Plants: Rochester, NH; Saint Rivalain, France; Green Island, NY; Lancaster, PA; Fulton, NY; Hoosick Falls, NY; Beaver Falls, NY; Marshalltown, IA; Altenkirchen, Germany; Heerlen, The Netherlands; Hamptonville, NC; Yadkinville, NC; North Augusta, SC; Bethune, SC; Rawtenstall, U.K.; Bury U.K.; Stoke-on-Trent, U.K.; Wuxi, China; Yixing, China; Taicang, China; Shanghai, China; Quebec, Canada; Fulda, Germany; Meinerzhagen, Germany; St. Nazaire, France
Brands: AppLY Mat, Biotherm, CRS Wrap, Cryo-Lite, LydAir MG, LydAir MB, LydAir SC, LydAir GP, LyPore Defender, LyPore MB, LyPore SC, LyPore XL, Lytherm, ManniGlas, Select-A-Seal, dBCore, dBLyte, ZeroClearance, Fiberlox, Checkstatic, Microfelt, Pleatlox, Ultratech, Powertech, Powerlox, Microcap, Duotech
Major Markets: Specialty insulation, sealing, high-efficiency air and liquid filtration media and automotive

The latest news from Lydall, Inc. is a proposed changed in ownership which is scheduled for later this year. In June, Unifrax, a leading global provider of high-performance specialty materials focused on thermal management, specialty filtration, battery materials, emission control and fire protection applications backed by Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. (“Clearlake”), signed definitive agreements to acquire the company, including its 23 manufacturing facilities around the world. Lydall reportedly caught Unifrax’s attention because it is well positioned to capitalize on growth in clean air filtration and electric vehicle adoption, among many other attractive markets.

Under the terms of the agreement, Lydall shareholders will receive $62.10 per share in cash for each share outstanding, implying a total enterprise value of approximately $1.3 billion. The deal should close in the second half of 2021.

“The combination of Unifrax and Lydall creates a global specialty materials platform with new cutting edge technologies in advanced filtration, electric vehicle battery systems, and energy saving applications,” says John Dandolph, president and CEO of Unifrax. “The addition of Lydall’s people, technologies, and assets to the Unifrax portfolio will help accelerate our innovation pipeline and creates a world class platform capable of solving the world’s most pressing energy consumption, environmental and filtration challenges. We are excited to partner with a company that is similarly focused on our commitment to a Greener, Cleaner, and Safer world.”

Sara Greenstein, president and CEO of Lydall, adds, “We are excited about the combination of Lydall and Unifrax. With this transaction, we are creating a leader in specialty filtration and advanced materials with over 250 years of combined expertise and experience delivering innovative and compelling solutions to customers worldwide.”

During the past 18 months, Lydall has invested approximately $40 million in meltblown nonwoven assets in response to increased demand for face mask material. The company added two meltblown lines in Rochester, NH, and one in Saint-Rivalain, France.

The U.S. investment was partially funded through a $13.5 million contract award with the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD). Lydall can make material for 140 million N95 respirators, 540 million surgical masks or high-performing air filtration media to improve air quality in indoor space on the two lines.

The installation of these two new production lines made Lydall’s New Hampshire facility the largest site for meltblown filtration media production in the U.S. and a center of excellence for advanced filtration media innovation. To support the wider need for improved air quality beyond Covid-19, Lydall’s innovation team is focused on developing new carbon-based, high-efficiency media for MERV-, HEPA- and ULPA-grade filters for hospitals, airplanes, restaurants, office buildings and other public spaces. Lydall expects to generate new jobs to support the increase in production.

The contract award is a product of the ongoing collaboration between the Department of Defense and the Department of Health and Human Services, led by the Department’s Joint Acquisition Task Force and funded through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

Similarly, Lydall’s investment in France was partially funded by France’s Ministry of Economy and Finance.

All three lines were constructed and commercialized in record time, according to executives. The result has been significant growth. Even into 2021, the company continues to report strong sales of this material as the lines contributed incremental growth in the company’s Performance Materials segment.

“Our Performance Materials (“PM”) business saw continued strong demand in specialty filtration led by higher sales of fine fiber meltblown media as well as sealing solutions which benefited from favorable trends in transportation, agricultural, and construction end markets,” Greenstein reported during the company’s second quarter 2021 earnings call. “PM sealing and advanced solutions products were up 49.5% and specialty filtration sales grew 14.9%. The PM team commissioned additional fine fiber meltblown capacity at our Rochester, New Hampshire, and St. Rivalain, France, facilities, ahead of schedule and under budget.”

As the company was ramping up its face mask and respirator materials business, the company was also scaling back production in other areas, particularly at its sites in Hamptonville and Yadkinville, NC; Meinerzhagen, Germany; and St. Nazaire, France, in response to a number of Lydall’s largest automotive OEM customers having temporarily ceased operations.

In overall corporate sales, Lydall’s reported a decline in sales to $764 million in 2020 as significant increases in its filtration businesses were not enough to offset slowdowns in its Technical Nonwovens business, due to lower demand in industrial end use markets, and its Thermal and Acoustical business, which was largely attributed to disruptions in the automotive markets.

