Finland's Sateri eyes U.S. for FR fiber
By David Perry -- Furniture Today, July 12, 2004
Valkeakoski, Finland — Leave it to the hardy Finns to develop a tough fire-resistant fiber.
Sateri, a fiber producer nestled here amid lakes and forests, is expanding production of its Visil FR fiber, now marketed in the United States. Soon, the 63-year-old company will be able to meet a substantial portion of the U.S. bedding industry's need for FR fibers, company executives told Furniture/Today.
This year, the producer will spend more than $10 million on capital improvements, including an expansion of its Visil production capacity.
"That means we are looking to the future," said Eero Mannisto, a 30-year Sateri employee who became managing director five years ago.
Sateri spent almost $10 million developing Visil and bringing it to market. It is an inherently fire-resistant fiber made by mixing viscose liquid and sodium silicate and spinning the finished product into fibers. Those fibers consist of modified rayon; rayon (viscose) is a natural cellulosic fiber made of wood pulp.
Sateri's location in the heavily forested Valkeakoski region, a hub of Finland's paper industry, helped launch the company into the rayon business. Sateri got its start, improbably, while World War II was raging across Europe. It survived the tough war years and has met a variety of changing market conditions to become a $100 million-plus company that ships its products around the world.
Visil, a specialty fiber sold commercially since 1992, is the fastest-growing portion of Sateri's business. It provides FR protection in upholstery fabrics, protective clothing and other products in several European Union countries.
In the United States, Sateri is focusing on the bedding market, but it also plans to serve the top-of-bed, furniture and contract seating markets. The company's U.S. agent is New Avenue of Great Falls, Va., headed by FR veteran Harrison Murphy.
Murphy said U.S. companies have found Visil a "cost-effective product" to help deliver "a safer home environment for U.S. consumers."
"Visil fiber has been embraced by U.S. nonwoven producers as the key component in proprietary blends for mattresses, furniture and top-of-the-bed applications," he said. "I knew from the first moment that I worked with Visil that it was going to be a huge success here."
Sateri currently has a Visil capacity of 6 million pounds per year, but is switching another of its lines to Visil production to give it a capacity of 50 million pounds per year — enough to be a real force in the U.S. market.
"The total fire barrier needs of the mattress industry will be 120 million pounds per year," estimates Kari Parviainen, Sateri's deputy managing director. "With our expansion, our installed capacity will be about 40% of the needs of the total bedding industry. In case of further needs, new capacity can be installed by modifying rayon lines."
The U.S. mattress market, which the company has been studying for about three years, is merely the first opportunity for Sateri, officials say.
"The total U.S. FR fiber market in mattresses, furniture and top of the bed is estimated to be 500 million pounds per year," Parviainen said. "Sateri will be one of the key players in this potential market. In all of those markets, Visil is a very good solution."
