Part II of a two-part feature on the outlook for the technical textiles market.
By Steve Warner, Contributing Editor
In the last issue of188BET金博宝下载, Part 1 of “2018 State Of The U.S. Technical Textiles Industry,” looked at economic and trade factors impacting the sector. Part 2 focuses on specific segments of the industry including automotive, military and law enforcement applications for technical textiles.
Automotive/Light Vehicle Market
技术纺织品的最大用户是车辆制造业。经过十年的稳定，令人印象深刻的增长，北美在2017年制造的乘用车数量少量收缩。售出了约1725万辆汽车和轻型卡车，比2016年下降了1.8％。这些车辆中有67％。加拿大生产了230万，墨西哥又占340万。
The average amount of material going into a vehicle is 28 square yards (yd2), which means about 323.7 million yd2 went into domestic-made vehicles in 2017.
There are five primary applications for textiles in vehicles — passenger restraint systems such as airbags and seatbelts, headliners and seating, trunk liners, flooring, and tires — plus smaller applications like hoses and acoustic/vibration insulation. The major interior vehicle applications are in seating and flooring.
The domestic vehicle production base has been moving from Detroit over the past decade, in part because Asian and European automakers have developed manufacturing operations in the southern United States. The automotive industry tends to operate with a cluster supplier base — meaning prime parts suppliers are located nearby. The recent announcement of a new $1.6 billion Toyota/Mazda manufacturing plant in Alabama, plus expansions of the Volvo plant in South Carolina and the Daimler plant in Alabama, spells good news for the domestic automotive textile industry. Further, Stamford, Conn.-based Hexcel Corp., Tokyo-based Toray Industries Inc. and Tokyo-based Teijin Ltd. recently have announced more than $2 billion in carbon-fiber related production expansions in the United States, targeted mostly for the automotive industry.
If there is a possible breakout new market segment for smart textiles, it is in vehicles. Heating and cooling seat technology already is in use. Now, assembly manufacturers are exploring seating material that can detect an occupant’s size and weight to provide a more comfortable ride and prevent driver fatigue. Potential applications may soon also include interior materials that change color, allowing driver customization.
Airbags
The airbag sector unfortunately is best known right now for recalls. However, recalls aside, the sector has experienced phenomenal growth over the past 20 years, which is expected to continue. Its fate, too, is not necessarily tied to the number of vehicles manufactured. There is an increasing number of airbags placed in each vehicle; and developing nations with a growing appetite for vehicles, including India and Brazil, are demanding mandatory airbag safety requirements.
The development of driverless cars will present unique new opportunities too, because present designs are intended only for forward-facing occupants.
Thus, airbags are estimated to be the fastest growing market segment in automotive textiles at 8.1 percent. The most common fabric used is nylon 6,6. Because of the heat generated by a quickly inflated bag, silicone-coated fabrics are used for airbags that encounter a vehicle occupant’s face.
美国三个主要安全气囊制造商是：
- ZF TRW汽车控股公司；
- Autoliv Inc.; and
- Joyson Safety Systems (JSS).
2017年，安全气囊行业的行业合并继续进行。JSS以16亿美元的价格购买了破产的Takata Corp.的资产，立即将美国总部的公司脱颖而出，成为Autoliv背后的全球安全气囊供应商名单中的第二名。
尽管安全气囊供应商的数量正在缩小，但其余制造商的工厂容量和全球位置增加了。Toray Advanced Textile最近宣布首次进入北美，在墨西哥建造了一家新工厂，以制造尼龙纤维和织物，以提供安全气囊，以提供不断增长的美国和墨西哥汽车制造业。
Military/Law Enforcement
For military applications, there are three critical criteria — concealment, mobility and operating in extreme weather conditions.
The key point to be made about the military’s technical textile needs is that sequestering all aspects of the military’s competitive warfighting edge have eroded, and that money now will be spent to fix shortcomings. After more than a decade of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. military now is switching back to building a force that can deter both established — Russia — and emerging military powers — China.
The Budget Control Act (BCA) of 2011 dramatically reduced funding for the Department of Defense (DoD) for the last 6 years. The BCA contains a threat that binds the spending limits/caps and, if spending exceeds budget, sequestration takes place with the draconian result of automatic cuts across the DoD budget.
但是，事情将要改变。特朗普政府和国会在第19财政年度和20财政年度的预算中大大增加了军事支出，从17财政年度的实际实际5949亿美元跃升至19财政年度预算中的6860亿美元。此外，特朗普总统在今年的国际电联讲话中呼吁国会结束隔离。第19财政年度和20财政年度的军事预算更高的通过，已经规避了隔离限制，但这仍然是20财政年度和21会计年度的法律。
Although sequestration’s threatened cuts have been somewhat mitigated by Overseas Contingency Operations funding and short-term budget agreements such as in 2013 and 2015, appropriations have been unpredictable and inconsistent. The five-year decline of military contracts because of BCA has resulted in about a 50-percent drop in the industry for needs such as shelters, ballistic vests, ammunition pouches and other products made from technical textiles. With only sporadic contracts, it has been difficult for military contractors to maintain a trained and ready workforce. The military branches have, in turn, been forced to stretch out the shelf life of products which are increasingly needed to be replaced, resulting in what the DoD has called strategic atrophy.