The company did however report recovery during the second half of 2021 and took some actions to offset declines in key businesses. In addition to increasing its focus on meltblown and materials for face masks, the company repurposed its Texel automotive business in Canada to make healthcare gowns for first responders in New York City and increased its nonwovens for healthcare materials like medical wipes, pads and gowns.

Plants: Rochester, NH; Saint Rivalain, France; Green Island, NY; Lancaster, PA; Fulton, NY; Hoosick Falls, NY; Beaver Falls, NY; Marshalltown, IA; Altenkirchen, Germany; Heerlen, The Netherlands; Hamptonville, NC; Yadkinville, NC; North Augusta, SC; Bethune, SC; Rawtenstall, U.K.; Bury U.K.; Stoke-on-Trent, U.K.; Wuxi, China; Yixing, China; Taicang, China; Shanghai, China; Quebec, Canada; Fulda, Germany; Meinerzhagen, Germany; St. Nazaire, France
Brands: AppLY Mat, Biotherm, CRS Wrap, Cryo-Lite, LydAir MG, LydAir MB, LydAir SC, LydAir GP, LyPore Defender, LyPore MB, LyPore SC, LyPore XL, Lytherm, ManniGlas, Select-A-Seal, dBCore, dBLyte, ZeroClearance, Fiberlox, Checkstatic, Microfelt, Pleatlox, Ultratech, Powertech, Powerlox, Microcap, Duotech
Major Markets: Specialty insulation, sealing, high-efficiency air and liquid filtration media and automotive

Celebrating its 150th anniversary—and 50 years as a publicly traded company—in 2019, Lydall reported a performance that was not reflective of its potential during the year, according to CEO Sara Greenstein.

“Lydall has had a history of strong performance and strong growth but throughout 2018 and 2019 those results were disappointing to everyone,” says Greenstein, who joined Lydall in 2019. “We have the components of a best-in-class organization and we have unique applications and technologies to help solve problems that our customers are facing. I was positively impressed regarding the breadth of the technical knowledge and the manufacturing capability but the results weren’t there.”

In 2019, the company’s Technical Nonwovens business unit, which contains several recently acquired businesses including Texel and Gutsche, reported sales decreased $7.5 million to reach $255 million, adjusted for foreign exchange rates and the divestiture of the Texel Geosel business in the second quarter. The slowdown in China was primarily responsible for the sales decline due to global trade uncertainties and the impacts of facility consolidations efforts. Volumes in North America and Europe decreased only slightly.

Meanwhile, Thermal Acoustical Solutions business unit sales delivered organic growth of 1.1% and total sales of $362 million despite a global slowdown in automotive production. Margins were impacted by higher costs for new product ramps in North America and higher costs in Europe to accommodate unexpected volume increases of select customers.

Within the Performance Materials business unit, sales increased $76 million to $245 million largely driven by the acquisition of the Interface Performance Materials business in the third quarter of 2018. This business unit is divided into two businesses—Sealing & Advanced Solutions and Filtration. Sales in Sealing & Advanced Solutions saw softness across all regions as lower auto demand and slowing growth in agricultural and construction end markets impacted sales. Sales in Filtration were flat as higher demand in air filtration products were offset by lower sales of liquid filtration products.

Greenstein took over at the helm of Lydall in November 2019 following the retirement of Dale Barnhardt who had served the position for 12 years. To help Lydall get back on track, Greenstein has been conducting a strategic review of the operation. One of the key challenges will be better collaboration and cross pollination between the three business units of Lydall.

“There are plenty of opportunities for success,” Greenstein says. “We just haven’t been leveraging them. We are breaking down the silos that exist between the units and changing the culture. That starts at the top, and I very quickly expected this of my leadership team and started to communicate in a very knowledgeable way.”

In addition to Greenstein’s appointment, two of the three business units also saw leadership changes last year. In July 2019, Joseph Abbruzzi was named president, Thermal Acoustical Solutions. Abbruzzi had formerly served as president of the Technical Nonwovens business. Lydall appointed Robb Junker to that role in October 2019. Ashish Diwanji was appointed president of Performance Materials, replacing Paul Marold, in June 2020.

Amidst these efforts to transform its business, Lydall has responded swiftly and effectively to the challenges brought on by the Coronavirus pandemic in the first half of 2020. In July, the company broke ground on a two-line meltblown site, which will be the biggest meltblown operation in the U.S., in Rochester, NH. It will give Lydall the ability to make 140 million respirators and 540 million masks.

Prioritizing its response to Covid-19 to produce filtration products used in N95 respirators, surgical and medical masks, and medical wipes, pads and gowns was not the only impact the virus had on Lydall’s business. As it was ramping up production in these areas, it was also scaling back its manufacturing facilities in Hamptonville and Yadkinville, NC; Meinerzhagen, Germany; and St. Nazaire, France, in response to a number of Lydall’s largest automotive OEM customers having temporarily ceased operations.

