By Stephen M. Warner, Contributing Editor
Freudenberg Performance Materials is a global manufacturer of technical textiles with manufacturing facilities in 13 countries and annual sales close to $1 billion.
在最近在法兰克福举行的TechTextil 2019节目中，纺织世界与Freudenberg Pe188BET金博宝下载rformance材料首席执行官Frank Heislitz博士坐下来讨论其公司的活动，以及他对技术纺织行业发生的影响因素的看法。
188BET金博宝下载: It’s now been a little more than a year since you were selected as CEO of Freudenberg Performance Materials. Have things gone as you expected? What have you found to be the most challenging CEO issues?
弗兰克·海斯蒂兹（Frank Heislitz）博士: It has been both for me — and the industry as well— a demanding year. I don’t think anyone anticipated the raw material price increases we’ve experienced over the past year, especially during the second part of 2018. The cost driver was oil prices, but there were also some chemical shortages in the supply chain like PTA [purified terephthalic acid].
TW：您看到原材料价格下跌了吗？
Heislitz: They’ve come down a little right now. I think they may stay on the high level but below the peak they reached in the last six months. In looking at the average in 2018, I see the prices overall higher this year.
就安排而言，我的另一个挑战 - 是我的主要目标之一 - 是与公司内部的所有25个站点进行内部交流。去年，我几乎参观了世界各地的所有地点，并就我们的表现和方向进行了“联排别墅”的演讲。与我们的员工进行了很多互动。
TW: What did you learn from these visits?
Heislitz：我了解到我们在公司中有高度敬业的人。这使我为这家公司工作感到非常自豪。员工会议有一些非常好的想法和反馈。
TW: What are the strengths of Freudenberg Performance Materials?
Heislitz: One of the key strengths is that we are so diverse. In Performance Materials, which is itself part of the larger Freudenberg Group, we develop and manufacture wovens, nonwovens, knits, foams and composites. We are serving many major end markets such as construction, medical and automotive. Thus, we benefit from this diversity. One end-product market may be down, but others will be ok. One geographic region may be experiencing an economic slowdown, but another may be growing. This type of product and geographic diversity gives us a stability. We are a family-owned company, so we are looking for endurance and we are willing to invest in long-term research.
TW: Can you give an example of long-term endurance?
Heislitz： 当然。我们有很多耐力的一个例子是连续的新移动性领域。将我们的气体扩散层开发为汽车行业的燃料电池开发。我们开始了18年前的发展。当时没有市场，但我们研究了未来。当我们开始工作时，这是一项巨大的投资。那时很清楚，市场需要一段时间才能开发产品。就在过去的几年中，我们开始在市场上看到一些吸引力。
You can also apply these needs of long-term endurance developments in areas that are now becoming increasingly important such as safety, energy density, and making products lighter and more efficient. Sometimes you have the vision but must wait for the market to arrive. Freudenberg has the diversity and resources internally to investigate new opportunities.
尽管市场一直专注于表面c vehicles, there is a new demand for more efficient fuel cells too. Gas diffusion layers create greater efficiency, making sure there is the right distribution of hydrogen when it comes together with oxygen. The combination produces heat and energy. Gas diffusion layers act like a separator, ensuring the end distribution of the gas is fairly uniform. The result? Better performance. So, this type of new technology in the automotive industry is not about safety, nor is it replacing anything. It’s about efficiency. What’s new is the market has now arrived a point for the technology to be used. And, since last year we have total in-house production. While we were originally thinking of this technology for automotive, there are other vehicle markets we hadn’t considered when we were developing the technology; for example, fuel-cell technology is being used for forklift vehicles. Fork-lift batteries are being replaced by fuel-cell systems.
To be successful, we always must look for new ideas that build the pillars for our company like medical and healthcare products — areas where we have invested a lot of time and resources. It is always about understanding market trends. Take healthcare: Look at us as a society. We are getting older and along with an aging population more and more people suffer from chronic diseases like diabetes. Freudenberg has been developing smart textiles for the health industry.
