metal springs underneath conventional fabric and foam used in the car seat.
However, Bruner faced stiff competition. “I was up against Milliken, Collins & Aikman, and some of theother big guys at the time like Quaker, and I was just working out of my living room figuring out how to do things.”
Quantum located a facility in High Point, N.C., that worked with Bruner to make samples. With these samples in hand, Bruner convinced GM to finance a dedicated assembly line to make seat suspensions to be used in Pontiacs, Buicks and Oldsmobiles. Bruner said this business lead came from a past student from his teaching days, a story that in Quantum’s early years would repeat itself.
“Another student of mine went to work for Meadox Medical,” Bruner said. “Meadox made vascular grafts, bifurcations, artificial veins and arteries, tendons and ligaments — all kinds of devices that go into the body.” As the popularity of Meadox’s products grew, so did concern about product liability for the polyester suppliers. The resulting restricted polyester supply offered an interesting opportunity for Quantum. “I worked with Meadox to find alternate suppliers of polyester yarns from suppliers all around the world and characterized the sources,” Bruner said. “Eventually Meadox installed their own yarn extrusion equipment and developed their own process.”
Like with so many Quantum clients, the relationship with Meadox was long-lasting even when the company’s owner sold Meadox to Boston Scientific. “As a result of working with them and building a long-term relationship, we kept the business with Boston Scientific even through a series of ownership changes. Going back almost 30 years, we’ve been dealing with the same people there and working in various capacities. We were producing some monofilament and yarns for use in medical applications.”

Early Success

In the early 1990s, pretty much everything between the seat suspensions and medical yarns was the result of working with past students at General Motors and Meadox Medical, until Quantum was approached by Herman Miller. The Zeeland, Mich.-based furniture manufacturer had hired Bill Stumpf and Don Chadwick to design an office chair it had conceived of that did not feature the typical upholstered foam.
“Herman Miller was looking for someone who could develop or engineer a fabric that would work in what would later be known as the Aeron® chair,” Bruner said. “The two designers of the Aeron chair were working with Herman Miller and are long-time designers for them. Chadwick was searching around and Herman Miller went to their normal suppliers to see who had the interest, capability and wherewithal to develop and manufacture this yet to be conceived, engineered and designed fabric for the Aeron chair.”
The chair’s design became iconic and was at the forefront of ergonomic design. With conventional fabric suppliers showing little interest in the project the designers and Herman Miller needed to find an alternate source.
“Chadwick called DuPont and inquired with them because he heard about this seat suspension using a DuPont elastomer, and Quantum was using quite a bit of it for the GM seat suspension,” Bruner said. “At that time, Quantum was doing consulting work for a company in High Point, and we started to develop the Aeron fabric with them. I went to the owners of the company and said, ‘Look, I need an agreement. If I’m going to develop this, I need to know how Quantum is going to get compensated.’” They basically said, “Well, we aren’t sure, we don’t know if there is a future in the project, or how big it’s going to be, so we are going to have to play it by ear.”

“At that point, I said I wasn’t interested, and I resigned,” Bruner explained.

Continued Growth

Quantum’s business was growing. The company continued work with clients such as Meadox Medical, and also had a contract to build a yarn extrusion plant in Gibsonville, N.C., for a company called New Generation Yarns.
“After I resigned, Herman Miller approached me again to return to the project,” Bruner said. “With about nine months left of development work, Herman Miller contracted with Quantum to finish the job and loaned me the funds to hire an employee and rent a building. That happened in early 1994, and then the chair was introduced a trade show in Germany called Orgatec — a big office furniture trade show in Cologne,” said Bruner.

Aeron® And Pellicle®

The fabric Quantum created for Herman Miller was branded Pellicle®, a word defined by Merriam Webster as “thin film.” According to Herman Miller, Chadwick and Stumpf designed the first office chairs that lacked traditional foam or padding, replacing it with a body conforming suspension fabric with an open, breathable construction. The design distributes weight evenly, while eliminating pressure points and heat build-up, according to the company.
When Stumpf passed away in 2006, the New York Times reported: “The Aeron became an instant classic, chosen for the permanent design collection of the Museum of Modern Art on Sept. 21, 1994, a month before its introduction at a trade fair called Orgatec in Cologne, Germany.”
“People forget how controversial it was, how shocking it was, when it first came out,” said Michael Bierut, a partner at international design company Pentagram, and a juror for the National Design Awards. The traditional executive chair was lavishly upholstered, often with leather. “The idea was that upholstery equaled comfort,” Bierut said. “Mr. Stumpf and Mr. Chadwick discovered that comfort could be rendered in a delicate and precise and beautifully engineered way that had nothing to do with creating a throne, but with creating a perfectly calibrated machine for seating.”

Leno Weaving

The Aeron chair and its Pellicle fabric continue to be a success, and its development was a milestone in The Quantum Group’s 30-year history. Interestingly, given Bruner’s focus on knitting as a young man, he used leno-weaving technology to solve Stumpf and Chadwick’s design challenge. “The biggest thing we do today is leno weaving,” said Bruner. “It is an extremely old technology that most companies don’t use anymore due to its cost, complexity and slow speeds, but it’s been key to a very good business.”