Plants: Rochester, NH; Saint Rivalain, France; Green Island, NY; Heerlen, The Netherlands; Hamptonville, NC; Yadkinville, NC. Industrial Filtration locations: North Augusta, SC; Bethune, SC; Rawtenstall, U.K.; Bury U.K.; Stoke-on-Trent, U.K.; Wuxi, China; Shanghai, China
Brands: AppLY Mat, Arioso, Biotherm, CRS Wrap, Cryo-Lite, LydAir MG, LydAir MB, LydAir SC, LyPore Defender, LyPore MB, LyPore SC, LyPore XL, Lytherm, ManniGlas, Solupor, dBCore, dBLyte, ZeroClearance. Industrial filtration brands: Fiberlox, Checkstatic, Microfelt, Pleatlox, Ultratech, Powertech, Powerlox, Microcap, Duotech
Major Markets: Specialty insulation, high-efficiency air and liquid filtration media and automotive

Acquisitions, as well as divestments, continue to influence Lydall’s nonwovens sales as the company continues to focus on growing in new areas while growing in existing areas. In recent years, the company’s aggressive acquisition strategy has expanded its manufacturing footprint into Canada and China and provided entry into new markets like energy storage and geotextiles while reinforcing its role in its core market of filtration.

Lydall’s most recent acquisition was the gasket materials business from Hollingsworth & Vose in April, which builds on another recent acquisition, Interface, in August 2018.  The Interface brand is a globally recognized leader with a comprehensive portfolio of complete sealing solutions, deep in-house technical capabilities, and vertical integration. This purchase will expand the company’s position in the global gasket material sector.

“We are extremely excited about the acquisition of the gasket materials business from H&V,” says Paul Marold, president, Lydall Performance Materials. “It coincides perfectly with our strategy of continuing to grow our market share in the sealing market with high-quality products. We look forward to serving the needs of existing and new customers as a result of this transaction, and we believe all will experience a seamless transition to Lydall Performance Materials.”

In 2018, Lydall reported that is Performance Materials segment increased its sales by $52.5 million to $169 million. Specifically, sales of filtration products grew 6.8%, fueled by healthy demand as well as the acquisition of Precision Filtration, a Totowa, NJ-based maker of high-quality air filtration media serving the commercial and residential HVAC markets with MERV 7-11 products. The addition of these products and capabilities enables Lydall to provide its customers with a full range of air filtration media from low efficiency MERV 7 through high-performing ULPA. Additionally, this acquisition further enhances Lydall’s flexibility in manufacturing, planning and logistics for our new and existing customers.

Looking ahead, Lydall’s filtration business is expected to benefit from the launch of innovative products like LydAir GP gas phase filter media. Layered in pleatable substrates, LydAir GP media consists of highly uniform, highly efficient, specialty sorbent particles that aid in the adsorption of acid and base contaminants as well as other volatile organic compounds.

Lydall’s flexible process creates multiple opportunities for technically advanced composite development with LydAir GP filter media and Lydall’s core particulate filtration media. Particulate layers can range from MERV 8/G4 to HEPA and can be laminated with a variety of Lydall adsorption layers to allow for removal of multiple airborne molecular and particulate contaminants in one medium.

LydAir GP media is perfectly suited for applications such as office buildings, airports, restaurants, hospitals, manufacturing facilities, automotive cabin air or any environment where airborne molecular contaminants are a concern.

Within Lydall’s Technical Nonwovens segment, sales increased $8 million to $277 million. This division has benefited from the Texel and Gutsche businesses, which were acquired in 2016. Organic growth of 1.6% was led by 4.9% growth in industrial filtration and offset by lower sales in advanced materials, particularly lower intercompany sales to the Thermal and Acoustical Solutions segment.

Earlier this year, as part of an effort to streamline its focus on core markets, Lydall sold its Texel Geosel business, which  installs geosynthetic products in the civil engineering and environmental protection sectors, principally within the province of Quebec, Canada.

“The divestiture of Geosol follows Lydall’s strategy to focus on our core technologies and capabilities that improve our effectiveness and positioning as a specialty materials provider,” says Dale G. Barnhart, president and CEO of Lydall, Inc.

Texel will continue to supply geosynthetic materials to FC to ensure that customers maintain access to high quality products and services.

“We have found the ideal purchaser that shares our passion for this business and its people.  FC’s deep expertise in geosynthetics installation and their local market knowledge positions them well as the new owner of Geosol.  Additionally, Texel’s continued supply of geosynthetic materials to FC ensures end customers will maintain access to high quality products and service,” says Joe Abbruzzi, former president of Lydall’s Technical Nonwovens segment.

Lydall’s third segment, Thermal and Acoustical, largely supplies the automotives market with products that are used both in the exterior and interior of the car. Here, Lydall was able to grow 1.6% despite a market that is flat globally. Within the segment, high commodity costs, combined with a product complexity of much higher product launches hurt profitability. The North American team launched almost twice the number of thermal shield parts in 2018 compared to 2017, causing operational disruptions and higher costs in the year. Lydall continues to exercise a disciplined approach in solving these issues and saw progress in the second half of 2018. Raw material costs eased somewhat in the last quarter of the year. Operations in the largest market, China, showed a 16% sales growth and healthy operating margins.

