Foamex VPF offerings 'redefine' foam
By David Perry -- Furniture Today, March 21, 2004
CORNELIUS, N.C. — CORNELIUS, N.C.— Leveraging its proprietary Variable Pressure Foaming technology, supplier Foamex International rapidly is expanding its sales of foam products in the bedding industry.
Last year the foam major generated bedding-related sales of VPF-produced foams of about $70 million, almost double the year-earlier volume.
"We are redefining foam and its performance," said Vishal Malhotra, director of marketing.
The Foamex family includes a popular visco-elastic or "memory" foam being used by a growing number of bedding producers, a low-density foam that replaces fiber in the comfort layers of a mattress, and an engineered polyurethane foam designed to outperform latex foam.
Foamex is touting its products with a strong branding program that emphasizes the unique characteristics of each foam, and supplying bedding foams to a who's who of bedding producers, including Sealy, Simmons, Spring Air, King Koil, Englander and Restonic.
Foamex has installed the multi-million-dollar VPF system at four of its facilities in the United States, including the plant here, where the system came on line in 2001. Other VPF facilities are in Auburn, Ind., Orange, Calif., and Tupelo, Miss.
These facilities, which each cost more than $10 million to outfit, produce a variety of foams in enclosed vacuum chambers that eliminate hazardous atmospheric emissions. The process is "the most environmentally friendly process for producing foam today," say Foamex officials.
What's more, the controlled, constant conditions in the vacuum chambers, combined with a unique foam chemistry, enable Foamex to produce foams with stronger cell bonds that result in extended durability and comfort.
The VPF process does not use chlorofluorocarbons and it eliminates auxiliary blowing agents from the foaming process. Emissions are constantly removed and treated in sealed chambers that help to protect the environment.
Traditionally, foam is produced in open environments that are subject to wide fluctuations in barometric pressure, temperature and humidity. But in the VPF process, the enclosed chamber, which resembles a long tunnel, controls the environmental conditions and holds them virtually constant.
Foamex officials say their VPF foams provide better performance at the same density of other foams, or equal performance at a reduced density. In either case, VPF enables bedding producers to enhance comfort and durability at lower prices, say Foamex officials. Malhotra calls this "The VPF Advantage."
The process also enables Foamex to produce unique foams that conventional foam machines are unable to make.
The result is a line of foams that is "high performing, ultra-soft and super-supportive," enabling bedding producers to better differentiate their products in the competitive bedding marketplace, and to provide enhanced cushioning and comfort, Foamex officials said.
For retailers, VPF foams can increase sales, reduce customer complaints and ultimately strengthen bottom lines with products that are more luxurious, comfortable and long-lasting, say Foamex officials.
Foamex supports bedding manufacturers who use VPF foams with a variety of point-of-sale materials and educational literature. Those materials help consumers make effective choices when selecting bedding products, officials said.
VPF is a patented technology developed by PreFoam AG, a joint venture between Foamex and two other companies. The first VPF system in the United States was launched in 1993 at Foamex's Tupelo facility.
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