Industries & Markets Served

Recreational & Entertainment

• Climbing harnesses
• Bike seats
• Theme-park ride seating

Office Furniture Herman Miller products including:

• Aeron® chair featuring Pellicle fabric
• Eames® chair featuring Cygnus mesh fabric
• Mirra Chair featuring AireWeave seat material

Industrial & Consumer Products

• Tubular fabric belting
• Drive belts
• High-strength materials
• Tubular fabrics such as firehose

Automotive & Aerospace

• Automotive and airline B-layer seating
• Boat mesh chair
• Ferry and subway seating
• Mower seating
• Tire cord fabric

Construction & Geotextiles

• Building and construction
• Filtration fabric
• Road reinforcement materials

Heathcare & Other Applications

• Healthcare chairs
• Window screens
• Privacy screens
• Outdoor furniture

November/December 2015

A look inside The Quantum Group reveals a very different kind of textile company. 

By James M. Borneman, Editor In Chief

The Quantum Group and its five sister companies provide a full menu of textile solutions — end-to-end textile manufacturing from additive masterbatches, monofilament and multifilament yarn extrusion, texturing, twisting to knitting, weaving, machinery re-engineering and automation.

When asked about the creation of these individual companies rather than creating operating divisions of The Quantum Group, Company founder Jeff Bruner explained: “I own 100-percent of The Quantum Group. But these individual sister companies allow key employees and industry partners to participate with Quantum in ownership.” This is a concept Bruner says provides motivation and opportunity for all parties involved.

Another difference is the lack of a sales force. With the exception of one fiber sales person, the companies rely on long-term relationships and word-of-mouth for new business. “People just come to us with their problems,” Bruner explained. With no interest in competing on price or participating in price compression or product commoditization, the companies are focused on helping clients achieve market differentiation. Quantum often is requested to be the problem solver and improve or invent a solution. Also, when it creates a solution, because most of the processes require modified equipment, the company often becomes a contract manufacturer as well.

Making R&D Successful

Most research and development (R&D) contracts begin with Quantum, or a sister company, requesting the client’s wish list that will differentiate it from the competition. Then, the process of engineering a solution begins.

Rather than a typical textile operation that invests in a capability — like a weave room for example — and then develops products using that capability and takes them to market, Quantum operates in reverse order.

“Usually we a trying to provide a textile solution for a client,” said Bruner. He gave an example of a  manufacturer who produces string trimmers and wants to improve the product. “So we asked the company what are the properties you are looking to improve?,” Bruner said. “Then we start thinking and scratching our heads to see what can we do. The company’s wish list included wants such as longer lasting, greater flexibility, lower heat generation as it whips around at high speed and to outperform the competition. We also had to figure out what the capability of their equipment is — as far as a masterbatch. Can they feed in 0.5 percent or 5 percent or 10 percent? Then we design an experiment to try different materials that will lower the coefficient of friction, have improved heat transfer. These might be the same materials used in footwear or in seating fabrics because there is a lot of crossover between what these additives do to meet certain requirements.”

Innovation All Day Long

This type of R&D is at the core of Quantum and its sister companies.  It is typical for them to come up with a theory or a hypothesis, invest in the equipment or formulation necessary to make the product — hopefully the equipment is used — then modify it and install it. Equipment often is installed and dedicated to one customer as needed.

Quantum even has refurbished and modified shuttle looms because this technology allows them to exploit the unique characteristics of this old weaving process. The shuttle loom’s woven selvage allows the company to weave tubular fabrics some of which are used as belts in various industries.

“We weave a tube to very precise dimensions, and our client makes it into a belt. The belts are used by the U.S. and Japanese postal services as the feed belt that feeds letters and parcels past the optical scanner that sorts by zip code,” Bruner said.

“We make various dimensions of tubes for a long-time customer that coats and slits the tubes into belts to supply a variety of end-uses including belts to drive the drum in copy machines, printers and even the beater brush on vacuum cleaners.”

Auxetic Yarns

It seems that each of the companies has an innovation story worth exploring. Burner explained that even with a process like twisting, there is innovation to pursue. In one case Quantum creates an auxetic yarn, which is a high-strength yarn wrapped around an elastomeric core. The yarn is supplied to a weaver that produces fabrics used as blast-absorbing curtains. As a blast releases energy, the yarns elongate and absorb the energy, while the high-strength component of the yarn maintains the fabric’s integrity.

In another instance, Quantum was approached by a medical company to perform some twisting with a very clean environment requirement. “So we bought a machine for them, and installed it in its own room with its own HVAC,” Bruner said. “And we only run their product on it. If they pay for it, we’ll run it as they need product whether it is 2 percent, 10 percent or 90 percent of the time. We have to give them what they want, when they want it.”

Uranium — Really?

Bruner recently completed an interesting project with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tenn.

“Oak Ridge was having some handwoven samples made at Philadelphia University and they needed to scale up and figure out if the fabric they developed could be successfully made on a machine, and it required a shuttle weaving machine,” Bruner said. “So we set up a dedicated shuttle-weaving machine to weave these very special yarns — made using treated high-surface-area filaments — designed to absorb free uranium in the ocean. The fabric produced looks like sea kelp but it is woven on a Draper weaving machine.”

The fabric is an olefin so it’s lighter than water and floats. Bruner said there is approximately 3.3 parts per billion of free uranium distributed throughout the world’s oceans, and most major countries are looking for ways to harvest that uranium.

“According to the Department of Energy, that uranium is enough to provide electrical power to every human for the next several hundred years,” Bruner said.