Meanwhile, in personnel news, Lydall, named Abbruzzi president, Lydall Thermal Acoustical Solutions, in July. He replaces Scott M. Deakin, who is departing Lydall to pursue alternative opportunities.  The company has initiated an external search to identify a new President for the Lydall Technical Nonwovens business segment.

Abbruzzi, who most recently served as President of Lydall’s Technical Nonwovens business, has a long history with both Thermal Acoustical Solutions and the automotive industry.  From 2011 to 2014, Mr. Abbruzzi led the turnaround of the Thermal/Acoustical Fibers business segment, a segment that was combined with Thermal / Acoustical Metals in 2017 to create Lydall’s Thermal Acoustical Solutions business segment.

Plants: Rochester, NH; Saint Rivalain, France; Green Island, NY; Heerlen, The Netherlands; Hamptonville, NC; Yadkinville, NC. Industrial Filtration locations: North Augusta, SC; Bethune, SC; Rawtenstall, U.K.; Bury U.K.; Stoke-on-Trent, U.K.; Wuxi, China; Shanghai, China
Brands: AppLY Mat, Arioso, Biotherm, CRS Wrap, Cryo-Lite, LydAir MG, LydAir MB, LydAir SC, LyPore Defender, LyPore MB, LyPore SC, LyPore XL, Lytherm, ManniGlas, Solupor, dBCore, dBLyte, ZeroClearance. Industrial filtration brands: Fiberlox, Checkstatic, Microfelt, Pleatlox, Ultratech, Powertech, Powerlox, Microcap, Duotech
Major Markets: Specialty insulation, high-efficiency air and liquid filtration media and automotive

Acquisition continues to be a strategy for growth for Lydall Inc. The maker of specialty engineered products and materials has announced two acquisitions in recent months, both of which will help it expand into new markets while expanding its role in existing areas.

Last month, Lydall entered into an agreement to acquire Interface Performance Materials for $265 million. The acquisition is expected to further advance Lydall’s engineered materials offering into new markets with similar technologies as those used in the company’s Performance Materials business. Interface, based in Lancaster, PA, is a leading globally recognized brand that delivers complete sealing solutions with a comprehensive product portfolio, deep in-house technical capabilities and vertical integration.

A leader in the delivery of engineered sealing solutions, Interface partners with OEMs and Tier I manufacturers to serve both original equipment and aftermarket needs in segments such as agriculture, construction, earthmoving, industrial and automotive. Headquartered in Lancaster, PA, Interface supports its global sales with manufacturing sites in the U.S., Germany and India.

Interface’s reported sales for 2017 were $142 million, and the business is expected to achieve sales of approximately $150 million 12 months ending August 31, 2018. Lydall expects to leverage its business efficiencies, operating discipline and economies of scale to generate an estimated annual cost savings of approximately $4 million by 2020.

“We are extremely excited about yet another transformational acquisition for Lydall. Interface Performance Materials expands our engineered materials portfolio with favorable margins while further shifting our concentration away from automotives, which continues to be the focus of our long-term strategy. Interface is very well known in the industry for providing high-quality solutions and is uniquely positioned with deep in-house expertise for research, design, testing, production and fabrication,” says CEO Dale Barnhart. “Additionally, the culture, innovation and technology similarities between Interface and our legacy Performance Materials business create a complementary fit and provide opportunities for future growth. We look forward to welcoming Interface’s employees to the family once the deal closes.”

One month earlier, Lydall announced it would build upon its existing HVAC filtration business through the acquisition of the Precision Filtration division of Precision Custom Coatings in Totowa, NJ.

Precision Filtration is a long-time producer of high-quality, air filtration media principally serving the commercial and residential HVAC markets with MERV 7 – 11 products.

The addition of these products and capabilities will enable Lydall to provide its customers with a full range of air filtration media from low efficiency MERV 7 through high-performing ULPA. Additionally, this acquisition further enhances Lydall’s flexibility in manufacturing, planning and logistics for its new and existing customers. Full integration into Lydall is expected by the end of 2018.

“We are extremely excited about the acquisition of the filtration business of Precision Custom Coatings as it coincides perfectly with our strategy of continuing to grow our product offering in the filtration space with high-quality products that are valued by our customers,”  vice president of Advanced Nonwovens Paul Marold says. “Precision Custom Coatings has developed excellent products while nurturing strong relationships with a customer base that is complementary to ours. This will lead to a seamless transition to Lydall Performance Materials.”

A steady stream of investments has helped boost Lydall’s nonwovens business in recent years. In 2017, the company’s nonwovens sales were about $522 million including contributions from its Technical Nonwovens, Performance Materials and Thermal/Acoustical Fibers divisions.

Lydall’s acquisition of Gutsche was completed at the very end of 2016, strengthening Lydall’s role in filtration as well as other engineered technical material segments and providing Lydall with production facilities in Germany and China. This acquisition was integrated into Lydall’s Technical Nonwovens segment, which contains two divisions, industrial filtration and advanced nonwovens.