TW: What’s driving the sustainability demand? Techtextil’s theme is sustainability. You see it used everywhere on the show floor. Recycled fibers, circular economy … they seem to be the “catchwords” of 2019.
Heislitz：消费者正在推动对更多可持续性的需求。您可以查看今天正在进行的动作，例如“ For Future”，这是欧洲整个欧洲的运动，由瑞典一名女学生要求气候变化行动，说您成年人，您的政客们不在乎我们的未来。这是一个强大的运动。甚至我自己的女儿现在都在问我弗洛伊登伯格在可持续发展方面正在做什么。社会受过更多的教育，社会上的流动性更高，并通过互联网平台参与。
当我们于1991年开始回收PET瓶时，它们被认为是废物，并且价格便宜。现在，您可以拍卖二手宠物瓶。成本优势不再那么多了。
In general, virgin fiber is easier to process; however, I think Freudenberg has the competence to process recycled materials such as our recycled polyester fiber that goes into automotive carpets, insulation material and as backing material for bitumen membranes for roofing.
TW：您能给我们您对北美，欧洲和亚洲市场状况的快速印象吗？我在这个节目中听到了很多关于“停顿”的消息。你能谈谈这个吗？
Heislitz：停顿不仅仅是欧洲的政治局势，也不仅仅是纺织工业；这是关于全球不确定性。当然，这是关于英国脱欧的讨论，关于中国北科里亚，土耳其正在发生的事情，欧洲议会选举，主要贸易协议的地位。人们正在等待，并在该行业的许多领域看到。
在欧洲，我们正在等待英国的英国脱欧局势。不持久性根本没有帮助我们。在欧洲和亚洲和北美，GDP [国内生产总值]约1.5％也慢。另外，我不想看到任何其他职责或关税，因为欧洲是出口驱动的地区。我们不需要更多的东西来减慢经济的速度。建筑和汽车段仍然非常稳定。目前，我没有看到主要的最终市场上的任何重大麻烦，但是关于不久的将来，许多不清楚的确定性。
TW：好的，让我们谈谈亚洲；中国有些放缓。
Heislitz: I lived in China between 2008 and 2011. At that time, they still had double-digit growth but even then, people were worried because the economy was slowing a little bit. GDP is now about 6.5 percent. Everybody is nervous that it’s not double-digit but maybe it is more sustainable now at 6.5-7 percent. The basis has changed. There is still a lot of opportunity for all of us. The past growth has been driven by exports. Even so, there is still a huge demand in the domestic economy.
TW：亚洲的汽车行业如何？
Heislitz：我们在第一季度看到了放缓。
TW: Any potential new Asian markets outside of China?
Heislitz: Good question.
We still believe in China. What they are doing in China, they are doing for the global market. The product quality demand is going up for those made in China and are now comparable to European, U.S. and Japanese products.
TW：北美市场状况如何？
Heislitz: Overall, the economy is doing well at 2.6 percent GDP. I am a little bit concerned because OEM [original equipment manufacturers] production numbers seem out of order. Production numbers are not increasing like I would like to see. New cars have better technology, so I am surprised there is not greater turnover by the U.S. car buyers.
My bigger concern if you talk about the overall North American situation is about the labor market. The unemployment rate in America is very low. I think for all industries it will be difficult to find qualified workers. In North America, the medical market is a key focus for our company.
TW：非织造协会在非织造织物行业协会（INDA）组织的最新Idea®19贸易展览会上聚集在一起，似乎由于与贸易相关的问题，组织似乎有意将非织造与纺织品部门分开。这种动力来自非织造行业本身吗？
Heislitz:当然不是从我们公司。这就是为什么我们changed our name to performance materials. We have knits, wovens, nonwovens, foams and composites.
TW: Do you consider nonwovens a textile?
FH: I would say yes. We had a big discussion about this when we changed our name to Freudenberg Performance Materials.
编者注：Stephen M. Warner是Beaverlake6报告的发行人，beaverlake6.com，涵盖全球技术纺织品市场的活动和趋势的在线新闻通讯。
2019年7月/8月