After the fabric is exposed to the seawater, it is harvested and chemically processed to extract the uranium.
“You don’t have to mine anything,” Bruner said. “You float these fabrics made from a special polymer spun into a unique cross-section. Imagine the fabrics floating like a kelp bed,” he added.

Modify And Automate
Quantum and its sister companies have extended their capabilities by adding in-house engineering for refurbishing, modifying and automating textile processes.

Bruner described one project where Quantum’s in-house engineering transformed a complicated window screen manufacturing process. “We were weaving a specialized window screen for a company,” Bruner said. “We then shipped the fabric to a company for a bonding treatment. From there it was shipped to another company to be heat set. Then, it was sent it to yet another company to be slit into the sizes needed for the windows.

“When the housing market slowed, the business just wasn’t big enough for our customer anymore. So we thought about it, and now Quantum weaves, bonds, heat sets and slits — all in one operation. And we are now the supplier for a major window and door manufacturer,” Bruner added.

The screen fabric also is very unique because it is made from fluoropolymer fibers. This fiber allows for greater light transmission and superior ultraviolet resistance compared to traditional screening, according to the company.

Quantum has strong engineering capabilities including refurbishing, modifying and automating textile machinery and processes including parts reconditioning as performed on this gear box shown before reconstruction and after.

It’s About People

When asked about the key to Quantum’s innovation and success, it was clear that curious and capable people are at the center of the operations. “I just want people to be happy with challenges — people who enjoy solving people’s and companies’ problems,” Bruner said.

Review of Quantum’s high points shows — whether partnering with GM, Herman Miller, Meadox Medical, and the list goes on — The Quantum Group and its sister companies have a bright future. According to Bruner: “As long as there are problems to solve, I’m confident Quantum can provide a solution.”

The Quantum Group
Sister Companies

Protextiles specializes in weaving tubular textiles using refurbished and customized Draper and C&K looms. Largely serving the belting industry, Protextiles weaves a variety of man-made and natural fibers to achieve the client’s specification. Protextiles also has twisting and warping capabilities, and weaves tire cord fabric.

Knitmasters produces 2-D and 3-D knitted functional technical fabrics.
Utilizing state of the art computerized processes and design, Knitmasters offers a broad range of knitting capabilities and flexible processes including
circular- and flat-knitting equipment.

FibeX extrudes and texturizes man-made turf thatch yarns. It has the capability to process polypropylene, nylon 6, polyethylene and polyester, as well as other resins, extruding round, oval, S-shaped and C-shaped cross sections and engineering performance using a variety of additives including ultraviolet (UV) stabilizers, static reducers and flame retardants.

Triad Polymers specializes in compounding masterbatches for a broad number of products in the plastic and fiber businesses. A masterbatch is a concentrated formulation of colorants or functional additives. Such additives are engineered to affect the performance of the final product when added to the polymer prior to extrusion or injection molding. Triad can engineer any number of properties, from enhancing UV performance to adding antimicrobial properties and magnetic additives.

A recent start-up, Trident Fibers was established to manufacture polyester yarns specifically for the production of medical implants.

November/December 2015

By Jim Borneman, Editor In Chief

The Quantum Group and its sister companies are honorees of the 2015 Textile World Innovation Award. After spending time interviewing founder Jeff Bruner, it is not hard to see that these companies are not ordinary textile companies.

Bruner, who is 100-percent owner of The Quantum Group, established sister companies to allow key employees and industry partners to participate with Quantum in ownership.

Bruner’s background, even in his early career, is as a problem solver. And it’s as if this is his natural state, as well as the state of those who surround him.

Compared to many textile companies, Quantum works backwards. Bruner doesn’t have a sales staff except for one salesman in the monofilament area. When questioned about this business structure, he simply stated: “For 30 years people just keep bringing us their problems to solve.”

In a following article in this issue titled “Random Acts of Innovation,” TW editors were truly challenged by how to best present the company’s activities and products in an understandable way. The problems are random — Bruner has no knowledge of what will come through the door next — but he and his teams will do what they do best — establish the client’s wish list, examine the knowns, get creative and develop some tests, evaluate the answers, and build and modify their way to a solution.

Whether the solution is to refurbish and modify shuttle looms to weave a perfectly tubular fabric to be slit into perfectly dimensioned belts for a client served for many years; or to create a masterbatch of chemical additives to be added to the molten polymer prior to extrusion to modify the performance characteristics of the final fiber, products are all created through problem solving.

When Don Chadwick and Bill Stumpf were challenged to design a new kind of office chair for Herman Miller they had to get creative. Office furniture at that time was focused on bulky foam upholstered in leather. Chadwick and Stumpf’s idea was a breakthrough design based on ergonomics whereby the seated person feels no pressure points and has his weight evenly distributed across the bottom and back.

This design required an air-permeable suspension fabric for air flow though the fabric to avoid the heat build-up associated with typical upholstered office chairs. Having tracked down Quantum through a call to Dupont, Chadwick challenged Bruner to develop the fabric he needed.

Quantum received funding for the research and development, and to hire employees and rent a building. About 30 months later the Pellicle® fabric solved Chadwick and Stumpf’s design problem. That was in 1994, and the Aeron^® chair gained almost immediate iconic status — it is in the permanent design collection of the Museum of Modern Art — and Bruner was now in the leno weaving business, which continues to be a core business to this day.

The Quantum Group will be honored at the award banquet during the Textile World Innovation Forum.

Look forward to seeing you there.