Lydall created the Technical Nonwovens segment in July 2016 when it announced the acquisition of Texel, a Canadian needlepunch manufacturer. In 2017, Technical Nonwovens represented 38.5% of sales compared to 27.4% of sales in 2016. Sales in the segment grew 73%. While the Texel and Gutsche acquisitions were largely responsible for this growth, organic sales also grew 16.5% thanks to the recovery of the power generation markets and strong internal sales to Lydall’s thermal/acoustical fibers division.

Lydall’s legacy nonwovens businesses are grouped into two segments—Performance Materials and Thermal/Acoustical Fibers. Performance Materials includes filtration media solutions for air, fluid power and industrial applications as well as thermal insulation solutions for building products, appliances and energy and industrial markets. In 2016, sales from this segment represented 16.7% of net sales compared to 19.6% in 2015.

The thermal/acoustical fibers segment offers innovative engineered products to assist in noise vibration and hardness, abatement and thermal protections within the transportation segment. Products are found in the interior, underbody, and under hood of cards, trucks, SUVs and recreational vehicles.

Plants: Rochester, NH; Saint Rivalain, France; Green Island, NY; Heerlen, The Netherlands; Hamptonville, NC; Yadkinville, NC. Industrial Filtration locations: North Augusta, SC; Bethune, SC; Rawtenstall, U.K.; Bury U.K.; Stoke-on-Trent, U.K.; Wuxi, China; Shanghai, China
Brands: AppLY Mat, Arioso, Biotherm, CRS Wrap, Cryo-Lite, LydAir MG, LydAir MB, LydAir SC, LyPore Defender, LyPore MB, LyPore SC, LyPore XL, Lytherm, ManniGlas, Solupor, dBCore, dBLyte, ZeroClearance. Industrial filtration brands: Fiberlox, Checkstatic, Microfelt, Pleatlox, Ultratech, Powertech, Powerlox, Microcap, Duotech
Major Markets: Specialty insulation, high-efficiency air and liquid filtration media and automotive

Lydall, of Manchester, CT, capped off the year 2016 with another investment. This time it was MGF Gutsche, a German needlepuncher, for approximately $58 million in cash. The transaction will continue to strengthen Lydall’s role both in the filtration market as well as in other engineered technical material segments.  The transaction closed December 31.

With production facilities in Germany and China, Gutsche’s key markets include industrial filtration and high performance nonwoven segments. Its 2016 were expected to reach $50 million.

“Our two companies could not fit together better,” says Dale Barnhart, Lydall CEO. “With our combined organizations, I am confident we will be able to provide superior value and services for our customers while creating value for our shareholders.”

The acquisition was integrated into Lydall’s Technical Nonwovens segment, which contains two divisions—industrial filtration and advanced nonwovens. Lydall created the Technical Nonwovens segment in July 2016 when it announced the acquisition of Texel, a Canadian needlepunch manufacturer. In 2016, this division comprised 27.4% of total sales or $155 million, and this figure should rise significantly in 2017, the first full year of Texel and Gutsche ownership.

While there are a number of synergies between Lydall and Gutsche—particularly in industrial filtration—the acquisition gives Lydall better access to the growing waste to incinerator filtration market, which comprises about 50% of filter sales. Meanwhile, about 20% of the acquired business falls outside of filtration in markets such as fiber block for transportation, heat protection, automotives and acoustic roll goods.

In addition to new market access, the acquisition provides Lydall with manufacturing sites in Germany and China, establishing Lydall with its first manufacturing presence in mainland Europe. Up until now, Lydall has been serving the greater European market from sites in the U.K., which has presented challenges related to logistics and currencies. Meanwhile, Gutcshe’s Chinese operations provide better access to the attractive Asia-Pacific markets, which have been underserved by Lydall’s legacy business, according to Barnhardt. Currently, about 75% of Gutsche’s sales are in the EMEA region, while about 20% are conducted in the Asia-Pacific region.

Michael Gutsche, CEO of Gutsche, comments, “I am very excited for Gutsche to become a part of the growing Lydall organization. We have found the ideal partner that shares our passion for delivering the most advanced and highest quality products in the industry.  Our combined focus on profitable growth and the complementary nature of markets we serve will only further strengthen the excellent relationships we have with our suppliers and customers.”

“The advanced materials business provides us with products and markets that are attractive to us as we tried to diverse our offerings in the nonwovens segment,” Barnhart says. This diversification strategy was also proven through the Texel acquisition. About 50% of this company’s sales were in the geosynthetics market.”

The Texel business, which includes needlepunch nonwovens for filtration, geotextile and other technical areas, also falls within Lydall’s Advanced Nonwovens business, while Lydall’s industrial filtration division, includes the business acquired from Andrew Industries in 2014.

The acquisitions of Texel, Gutsche and Andrew will go a long way in helping Lydall achieve its goal of reaching the $800 million sales mark by 2018—in 2016 total corporate sales were $566 million and this figure should be boosted by about more than $100 million in 2017, thanks to the full integration of Texel and Gutsche.

Lydall’s existing nonwovens are grouped into two segments—Performance Materials and Thermal/Acoustical Fibers.

