Freudenberg sets FR mattress push
By David Perry -- Furniture Today, September 8, 2003
Durham, N.C. — It may not yet be a household name in the bedding industry, but Freudenberg brings more than 150 years of history and a worldwide expertise in nonwoven products to its new line of fire-resistant mattress materials.
And it also has a strong new partner that is the national distributor for its FR mattress products. HS Converting, a division of Hickory Springs, officially became the North American distributor for those products Aug. 1.
The strategic agreement signed by the two companies this summer will expand significantly Freudenberg's reach into the home furnishings market.
Freudenberg Nonwovens LP, with its North American headquarters here, is part of Freudenberg & Co. of Weinheim, Germany. The parent company has operations in 34 countries and generates worldwide revenues of about $4.5 billion. It is the world's largest nonwovens manufacturer and is a major supplier to the apparel and automotive industries, among others.
Freudenberg is building on that background as it seeks to expand its already-significant FR offerings to the mattress industry. The company entered the FR mattress market in October 2002 with a line of thermal barrier materials designed to resist fire ignition.
The products utilize the company's proprietary Viledon technology and offer what officials say is a superior FR solution for mattress producers who face stringent new open-flame regulations in California.
"We offer the superior product, based on what I have seen," said Ashutosh Karnik, market manager for new business growth and development. "A bedding manufacturer recently said to me, 'Let me tell you, your product is the best'."
Freudenberg's engineered mattress interliners can be used in the quilt and border panels. The proprietary blend of fibers used in the interliners promotes the extinguishment of fires, according to the company. The FR properties stem from the inherent property of the fibers, and Freudenberg has applied for a patent on the blend of fibers.
The interliners are comfortable, neutral in color, and have no odor and no toxic effects, officials say. They keep foam and other inner layers of the mattress from getting involved in the fire, thus keeping the rate of heat release low, according to the company. Beds with a high heat release rate will not pass the California standards.
Two different designs are offered, giving manufacturers a choice in determining how they can best incorporate the material. The products are designed to be compatible with mattress quilting and manufacturing processes, and offer mattress producers maximum production flexibility, Freudenberg officials say.
Freudenberg is no stranger to the flammability arena. In the mid-1990s, it began manufacturing a material called Vilene, which serves as a liner in firefighters' outerwear and is used extensively by fire departments around the world.
The company says it is bringing the same customer-focused approach to its FR mattress products as it does in the many other markets it serves. Custom-engineered fabrics can be developed to meet a customer's exact needs, company officials say.
Initially, Freudenberg's FR mattress products will be produced to the company's standards at outside plants. As the market develops, Freudenberg will build dedicated production lines at its Hopkinsville, Ky., facility to support its FR business.
That will give it enough capacity to meet the FR needs of the entire bedding industry, Karnik said.
"We will start building inventory as the market starts opening up," he said. It will take no longer than six weeks for Freudenberg to supply customers with products, from the start of production to delivery of the finished goods, he said.
Many of its processes are proprietary, but company officials did give a Furniture/Today reporter a tour of the Durham plant that provided an overview of the process. Six hundred-pound bales of fibers are opened and then blended. Then the fibers are run through carding machines that orient the fibers consistently.
The result is a nonwoven product ready for a variety of uses, including, after some additional applications, mattress interliners.
California officials say they will begin enforcing the new fire-safety regulations on Jan. 1, 2005, and Freudenberg expects its first big order this fall, Karnik said.