November/December 2015

The economy of the last several decades can be described in a single word: global. With the development of the European Union and enhanced trade agreements around the world, the market can be easily described as moving in the direction of international coordination. Rooted in the history of Royal Ten Cate NV as an international company, TenCate Protective Fabrics of North America has recognized this trend and strategically focused a portion of its efforts on growing its global business development.

Supported by still rapidly growing success in the domestic market, TenCate Protective Fabrics confidently introduces its proven products along with specialized products to the global market through representatives and sales offices in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and the Asia Pacific region.

TenCate Protective Fabrics serves a global market with manufacturing facilities, sales offices and representatives in the Americas, Europe and Asia.

TenCate’s Team
While promoting the advantages of TenCate products, the international business development team also places priority on learning about the various international environments and the specific needs for protective materials in each territory. With a deep understanding of the motivations and true needs of the end-users in a particular region, TenCate Protective Fabrics works to provide specific innovative solutions that address the environmental conditions and cultural preferences for the region. A solution may sometimes be a current offering of the company or, in other cases, an adaptive solution suited to the particular requirement.

Tailoring Comfort And Protection And Performance
Australian Fire Service brigades presented an interesting challenge with regards to desired attributes in an outer shell to address high temperatures of the environment and a need for optimal flexibility. After discussions with end-users and turnout manufacturers in the region, TenCate developed Gemini^® XTL to satisfy this demanding requirement. The fabric is a lighter-weight alternative turnout fabric for markets that face hot and/or humid conditions that make comfort a more serious issue Firefighting brigades in Australia and New Zealand now have an outer shell specifically engineered to ensure their protection and comfort while they safeguard their communities.

In developing regions, there have been a number of requests for an antistatic fabric to combat local risks in daily activities. End-users in those areas displayed a great deal of interest in TenCate Tecasafe^® Plus; however, they expressed the need for an antistatic component. Internal conversations then led the way to the introduction of TenCate Tecasafe Plus StaticSHIELD, which was geared toward the new end-users and furthered the mission of creating a global brand.

Living Up to the Standard
International expansion brings new opportunities every day to exercise inventive problem-solving as TenCate Protective Fabrics advances into unfamiliar markets and grows with emerging markets. For example, as a country or region develops a unique set of standards, TenCate responds by dedicating resources to certify its own product line to the specifications in support of the individualized safety standard. These activities result in an internationally certified product line equipped to protect end-users around the world. Additionally, as a well-known market leader, TenCate Protective Fabrics is looked upon by companies in new safety markets as a source of the most up-to-date information and resources in personal safety.

The support of in-house research on test methods, investigation of new technologies and innovation of creative solutions make international growth possible at TenCate Protective Fabrics. “Teamwork is a crucial component to international growth,” said Chris Corner, senior director of international business development. “Without the strong network of finance, technical, operations, human resources, customer service and marketing departments, efforts aimed at international development would fall short.”

Leading The Way
As the world is constantly developing and the flame-resistant fabric community is becoming stronger through global initiatives and enhanced communication, TenCate Protective Fabrics is demonstrating leadership and commitment to innovation through facilitating adaptive growth and promoting its specialized products on an international forum.

September/October 2014

In any technological industry where innovation carries real weight, companies have to be careful not to get bogged down in clichés and buzzwords at the expense of real achievements. TenCate Protective Fabrics of North America puts achievement first. It would be all too easy to talk about thinking outside the box or exploring a new paradigm shift, but real innovation isn’t borne out of a need to enhance or embellish a corporate image, it’s borne out of the needs of the market. The technical textiles market brooks little embellishment and looks down on unkept promises about performance and protection.

“When someone’s safety is at stake, there’s no room for smoke and mirrors or snake oil. Results speak louder than promises and sales pitches,” said Mike Allen, senior director of marketing. “Protecting people is what TenCate Protective Fabrics does, and the company has the experience to do it right.”

Seventy percent of all firefighters in the United States wear turnout gear made with TenCate’s inherently flame-resistant outer-shell fabrics.

Southern Mills Heritage
Originally founded in 1925 as Southern Mills, based in Union City, Ga., the company was privately owned. Southern Mills had worked closely with Ten Cate Protect, the industrial fabric business of Royal Ten Cate NV, on several joint projects through the years, until it was decided that Royal Ten Cate would acquire Southern Mills. The sale was completed in 2004, and Southern Mills became TenCate Protective Fabrics of North America.

As a division of Royal Ten Cate, which is headquartered in Almelo, the Netherlands, TenCate Protective Fabrics can tap a well of textile technological knowledge that remains virtually unmatched in a worldwide market. TenCate Protective Fabrics holds more than two dozen patents and has a long history of cutting-edge achievement. The company maintains four manufacturing facilities, all within an hour of the corporate office in Union City.

TenCate Protective Fabrics has a history that reaches back 90 years in textile manufacturing. From its founding in 1925, the company began to make new advances and establish a foothold in the textile market. Starting with fabric for automotive seat covers, TenCate then provided fabrics for the dry-cleaning industry for use in ironing pad covers and presses. By using heat-resistant fabrics for these applications, the company began moving toward the more technically advanced flame-resistant (FR) fabrics that were yet to come.

“For 45 years, TenCate Protective Fabrics has been in the business of engineering, testing and manufacturing FR fabrics for firefighters, industrial workers, military personnel and other first responders,” said Daniel Hauert, president, TenCate Protective Fabrics. “Over those years, the company has gained the knowledge and honed the skills required to become the world’s leading supplier of inherently FR fabrics.”

