A new production site in USA

METYX Setting Up New Technical Textiles Division in the USA

METYX Group has completed an agreement with the Gaston County Economic Development Commission in North Carolina to acquire a manufacturing facility for its new METYX USA Technical Textiles Division.   An acquisition of 30 acre (120 000 sq. m) site and existing buildings has been finalised, which includes 130,000 sq. ft (~ 12,000 sq. m) of covered space.

The site is located in Ranlo, Gaston County, a town approximately 28 miles west of Charlotte city. Production is expected to start by the end of Q3 2018. Significant support and incentive programs are being provided at both county and state levels which, combined with the ideal location, have made this a highly attractive package for the group and helped to secure the deal.

The planned new METYX US operations in North Carolina, expected to employ up to 200 people, will initially focus on setting up technical textiles production lines for manufacturing a range of glass and carbon fabrics, along with sales, customer service and warehousing facilities to serve the North American composites market. As a next phase, in line with customer needs, fabric, core and vacuum consumable kit cutting capabilities will be added in the future. METYX is primarily looking to establish business with US and Canadian OEMs and tier 1 converters in the wind energy generation, marine, road and rail transportation and industrial sectors.

METYX Group Managing partner, Uğur Üstünel stated: “Having been interested for several years, we   believe now is the right time to invest and bring our portfolio of products and services to the North American market. The US is a very attractive market, being the biggest globally in several key industry sectors with good future growth prospects. Without doubt, it is a fiercely competitive region, but we believe that our passionate customer service culture and solutions offering approach, combined with our strong product and service offering gives us a unique selling proposition that will attract new business. This is a very exciting time for METYX and we look forward to starting our US operations later this year.”

Üstünel will head up METYX USA working alongside newly appointed advisory board team members Evren  Aykol and Stefan Kanburoglu, who will play a key role in getting METYX USA up and running in the coming months. They will also provide considerable local knowledge and business networking as all three are based in North Carolina, living nearby in Charlotte city, so commutable to the new location in Ranlo.

North Carolina is an established manufacturing location in the USA, with more than 75,000 people working in plastics and chemicals manufacturing, being home to leading multinationals including DowDupont and BASF. The state also has a long history of textile manufacturing, with around 700 companies, including competitors. Manufacturers in a number of target market sectors for METYX technical textile products are also in the region. In more recent years, North Carolina has seen significant growth in the renewable energy companies, particularly wind turbine generator manufacturing, as well as a growing number of automotive, truck and heavy machinery manufacturing companies.