The Performance Materials segment, which represents about 19.6% of sales, includes filtration media solutions primarily for air, fluid power, and industrial applications, thermal insulation solutions for building products, appliances  and energy and industrial markets as well as thermal insulation and air and liquid life science applications. Filtration products include LydAir MG (micro-glass) Air Filtration Media, LydAir MB (meltblown) Air Filtration Media, LydAir SC (synthetic composite) Air Filtration Media.

Meanwhile, the Thermal/Acoustical Fibers segment, representing 26.4% of sales, offers innovative engineered products to assist primarily in noise vibration and harshness (NVH) abatement within the transportation sector. Products are found in the interior (dash insulators, cabin flooring), underbody (wheel well, aerodynamic belly pan, fuel tank, exhaust) and under hood (engine compartment) of cars, trucks, SUVs, heavy duty trucks and recreational vehicles.

Plants: Rochester, NH; Saint Rivalain, France; Green Island, NY; Heerlen, The Netherlands; Hamptonville, NC; Yadkinville, NC. Industrial Filtration locations: North Augusta, SC; Bethune, SC; Rawtenstall, U.K.; Bury U.K.; Stoke-on-Trent, U.K.; Wuxi, China; Shanghai, China
Brands: AppLY Mat, Arioso, Biotherm, CRS Wrap, Cryo-Lite, LydAir MG, LydAir MB, LydAir SC, LyPore Defender, LyPore MB, LyPore SC, LyPore XL, Lytherm, ManniGlas, Solupor, dBCore, dBLyte, ZeroClearance. Industrial filtration brands: Fiberlox, Checkstatic, Microfelt, Pleatlox, Ultratech, Powertech, Powerlox, Microcap, Duotech
Major Markets: Specialty insulation, high-efficiency air and liquid filtration media and automotive

Filtration and insulation specialist Lydall continues to grow through acquisition. In July, the Manchester, CT-based company announced it would acquire Texel, a Canadian manufacturer of needlepunched nonwovens. Executives pinpointed Texel’s strength in adjacent markets like geosynthetics, which comprise about 50% of sales, as well as liquid filtration and automotives as key motivators behind the acquisition.

Calling Texel an “outstanding company” with a “strong management team and workforce, Lydall CEO Dale Barnhart said it was the complementary technologies—needlepunch nonwovens—between the two companies as well as Texel’s leadership position in several adjacent markets that drew the company to the acquisition. “We had been looking at Texel for a long time,” he says. “It was not an auction process. It was a negotiated deal.”

Lydall is purchasing Texel from parent company ADS for a reported $96 million. In 2015, Texel’s nonwovens sales were about $72 million, 95% of which were in the U.S. and Canada.

Following the sale, Texel’s business, which includes two manufacturing sites in Quebec, will be incorporated into Lydall’s Industrial Filtration division, which will ultimately be renamed technical nonwovens. Within this division, the groups will be dived into two categories—filtration and advanced materials.

Lydall’s Industrial Filtration division also contains the business it acquired from Andrew Industries in 2014. Comprised of needlepunched nonwovens used nearly entirely in filter media bag applications, this business included manufacturing assets in the U.S., the U.K. and China. Like Andrew, Texel’s business comprises solely needlepunch nonwovens with three plants in Canada but its more diverse market presence was attractive to Lydall.

“The acquisition gives us the ability to take similar manufacturing processes and leverage into growth markets like geotextiles and liquid filtration,” says Scott Deakin, Lydall CFO. “We have available capacity in Europe and we see this as an opportunity to take our existing platforms and expand into new geographies with our existing assets.”

The expected synergies between Lydall and Andrew have exceed expectations during the past two years, according to executives, and acquisitions will continue to be on the radar for Lydall as it looks to grow into new markets and geographies. “We will do it in an orderly manner,” Barnhart says. “We are not going out with reckless abandon. As we did with Andrew, we found another great opportunity with Lydall.”

In 2015, Lydall’s industrial filtration segment increased 24% to reach $13 million thanks largely to increased roll goods sales to the company’s thermal/acoustical business. About 50% of the division’s sales were manufactured in the U.S. while the remaining half were split between Europe and Asia.

Meanwhile, Lydall’s existing nonwovens-related business are Performance Materials, which include wetlaid nonwovens for sophisticated filtration applications in the air, fluid power and industrial sects, and Thermal/Acoustical Fibers, which includes Lydall’s polyester needlepunch technology which primarily serves the automotives market.

In 2015, Performance Materials segment sales accounted for 19.3% of corporate sales. Sales in this segment decreased 12.4% compared to 2014 due to decreased sales volumes and the impact of foreign currency. Filtration product sales decreased 12% due to unfavorable currency translation and, to a lesser extent, lower demand for air filtration media in Asia and North America. Meanwhile, lower insulation product sales were the result of decreased demand for the segment’s cryogenic insulation products.

In late 2015, Paul Marold was named president of this division. Prior to joining Lydall, Marold was the COO of Sontara at Jacob Holm and had previously worked at Clarcor and Ahlstrom.

“We are delighted to have Paul join Lydall’s executive leadership team. He brings extensive filtration industry experience with a successful track record in sales, marketing and operational excellence and a proven ability to drive profitable growth.,” Barnhart says. “He is an outstanding leader with a history of creating value for customers and shareholders in the very industries into which our Performance Materials segment serves.”