TenCate Defender^® M fabrics have provided the U.S. military with a viable FR solution to protect combat troops from serious burn injuries in the field.

Markets Served
TenCate Protective Fabrics serves the emergency-response, industrial, and military markets. The Commercial division handles the emergency-response and industrial markets, while TenCate Defense and Tactical handles military sales.

Fire service FR fabrics are the backbone of commercial sales for TenCate. In the industrial market, new fabrics like TenCate Tecasafe^® Plus have made huge headway in challenging the stagnation and complacency of an industry that still relies on old textile technology for protection. For the military market, TenCate Defender^® M has provided a unique solution combining FR protection with comfort.

A First In Turnout Gear
Today, 70 percent of all firefighters in the United States wear turnout gear made with TenCate outer-shell fabrics. The company works hard to make sure that firefighters are well-protected in the harsh conditions they must face.

It was in 1969 that TenCate became the first company to make protective aramid fabrics for the fire service, and the focus on FR began in earnest. The next year, the company became the first manufacturer to supply outer-shell FR fabric, to a fire department in Cleveland. After great success with outer shells for the fire service, TenCate began to quilt and sell spunlaced aramid thermal barriers for use in firefighter turnout gear. In 1982, it began supplying flame-resistant, protective fabric for U.S. Forest Service garments to be used by wildland firefighters.

TenCate continued to develop new and exciting fabrics for turnout gear, including such well-known and trusted fabrics as Kombat, comprising a blend of DuPont Kevlar® and PBI®; and Advance, a blend of Kevlar and DuPont Nomex®. More traditional fiber blends gave way to newer and more inventive combinations that set the bar a bit higher with each new product. Names like TenCate Ultra blend with Kevlar, Gemini XT with PBI and Kevlar, and Millenia XT Kevlar and polybenzobisoxazole (PBO) became synonymous with protection.

TenCate has always had a firm hold in the fire service market, but other avenues of exploration have been open as well. Taking advantage of a state-of-the-art laboratory and testing facility, the company has made a habit of innovation. By continually seeking out new and better fiber blends that would satisfy the needs of the market, fabrics have been developed that could be very highly specialized for specific end-uses.

Flash Protection
The industrial market demanded FR fabrics that were lighter and cooler but would still provide protection. TenCate responded with the development of Tecasafe Plus, a truly smart and innovative textile that provided FR protection from flash fire and arc flash hazards. By using natural fibers from a completely sustainable source and creating a unique blend, Tecasafe Plus became a one-of-a-kind FR solution that gave linemen, oil and gas workers, and electrical technicians the protection they needed and the comfort they demanded.

“Tecasafe Plus was a giant leap forward in the design and manufacture of inherently FR textiles, said Charles Dunn, Ph.D., senior director of product innovation. “By opening the door to new ideas and fresh approaches, TenCate showed the market that there is more than one way to skin a cat.”

DefendingTroops With Defender^® M
For the military market, expansion is survival. Fabric developments that result from input straight from the end-users ensure that the products TenCate makes will answer definite needs in the marketplace. When U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan began encountering improvised explosive devices, the Department of Defense realized there was a problem. The U.S. armed forces had no experience in dealing with serious burn injuries in the field and needed a viable FR solution. TenCate Defender M, a blend comprising predominantly Lenzing FR^® cellulosic fiber reinforced with para-aramid and nylon, has been shown to reduce second- and third-degree burns by 30 to 45 percent when compared with FR fabrics containing modacrylic or cotton/nylon blends.

“Most importantly, the Defender M FR ACU is saving soldiers’ lives,” said Lt. Col. John Lemondes, U.S. Army Product Manager, Clothing and Individual Equipment. “I am proud to consider TenCate a partner in our efforts to provide soldiers with the best clothing and individual equipment possible.”

Gains In Comfort
Tecasafe Plus, Defender M and other TenCate FR fabrics now offer Coolderm Technology. “Fabrics with TenCate Coolderm Technology contain the right balance of hydrophilic and hydrophobic fibers, making moisture management easier on the wearer and keeping them cooler and drier,” said TenCate Performance Fabrics Group Director Don Olsen. “It has become a cross-market innovation that is used in all three segments: fire service; industrial; and military.

“TenCate will continue to focus on producing technical textiles that make protection and comfort inseparable,” Olsen added. “The goal is to create a concept in the market that TenCate is synonymous with all these key attributes in FR fabrics.”

September/October 2014

Through the years, Textile World has honored leading textile companies that excel in the development of innovative products and technologies. Bringing innovation into the business process is essential for creating a successful textile company.  This year, TW honors TenCate Protective Fabrics of North America with the 2014 Textile World Innovation Award for that very reason. TenCate has a long-established track record for solving customers’ problems by creating not just fabrics, but fabric systems that exceed its clients’ needs.

When it comes to safety and protection, TenCate is creating cutting-edge products that are helping people doing dangerous jobs on the front line — be it on the battlefield or at the scene of a fire.

Turnout gear — those protective coats and pants worn by firefighters — today comprise very specialized systems, and TenCate, with more than 70-percent market share, has further developed the fabrics going into them since their entry into the market in 1969. The company’s innovations go deeper than great flame-resistant fabrics that it sells into numerous markets. Talk with company leaders today, and you’ll see their focus on maintaining high performance and making fabrics that are cooler and lighter-weight for the wearer. These advantages help increase the wearer’s performance and reduce stress in very harsh environments.

