[WRE UPDATE | BUSINESS]
leading edge of innovation. T e second prong is that our product team is focusing on markets that are entirely new to Southern Weaving, where we can come in and add value.” Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the company’s plan for the future, however, is the fact that it has made the potentially risky move of investing heavily in research and development. Southern Weaving’s teams have been exploring new products and new applications that would be compatible with the company’s strengths and expertise. As mentioned in our 2010 article, the company is especially
Weaving has sent them to the frontiers of the known world: space and the deep sea. One of the company’s customers is a private company creating a prototype of a space station module. Southern Weaving’s webbing serves as a support structure for an infl atable astronaut living quarters. Below sea level, a military subcontractor uses Southern Weaving’s tubular nylon sleeve to enclose harnesses, wires, and cables. T e nylon sleeve operates as sonar soundproofi ng, preventing friction and cutting down on underwater background noise. In the case of another product,
Southern Weaving has moved forward
Rick Guarnaccia, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, “There could be some innovative applications for rope within our core markets, and it potentially opens up an avenue of new markets that we’re not currently serving. I think woven rope could also, in some applications, displace wire rope.”
interested in several new synthetic fi bers. T ese include chemical-resistant, high-strength Technora; extremely heat-resistant Vectran; and Dyneema, which is much stronger even than Kevlar. With an eye on these fi bers, the company has invested in equipment to pursue a line of woven rope technology. According to Rick Guarnaccia, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, “T ere could be some innovative applications for rope within our core markets, and it potentially opens up an avenue of new markets that we’re not currently serving. I think woven rope could also, in some applications, displace wire rope.” Such “rope,” using breakthrough, high- performance fi bers, has not yet emerged in North American markets and may redefi ne what rope can be and do. In reaching out for new markets for its existing products, Southern
by going back to the basics: cotton webbing. T is webbing is used in slings for safe patient handling in hospitals and other medical centers. Up until very recently, such slings were made of synthetic fi bers. Because these fi bers would take an extremely long time to break down in a landfi ll, the slings had to be incinerated if they were contaminated during use. Southern Weaving was among the fi rst to recognize the trend in the medical industry to use more natural fi bers, which reduce the volume of incinerated hospital waste. T is recently launched product is returning strong sales so far.
Aerospace-a new frontier for webbing
Photos courtesy of Bigelow Aerospace
Southern Weaving webbing in infl atable space housing
Photos courtesy of Bigelow Aerospace
WIRE ROPE EXCHANGE
MARCH-APRIL 2012
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