Lydall’s Thermal/acoustical fibers segment reported a 7.9% sales increase on the strength of the automotives parts category brought on by increased consumer demand for vehicles in the U.S.

Plants: Rochester, NH; Saint Rivalain, France; Green Island, NY; Heerlen, The Netherlands; Hamptonville, NC; Yadkinville, NC. Industrial Filtration locations: North Augusta, SC; Bethune, SC; Rawtenstall, U.K.; Bury U.K.; Stoke-on-Trent, U.K.; Wuxi, China; Shanghai, China
Brands: AppLY Mat, Arioso, Biotherm, CRS Wrap, Cryo-Lite, LydAir MG, LydAir MB, LydAir SC, LyPore Defender, LyPore MB, LyPore SC, LyPore XL, Lytherm, ManniGlas, Solupor, dBCore, dBLyte, ZeroClearance. Industrial filtration brands: Fiberlox, Checkstatic, Microfelt, Pleatlox, Ultratech, Powertech, Powerlox, Microcap, Duotech
Major Markets: Specialty insulation, high-efficiency air and liquid filtration media and automotive

In February 2014, Lydall finalized the acquisition of baghouse filter media maker Andrew Industries, which added needlepunch capabilities as well as manufacturing sites in the U.S. and China to its existing facilities. The new business, now known as Lydall Industrial Filtration, adds about $130 million in sales annually to its overall results.

According to executives, the biggest change in the acquired business has to do with capitalizing on synergies with Lydall’s existing businesses. For instance, as Lydall has faced supply shortages in capacity for its needlepunch-based thermal acoustical nonwovens, they have been relying on some capacity from the acquired business to meet demand.

Meanwhile, Andrew’s Chinese operation, formerly known as Chinese Felt, which is Lydall’s first in that region, will ultimately help the company globalize its other business, namely the thermal acoustical operation, which largely serves the rapidly-growing automotives market. Lydall sees particular potential for this technology in Asia.

Andrews’ core business was industrial filtration, which the company found as an attractive adjacency to existing businesses.

Growth in both new and existing markets continues to be a focus for the company. Prior to the acquisition, Lydall’s sales were split into two separate divisions—Performance Materials, containing wetlaid operations targeting filtration and insulation applications, and thermal/acoustical fibers, a polyester needlepunch technology that primarily serves the automotives market.

According to executives, growth in automotives, particularly in acoustical areas, has been strong as nonwovens offer favorable characteristics compared to competing products. Areas where Lydall provides products include underbelly pans, wheel well liners and plastic injection materials, which are lighter weight and more durable than other materials and help automakers achieve requirements for lower weights and improved fuel efficiency.

Meanwhile, Lydall’s Performance Materials division, which includes its wetlaid nonwovens, targets sophisticated filtration applications for air, fluid power and industrial applications, liquid science applications and thermal insulation solutions for building products, appliances and industrial materials. Its product lineup in this segment constitutes the critical media components of clean air systems for applications in clean-space, commercial, industrial and residential HVAC, power generation and industrial process.

Within this segment, the LyPore liquid filtration media series addresses a variety of application needs in fluid power including hydraulic filters, air-water and air-oil coalescing industrial fluid processes and diesel fuel filtration.

While automotives sales are growing more solidly, driven by new application areas for nonwovens as well as total market growth, the filtration business has a higher base for Lydall, representing about $246 million of its $357 million in nonwovens sales last year so growth there is more significant to overall results.

In March 2014, Lydall improved its filtration operations with the addition of a small wetlaid line in Rochester, NH. Described as a minimill, this state-of-the-art line, dedicated primarily to smaller runs, offers benefits like a faster start up, increased efficiency and better flexibility. This will help Lydall cater to the life science markets where many applications have smaller batch sizes. The line can provide customers with products in an efficient manner and allows Lydall to hold research and development and testing trials without monopolizing its existing assets.

Plants: Rochester, NH; Saint Rivalain, France; Green Island, NY; Heerlen, The Netherlands; Hamptonville, NC; Yadkinville, NC. Industrial Filtration locations: North Augusta, SC; Bethune, SC; Rawtenstall, UK; Bury UK; Stoke-on-Trent, UK; Wuxi, China; Shanghai, China

Brands: AppLY Mat, Arioso, Biotherm, CRS Wrap, Cryo-Lite, LydAir MG, LydAir MB, LydAir SC, LyPore Defender, LyPore MB, LyPore SC, LyPore XL, Lytherm, ManniGlas, Solupor, dBCore, dBLyte, ZeroClearance. Industrial filtration brands: Fiberlox, Checkstatic, Microfelt, Pleatlox, Ultratech, Powertech, Powerlox, Microcap, Duotech

Major Markets: Specialty insulation, high-efficiency air and liquid filtration media, automotive

The acquisition of the baghouse filtration media manufacturer businesses of Andrew Industries, which is now known as its industrial filtration business, was the big news for Lydall, Inc. this year. Closed in February 2014, the acquisition should add more than  $130 million in sales to the company’s performance this year.