TenCate’s story runs deeper than turnout gear. One remarkable development is its patented Defender^® M fabric. When the U.S. military was challenged with a new threat on the battlefield — the improvised explosive device (IED) — soldiers needed more than ballistic protection — they also faced severe burn injuries. Standard military fatigues weren’t providing the necessary level of protection. Researchers at TenCate rose to the challenge and created Defender M, which when implemented is said to have reduced third-degree burns by 30 to 45 percent among affected troops. Subsequent iterations have tuned the performance, and the fabrics are used around the world today.

TenCate also pays attention to how its products are made and makes a conscious effort to be as environmentally friendly as possible. Its Dyeing and Finishing Plant in Molena, Ga., won the Environmental Award for Land Application System from the Georgia Waste Water Pollution Control Association eight years in a row.

TenCate is increasing its global business development — as the company says,  “Domestic success paves the way to reach out to the global market” — and while having a full line of proven products, TenCate recognizes that new clients have varying needs, and those needs present new challenges for TenCate researchers.

TW editors would like to thank TenCate Protective Fabrics of North America for its level of support and access in putting together the editorial that follows. TenCate’s innovation story is far from over — after spending time with members of the company’s team, it becomes apparent that more innovations will follow, and on a global scale.

September/October 2014 ]]> https://www.textileworld.com/textile-world/2001/06/commitment-to-research/ Fri, 01 Jun 2001 18:22:57 +0000 https://www.textileworld.com/?p=46758 By James M. Borneman

It is with great pleasure that Textile Industries presents its 2001 Innovation Award to Milliken & Company, Spartanburg, S.C., for its commitment to textile research. In addition, Textile Industries is pleased to provide special recognition to Mr. Jerry A. Cogan for his leadership and unique achievements during his tenure are president of Milliken Research Corporation.

This year’s TI Innovation Award celebrates two unique institutions. Milliken & Company and Cogan are two dominant forces in textile innovation that, in many ways, share the same voice.

Investing in textile research is not new for Milliken & Company. Founded in 1865, Milliken established the Deering Milliken Research Trust in 1945. The renovated house pictured in the coverage that follows was the location of the humble beginnings of a commitment unsurpassed in the textile community. Today, Milliken Research Corporation continues that commitment to innovation and, by all accounts, is the largest textile research center in the world.

Interestingly, if you speak about Milliken Research, its successes through the years and its culture, all conversations lead to Jerry Cogan. Cogan joined Milliken & Company in 1961 as a chemical engineer and within two years was managing the then new chemical business. In 1964, he became president of Milliken Research, a position of leadership and example he sustained for 36 year until his retirement last year.

In 1994, when Cogan received the American Chemical Society’s Earle B. Barnes Award for Leadership in Chemical Research Management, a journalist wrote, “New products and processes are Cogan’s objectives. According to a colleague, what truly sets Cogan apart is his attitude toward research management. ‘He believes in a hands-off style, and he has minimized administrative burdens.’ Under Cogan’s management, researchers are stimulated by great freedom in the choice of their projects and in the conduct of their work, as well as by the informal and unstructured environment Cogan created.”

This mindset is embedded in the Milliken culture. Many members of today’s Milliken leadership developed under the watchful eye of Jerry Cogan.

Milliken’s focus and commitment to education, research, people and ideas is overwhelming in an era of immediate gratification and the disposable society. The company is an example of a dynamic business that thrives through innovation and invention with support throughout the organization.

Special thanks go to Richard Mansfield, TI technical editor, and nonwovens/polypropylene specialist, for suggesting this year’s honorees. And to Mr. Roger Milliken, Dr. Thomas J. Malone and Mr. Richard Dillard for providing the access that made these stories possible.

June 2001

Jerry Cogan’s exceptional legacy lives on at research arm of Milliken & Company. 

By Jim Phillips, Executive Editor

Innovation. Invention. These two words have more to do than any others with the ascendancy of the United States to the top of the world economic ladder. Many U.S. companies have been the embodiment of innovation and invention over the years. Names such as DuPont, 3M, Motorola, Dow and others come to mind. But nowhere are invention and innovation more revered or realized than at Milliken & Company, the Spartanburg, S.C.-based textile giant that is this years recipient of the Textile Industries Innovation Award.

Much of the company’s success in innovation can be traced to a corporate culture that fosters free thinking, idea exchange and continuing education. The attitude at Milliken is apparent from the moment one exits the interstate onto Milliken Road in Spartanburg. The sprawling campus of Milliken resembles a major research university more than the headquarters for one of the worlds largest textile companies. The buildings are architecturally simple, yet stately and elegant. They are neither dated nor modern and are finished in a subdued ivory that, amid the carefully landscaped lawns and gardens, creates the impression of continuous learning. It is almost incongruous to watch dapper executives in navy and gray business suits on their way in and out of the buildings; one expects to see students garbed in T-shirts and jeans dashing about, books under arms, hoping to avoid the tardy bell.

Committment To Research And Development

While business is conducted here on a global scale, it is not too far off the mark to call the complex an institution of higher learning. Milliken has been in the knowledge business for a very long time. Certainly, the commitment the company has made to research and development is known throughout the world. Since the humble beginnings of Milliken Research Corporation back in the mid-1940s, more than 1,500 patents have been sought and won in the company’s continuing quest to develop chemicals, yarns, and fabrics with enhanced properties.