It is too soon to tell though how much this new higher budget will impact the industry for specific products such as shelters and personal equipment. Most of the increases will go to big ticket items like planes, missile defense systems and ships. The technical textiles industry, however, should see a significant bump through the peripheral support items such as aircraft shelters. Plus, the budget calls for an increase in the troop level by 25,000 which should increase the need for more personal protection equipment and shelters, among other items.
由于乌克兰的冲突以及韩国的冲突所带来的，您会发现一个共同的主题在待定采购时，它是对极端寒冷条件的设备的重视。海军陆战队创建了一个新的小型远征旋转力 - 欧元，该部队正在挪威测试设备。已经揭示的一些问题包括带手套的操作触摸屏，以及在恶劣温度下的拉链和钩环封闭的性能。
Berry Amendment Protection
围绕法律保护国内采购的最令人讨厌的问题之一是军事采购官员对浆果修正案的要求无知。2017年7月，国防部的检查员发布了国防物流局遵守《贝里修正案》和《美国买美国法案》报告。国防物流局（DLA）监督采购，其中包括8,000多种纺织品，其中大多数由《浆果修正案》涵盖。在样本审核中，政府问责办公室（GAO）发现，DLA承包人员遵守《浆果修正案》仅涉及32份合同中的13个。其余的19个合同不符合规定，价值4.532亿美元。此外，审查的56份合同中有12份不符合《 American Act》。
庇护所
The key trends in military shelters are mobility and operating in harsh climates. The Army is rethinking its command post applications, and this may have a serious impact on the shelter industry. Under a directive called Command Post Integrated Infrastructure (CPI2), the Army is looking at the next generation of command post shelters to support a more agile, expeditionary force. Speed and mobility have become more critical components. The thinking is a command post must be able to transport and be operationally ready within 30 minutes. What this means, is more of the hard-shell structures for housing that emerged in 2016 at the expense of fabric shelters. Hard-shell structures may be put on wheels to become mobile, and come ready-to-go with wiring, air conditioning and communications. The move towards hard-shell styles may have impact on the currently accepted Deployable Rapid-Assembly Shelter (DRASH). These fabric structure modules may lose out as the hard-shell modules can offer more quick-start amenities.
On the positive side, shelter manufacturers are reporting more orders for accommodating 600-, 150- and 25-man camps. There also is an expressed demand for cold-weather shelters and clothing, which is probably driven by the conflict in Ukraine.
The following list contains most of the military shelter manufacturers:
- Outdoor Venture Corp., Stearns, Ky.;
- Camel Manufacturing Co., La Follette, Tenn.;
- Hunter Defense Technology (HDT), Solon, Ohio;
- Alaska Structures, Anchorage, Alaska;
- Diamond Brand Canvas Products, Asheville, N.C.;
- Johnson Outdoors Gear Inc. (Eureka), Binghamton, N.Y.;
- 凸轮避难所,柯克兰,洗。
- Anchor Industries Inc., Evansville, Ind.;
- Cilena Tent, Celina, Ohio;
- Western Shelter, Eugene, Ore.; and
- UTS系统，佛罗里达州沃尔顿堡海滩。
Ballistic Vests/Personal Protection Equipment
The military continually is working to develop the next-generation soldier protection systems, seeking a balance of protection and comfort to protect the warfighter from chemical, biological, environmental and impact issues.
For individual ballistic protection, the first factor is always improving projectile impact kinetic energy disbursement. After protection, there is a weight race. How can the load be lightened? Other factors are the fit of the system as well as self-reporting features such as health sensors and self-healing abilities.
士兵保护系统(SPS)是一种隋te of personal protection subsystems intended to provide equal or increased levels of protection against small-arms or fragmenting threats. The major component subsystem for the industry is the soft armor Torso and Extremity Protection (TEP). TEP is divided into 4 main tiers of protection:
- Tier 1: Concealable;
- Tier 2: Low Visibility;
- 第3层：战术；和
- Tier 4: Full Spectrum.
一些主要的ballistic vest military contractors include KDH Defense Systems Inc., Eden, N.C.; Point Blank Enterprises Inc. and Protective Products Enterprises, Pompano Beach, Fla.; Hawk Protection Inc., Pembroke Pines, Fla.; Shortbark Industries Inc., Vonore, Tenn.; and Carter Enterprises LLC dba Mil-Spec Enterprises, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Gradually, the weight for the Outer Tactical Vest (OTV) has been reduced. In 2008, a typical OTV weighed about 33 pounds. A Generation II OTV ballistic protection system is now down to less than 30 pounds. The new vital torso protection system (VTPS) is scalable and can now shed up to an additional 14 percent of the weight through change-out modular components depending upon the tactical situation. But the Army isn’t satisfied — new directives call for increased weight reduction with the goal of losing another 20 percent.
