Author: wpadmin

FET has long been committed to training and excellence in the industry. Our apprentice Jacob Thompson  is now well into his second year with us, training in electrical engineering, but at the same time gaining valuable all-round experience and understanding of all related FET technical processes.

Jacob is on day release undertaking his NVQ at college. FET is working in conjunction with training company Kirkdale Industrial Training Services Ltd (KITS) which provides facilities, assistance and supervision for engineering apprentices in their work and general education. This has proved highly successful for Jacob and all parties involved and FET looks forward to developing its apprentice scheme in the near future.

 

FET has installed the FET-100 Series multifunctional laboratory melt spinning system into one of the world’s most renowned research facilities, The University of Massachusetts. UMass is a five-campus public university system, recognized as a model of excellence for public universities.

Managing Director, Richard Slack explains: “This reflects the collaborative policy FET holds with its clients – in this case UMass Lowell and its Plastics Engineering Department, an internationally recognized leader in plastics engineering education.”

The installation was configured with a bi-component FET-100 Extrusion Module, which is capable of processing a wide range of polymers, coupled to a FET-101 Multifilament drawing and winding system capable of processing a range of multifilament yarns. This will bring to UMass Lowell the capability to fabricate shaped fibres which will provide a step change in functionality compared to traditional fibres and fabrics. The total market for traditional engineered textiles is forecast to reach $84 billion in 2020 and new engineered textiles developed at UMass Lowell could address over 10% of the available market. Researchers at UMass Lowell, including Stephen Johnston and Javier Vera-Sorroche, are exploring properties such as high temperature, high strength, flame retardance, high conductivity, and super omniphobicity.

The inherent flexibility and versatility of the system will allow future adaptations, such as FET-102 Nonwoven or FET-103 Monofilament, depending on future research requirements. This system design appeals to many end-users, not only allowing for upgrade in process capability but also for staged investment.

Fibre Extrusion Technology Ltd is extending and improving its facilities in Leeds, UK.  To facilitate continuing growth, FET has purchased 500 square metres of adjacent land and buildings. These acquired buildings will become a new R&D Facility and Customer Visitor Centre, which will be kept totally separate from the production and administration areas. This new purpose-built facility is scheduled to open in 2018.

 

FET has beaten a number of larger organisations to be nominated for the prestigious Innovation Showcase awards. The Parliamentary Reception and Awards Ceremony was hosted by Innovate UK and Damian Collins MP in the House of Commons .

This R&D funding has enabled FET to develop prototype equipment which can produce very high strength absorbable yarns for use in advanced medical sutures or stitches. This process has been fast-tracked as a result of the funding, enabling a return of 400% on the grant from multiple sales to customers across three continents, with significant benefit to the UK export drive.

The aim of Innovate UK awards is to identify and recognise great innovation stories that inspire others and demonstrate innovation’s importance to the economy. FET’s particular award category is “Innovation leading to business transformation.” The suture project is likely to lead to further technical development and sales to the global market in the future, along with the potential for ‘spin-off’ benefits in other markets and industries.

FET had the pleasure of sharing a large exhibition stand with our partners Chemtax at Cinte Techtextil, China on 12-14 October 2016. Cinte Techtextil is China’s leading biennial technical textiles and nonwoven product trade event and was an excellent opportunity for developing business with customers in China alongside our partners.

In addition, it gave us the chance to meet a number of other international clients at the show, especially those from many thriving Asian countries. Thank you to Chemtax and all the other parties that helped to make this an enjoyable and successful exhibition.

Since its launch in 2015, the FET-100 Series has exceeded all our expectations. In 2016 alone, we have taken orders for 8 systems in varying configurations with an order value of over $3 million. These have been, or will be, delivered to customers as far afield as USA, Western Europe, South East Asia, New Zealand, Turkey and Hungary. A primary benefit of FET-100 systems is that they can be specified to be multi-functional, allowing easy and fast conversion between material formats. These systems configure to all combinations of multifilament, monofilament and melt spinning of nonwoven structures for medical device, composites and many other applicati

Under the UK parliamentary system, it is a fairly rare event for small businesses to receive a visit from our politicians, so it was a pleasure to welcome Andrea Jenkyns, the new local MP for Morley and Outwood, who successfully beat Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls in the last general election.

As a former retailer and manager, Andrea understands the challenges faced by local businesses and likes to keep her finger on the pulse of industry by visiting and speaking with business owners and managers.

Andrea said: “It is fascinating to hear about the evolution of a company which went from making brush bristles to developing machinery capable of manufacturing materials used in surgical operations.

“Fibre Extrusion Technology is a real local success story and it was a pleasure to visit.”

It may only be a couple of years since we last updated our website, but things have changed considerably in the world of extrusion technology – for us and for our customers.

Our website is fully mobile friendly and so can be viewed easily on tablets, phones and other mobile devices. With customers in over 30 countries – and rising – we want to make it as easy as possible to find us and hopefully make contact.

We are always pleased to speak to companies with fibre extrusion requirements, no matter how challenging. We look forward to hearing from you!

Richard Slack
Managing Director

FET has launched a major upgrade to its Process Development Laboratory facilities. This is part of an ongoing programme of continuous improvement to keep pace with global technological progress in textile and high performance industries.

Managing Director, Richard Slack explains the philosophy behind the upgrade programme. “The laboratory is a vital resource for FET customers to test and find optimum solutions to their specific manufacturing requirements, prior to purchase or commitment to order. Development and testing in the past has included biomedical materials, specialised novel fibres, sustainable and difficult-to-process polymers, where proof of concept is financially essential to ensure a sound investment.”

FET’s customers have the option of developing processes in a secure environment, calling upon the expertise and advice of FET technicians. FET can organise sampling, prototyping, risk elimination, collaborative research and a wide range of evaluation procedures to ensure client objectives are met. Having achieved proof of concept, the client can then specify its requirement and order a bespoke FET pilot or production extrusion line with total confidence of a successful outcome. All client work is undertaken on the basis of strict confidentiality.