What is perhaps less well-known is that Milliken & Company requires its management associates to complete a minimum of 40 hours of study every year in an effort to keep the company on the cutting edge of technology and development. Virtually all of Milliken’s management associate work force is recruited directly out of college, according to Richard Dillard, Milliken’s director of public affairs. The company’s continuing education program prevents the stagnation in middle management that tends to plague so many enterprises that keep the same people in place for a number of years. This is a major reason why, while other companies have come and gone, Milliken has remained among the very elite of the worlds textile industry.Considering the humble beginnings of the company it was founded by Seth Milliken and William Deering in 1865 as a small woolen fabrics jobbing firm in Portland, Maine the ascension of Milliken and Company to its current position is nothing short of amazing. The reasons are many. Education, as mentioned previously, is one. Another is the continuity inherent in family ownership. The current chairman and CEO, Roger Milliken, is the grandson of the company’s founder. Roger Milliken’s father, Gerrish Milliken, was instrumental in transitioning the company from a brokerage house into a major manufacturing concern.

Research Drives Milliken’s Success

But the mainstay of Milliken the corporate mindset that makes the company what it is today is research. Milliken has been, perhaps, the most active company in the world in this regard since the founding of Milliken Research Corporation. It was at that time that Roger Milliken, only several years away from inheriting the presidency of the company, made the commitment to bet the company’s future on the outcome of its efforts in product development.

For most of its history, Jerry A. Cogan, who retired last year after almost 40 years with Milliken & Company, has headed Milliken Research. Under Cogans direction, Milliken Research garnered more than 1,280 patents, including such world-famous processes and names as Visa® and Millitron®.

The research unit of the company, originally known as Deering Milliken Research Trust, was initially located in a small house in Clemson, S.C. A few years later, it was relocated to the manufacturing plant in Pendleton, S.C., just a few miles from Clemson. Milliken Research relocated to Spartanburg in the late 1950s.

“We did some very good work in those early days when we were at Clemson and Pendleton,” said Demitry M. Gagarine, a researcher who has been retired from the company for the past 16 years. Like many Milliken associates, however, Gagarine has never completely severed ties with the company and is intensely loyal to both the company and its management.

Among the projects that came out of Milliken Research in the early days was the development of Agilon®, which was a textured synthetic filament. Much of the worlds carpet, as well as women’s hosiery and other items, were manufactured using filament.

“Essentially,” said Gagarine, “the idea started with an engineer who wondered what would happen if one pressed a round filament over a sharp edge. The idea was generated from watching the edges of a ribbon curl after being cut by scissors. Would filament do the same thing Indeed it did. Agilon grew into a very large business for us at the time. DuPont traded some of its patent licenses to Milliken for the right to use Agilon for carpet filament.”

Another significant discovery for Milliken Research while still housed at Pendleton was the invention of Belfast®, which imparted wet memory and eliminated the need for ironing fabric constructed from cellulose fibers.

“Both Agilon and Belfast made wonderful progress in the marketplace,” Gagarine said. “Agilon was particularly important when miniskirts first began appearing in the 1960s. Belfast was licensed in many countries and had about seven licensees in the United States. Belfast was successful for a number of years until polyester blends became popular. Milliken & Company then left Belfast in the wake and began working mainly on polyester blends and 100-percent polyester.”

Recalling those early days of research, Gagarine, who joined Milliken in 1953, said: “Mr. Milliken is a superb leader, both of his company and in research and development endeavors. He would review research in large meetings with engineers, chemists, company management and some of the absolute best research minds in universities from throughout the world.”

Among those people were Drs. Ed Gilliland and Jimmy Wei, both of whom headed the chemical engineering department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and who were considered among the preeminent minds in chemistry of their era. Milliken & Company later named a plant after Gilliland.

“Mr. Milliken and the company were able, through these meetings, to get a complete picture of the research and development efforts, including opportunities, problems, etc.,” Gagarine said.

Quest For The Best

It was the interaction with the bright engineers and chemists from within his own company, as well as the stars of the academic world, that prompted Roger Milliken to embark upon an aggressive recruitment program for MRC.

“Mr. Milliken challenged us to look for the very best brains in the world,” Gagarine said. “He commissioned us to contact schools that were prominent in chemistry, chemical engineering and mechanical engineering and find out who the best students were over the previous 10 years. We were then to contact those people and find out what they were doing in the business world.

“It was out of this effort that the company attracted two of the very best minds the company would ever see, both of whom happened to have attended MIT. One was Jerry Cogan and the other was Dr. John O’Neill [another Milliken associate who has made valuable research contributions].”

Both Cogan and O’Neill were working for DuPont at that time. DuPont was then the unquestioned leader in research and development. “We decided to pry those two away from DuPont, but it proved to be a very difficult thing to do.”

Gagarine wrote Cogan a number of letters over about a six-month period, but he kept receiving polite replies that Cogan was happy at DuPont and was not interested in leaving. “I guess I must have impressed him with my persistence because he finally agreed to stop by and visit us on his way to vacation in Florida. Jerry Cogan met Mr. Milliken and the management team but still declined our offer.

“Mr. Milliken must have impressed him, however, because several months later he wrote to tell us that he would accept the job.”