The U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) is exploring bioenabled and protective materials that combine protection against multiple environmental, detection and ballistic threats. It also is looking at signature management technologies to decrease the probability of a soldier being seen or heard by dampening the soldier’s thermal, electromagnetic or visual characteristics signature. Finally, ARL is looking at improved body armor ballistics and blast threats.
The new soft armor vest and tactical vests entered full-rate production in fiscal year 2017. The sensor systems — which include an integrated sensor system that can measure heart rate, temperature and hydration levels — are still in the development phase. New protective coverage for the pelvic, groin, side and neck are being introduced.
Soft body armor is made using either woven aramid fibers or nonwoven ultra-high-molecular-weight-polyethylene.
In addition to the military, mass shootings and attacks on law enforcement officials have created a high civilian and law enforcement demand for body armor. In 2016, the global market was estimated to be about $4 billion with a U.S. share of $465 million. In the United States, the growth is not only for law enforcement officials, but also for other types of first responders such as emergency medical technicians and firefighters.
While the military regulates standards for body armor, the only nationally accepted standard for body armor worn by law enforcement and corrections officials is the standard issued by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), an agency of the U.S. Department of Justice. NIJ has developed different classifications for body armor as follows:
- Type I — Designed to protect against lower velocity rounds. This is the lightest and most comfortable vest to wear.
- Type II-A — Protects against slightly higher velocity and is considered the bare minimum requirement for law enforcement vests.
- Type II — Armor is protection is heavier.
- III-A型 - 用于保护高速速度手枪，被认为是大多数手枪可用的最高保护。体重和散装消除了背心的隐藏。
- III型 - 用于防止步枪的战术情况。
- Type IV — Protection against armor piercing rifles and often uses ceramic plate inserts.
帮助推动市场增长,防弹Vest Partnership (BVP) program, a U.S. Department of Justice initiative designed to provide state and local jurisdictions with financial help in purchasing bullet-resistant body armor. Under the program, local governments are reimbursed up to 50 percent of the cost of each unit. Priority for the grants are given to jurisdictions under 100,000 in population. Since 1999, BVP has award more than 13,000 jurisdictions a total of $430 million in federal funds for the purchase of 1.3 million vests as of July 2017.
The increased interest in civilian purchases has created a crowded manufacturing industry with now more than 50 companies listed by the Justice Department as meeting its standards requirements. As expected in an emerging market, there seems to be the beginnings of industry consolidation through mergers and acquisitions. In 2017, Safariland Group, Jacksonville, Fla., made a series of acquisitions of smaller manufacturers; and already in 2018, a merger between KDH Defense Systems and Central Lake, Mich.-based Armor Express Inc. was announced.
如前所述，由于现有的贸易协定，美国国土安全部的国内采购提出了独特的问题。但是，就其代理商的弹道背心而言，GAO发现国土安全部以价值680万美元的装甲签约，发现所有背心都是在美国生产的。
The average life span for a ballistic vest is five years, so the growing demand for vests plus a replaceable market every five years means this will continue to be a growing product for technical textiles.
Camouflage
The transition from the Universal Camouflage Pattern (UCP) for uniforms that began in 2015 to the Operational Camouflage Pattern (OCP) will be complete in October 2019. It is estimated the switch and a consolidation of patterns for the four military branches will save at least $80 million.
The current Ultra-Lightweight Camouflage Net Systems (ULCANS) was introduced 17 years ago and expired in 2016. It was supplied under a $1.7 billion contract with Saab Barracuda. The net systems are designed to protect our forward bases of operations from visual imaging in a counter-insurgency scenario.
伪装不再只是视觉隐藏。无人机的有效使用（无人机）和改进的传感器迫切需要防止所有类型的检测。除了视觉外，多光谱战术伪装还试图同时隐藏红外，雷达，热和电磁毫米波成像的物体。
2017年8月，美国陆军纳蒂克士兵系统中心（Natick Soldier Systems Center）发布了新一代溃疡网系统的招标。除了识别检测传感器技术的进步外，还认识到不断变化的操作环境格局。新的Ulcans计划将包括用于在北极和城市环境中运营的变体，从而增加了现有的林地和沙漠乌尔坎的变体。这是一项陆军计划，但预计海军陆战队也将使用它。
In late March, the Army announced the ULCANS netting system contract was awarded to three companies — HDT Expeditionary Systems Inc., Solon, Ohio; Saab Barracuda LLC, Lillington, N.C.; and Fibrotex USA Inc., Washington. The new contract is for 10 years and is worth $480 million. Ultimately, the contractors will provide between 300 and 600 systems per month.
Editor’s Note: Steve Warner is the publisher of BeaverLake6 Report, a web-based newsletter reporting on trends, data and issues that influence the global technical textiles industry. He can be reached at beaverlake6@hotmail.com. All trade information was current as ofTW’s press time. Part one of this article appeared in the March/April 2018 issue ofTW.
May/June 2018