With manufacturing sites in South Carolina, the U.K. and China, the acquired filtration businesses broadens Lydall’s portfolio into new areas while also giving it an Asian presence.

There are a lot of complements between the acquired and existing business both on filtration and automotive, but the acquisition was described as adjacent to existing businesses as Lydall was not previously participating in the industrial air filtration market.

The acquired business’ main product is a needlepunch nonwoven for industrial air filtration. In 2013, the company’s sales were $127 million.

In addition to adding to the company’s filtration offerings, the acquisition of the Andrew industrial filtration businesses gave Lydall additional capacity in South Carolina and provided it with new manufacturing assets in the U.K. and China. Prior to the purchase, Lydall had a strong North American presence as well as a Western European business served through plants in France and the Netherlands.

Growth in both new and existing markets is a focus for the company, and while the purchase will help the company grow in new markets and new geographies, a growth strategy is also a focus in Lydall’s existing businesses. In 2013, the existing nonwovens businesses sales were split into two separate divisions—Performance Materials, containing wetlaid operations targeting filtration and insulation applications, and Thermal/Acoustical Fibers, a polyester–based needlepunch technology, primarily serving the automotive market.

Together the two divisions reported sales of $226 million. While results in the performance materials business were down year-over-year due to the divestment of one of its products lines, thermal/acoustical fibers sales were up about 20% due primarily to the strength of the automotives market in North America and Lydall’s ability to win new platform awards

While filtration is certainly a strong business for Lydall from a strategy perspective the company was more heavily weighted in automotives before acquiring the Andrew industrial filtration businesses. However, the focus is to try and grow the filtration side of the business, which is seen as more stable and more likely to grow over the long term.

In March, Lydall improved its filtration operations with the addition of a small wetlaid line in Rochester, NH. Described as a minimill, this state-of-the-art line, dedicated primarily for smaller runs, offered benefits like a faster start up, increased efficiency and better flexibility. This will help Lydall cater to the life science markets where many applications have smaller batch sizes. The line can provide customers with products in an efficient manner and allows Lydall to hold research and development and testing trials without monopolizing its existing assets.

Meanwhile, in the thermal/acoustical area, where Lydall provides a lightweight, structural material, the company saw better than 20% growth in 2013 due largely to the strength of the North American automotive markets. Here, Lydall’s products act as acoustical barriers in products like belly pans, wheel well liners and dashliners.

Plants: Rochester, NH; Saint Rivalain, France; Green Island, NY; Heerlen, The Netherlands
Brands: AppLY Mat, Arioso, Biotherm, CRS Wrap, Cryo-Lite, LydAir MG, LydAir MB, LydAir SC, LyPore Defender, LyPore MB, LyPore SC, LyPore XL, Lytherm, ManniGlas, Solupor
Major Markets: Specialty insulation, high-efficiency air and liquid filtration media

Sales in the performance materials segment of Lydall Inc. decreased $16 million, or 12%, to $118 million in 2012 due to lower volumes and the negative impact of foreign currency translation. Part of the reduction in sales was attributed to the sale of an electrical papers product line in 2010 as well as decreased demand in certain commercial building products markets.

Industrial filtration products decreased 6.2%, or $4.5 million, due to a reduction in demand for the materials in Europe and Asia. Sales of life science filtration products decreased due to decreased demand for products used in water and life protection application products.

Opportunities for Lydall are mainly driven by markets engaged in product and technology development that are demanding higher levels of filtration performance. Additionally, opportunities exist for geographic expansion in filtration and insulation in regions including Eastern Europe, South America, India and China. These regions continue to invest in infrastructure improvements and demand more from their filtration and insulation applications.

In new product news, Lydall’s Arioso high performance air filtration composite media was chosen as the premium filter media in a range of high efficiency fume extraction filters being produced by a prominent filter manufacturer in the U.K. Fume extraction filters are used to remove fi ne particulate matter that is contained in smoke and fumes generated by laser/plasma cutting and welding operations. The filters engineered with Arioso are designed to remove even the finest particles to provide cleaner air discharge in the workplace and the environment.

New product development has always been a priority for Lydall performance materials across all of its market segments. In filtration and separation, the company offers LyPore and LyPore Defender microglass media and LyPore Unity, a microglass series that is optimized for coalescing. More specifically, in air and industrial filtration, LydAir microglass media and Arioso high performance composite filtration media are both critical components of clean-air systems in a number of areas.

Meanwhile, Lydall’s filter media for the biopharmaceutical, medical, food and beverage, specialty process and drinking water industries include microglass, meltblown and synthetic grades for removing particles ranging from bacteria to large sediment.

Lydall recently expanded its Solupor membrane series, based on ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene. These new grades perform at high flow rates in venting and air/gas line filters. Within specialty insulation, Lydall products include Manniglas fiberglass papers, appLY Mat needled fiberglass mats, Biotherm biosoluble ceramin paper and Lytherm ceramic paper for a variety of cavity, gasket, sealing and surface protection applications in the home appliance, industrial HVAC, energy and petrochemical markets.