Jerry Cogan: A Man Of Honesty And Vision

Cogan, according to Gagarine, brought to Milliken dedication, determination and an uncanny ability to mix with people and solve problems. “Jerry Cogan has many marvelous characteristics,” he said, “two of which really stand out. The first is his complete honesty. Most management decisions are colored to justify either the objectives of the project or
the person in charge of the project what today we call ‘spin.’ Jerry Cogan was completely devoid of spin. He just told you exactly as it was with no attempts to sway one side or the other. It was very refreshing for Mr. Milliken, me and the other people who were associated with him.

“His second marvelous attribute was his ability to have a broad vision of a large number of problems, crises and other issues without getting lost or getting so bogged down in the details that he couldn’t see a solution. He could deal with all areas exceptionally well. He has an enormous grasp of both chemistry and physics.”

Among the developments in which Cogan played a part was the creation of a radiation permanent-press project that ultimately resulted in Milliken & Company’s famous Visa
program.

“We in research were interested in radiation to determine how it would modify fiber by creating free radicals to which we could attach reactive chemicals,” Gagarine said. “We thought this might give us an opportunity to make some enhancements in certain areas. Originally, we wanted to buy a very small machine that would enable us to measure these enhancements. Mr. Milliken, however, insisted that we buy a large state-of-the-art machine so that we would feel the need to justify the investment. So we bought a radiation machine and opened up an underground laboratory. The result was a permanent-press finish coupled with soil-release properties for poly/cotton fabrics.”

Gagarine continued: “We launched this program under the trade name of Visa, and it made an immediate hit in the marketplace. Primary applications were in tablecloths, industrial uniforms and other things that had to be repeatedly laundered under very harsh conditions.”

At the time of development, both the permanent-press and soil-release characteristics carried equal weight with researchers, Gagarine said. Soil-release properties quickly became the dominant area of focus, however. The soil-release program worked so well that industrial uniforms and tablecloths often soiled with oils, grease, etc. no longer needed heavy-duty industrial laundering to come clean. So the radiation method was abandoned in favor of a resin treatment to impart both permanent-press and soil-release properties.

The original Visa program was developed for natural fibers and blends with polyester. When the transition was made from radiation to resins, however, Milliken began looking at how to program could be expanded to include 100-polyester and textured yarn.The challenge was considerable. Fibers are either hydrophilic meaning they attract water or hydrophobic, which means they repel water. Hydrophobic fibers are generally oleophilic they repel water and attract oils. Much of the soil that dirties fabric is oil-based. Polyester, being an inherently oleophilic fiber, attracts oils and does not easily release them. The mission, then, for a soil-release development to be successful is to transform the properties of polyester so that it becomes hydrophilic, which facilitates the release of oils.

“It was quite a challenge, Gagarine said. But our hypothesis proved true and worked out very well. Visa, as everyone knows, has been a hugely successful program.”

So much of what Milliken Research accomplished can be attributed to the leadership skills of Cogan, Gagarine said. “He could really pull a group together, identify opportunities and see right to the heart of problems.”

Ongoing Recruitment Of Talent

A constant at Milliken & Company since the inception of the research corporation has been the ongoing recruitment of talented people. Gagarine was instrumental in the recruitment of Cogan, and Cogan was a key player in hiring Dr. Thomas J. Malone, who is now Milliken’s president and COO. Dr. Malone, along with Cogan and O’Neill, had a hand in developing the Millstar® and Millitron® dyeing programs for carpet. Millitron is capable of instantly reproducing exact color matches and patterns to customer specifications.

“Always with an eye toward new product development and innovation, Jerry Cogan emphasized the importance of patents to his research scientists,” Dillard said. “Cogan, himself, is credited with driving the concept of computerized digital jet printing for patterned textiles, which has had an extraordinary impact on our company. In particular, this program has resulted in the Millitron Jet Dyeing of carpets, rugs and mats. This concept has also spread and been successful developed in a variety of other computer-controlled processes within the company.”

Key to each of the projects undertaken under Cogan’s direction, according to Dillard, is his insistence that research efforts be based on good science and make a real impact on the profitable growth of the company. Cogan carried this so far as to call his associates inventors instead of researchers.

A Vision For The U.S. Textile Industry

Milliken’s success is obviously attributable to its commitment of resources and its
determination to employ bright, driven people. But another huge factor is the company’s vision for the textile industry in the United States. Many of the company’s efforts are centered on keeping the U.S. industry competitive with others around the world. Few companies can claim such an expanded vision or such a selfless desire to accomplish what is good for the industry as a whole.

The company is actively involved in organizations that facilitate the transfer of research and technology ideas within the textile industry. Milliken is an instrumental part of such organizations as the National Textile Center, [TC]2 and others. Roger Milliken served as chairman of the Institute of Textile Technology for 49 years. Malone was instrumental in the creation of, and chaired the AMTEX partnership a collaborative program among the industry, federal agencies and universities. Milliken, Malone and Cogan have all played major rolls as board members in these and many other organizations.

The company’s commitment to research and development transcends product innovation,
however. Milliken as a company is a serious student of techniques and systems and often implements improvements upon those programs that have proven successful in other cultures. As a result, Milliken is the only company to have won all of the worlds four major quality awards: the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in the United States: the European Quality Award; the British Quality Prize; and the Canadian Quality Award.

Among the company’s many motivational phrases for its associates is that there is “no saturation in education.” For Milliken as a company, there appears, as well, to be no saturation in pursuit of excellence and innovation.