Absecon Mills Inc. Fights Competition With New Fabrics, Designs and Quality Control
January 7, 2004
COLOGNE, New Jersey—Absecon Mills Inc., the 25-year-old producer of non-residential seating fabrics, has introduced jacquard looms, high-performance fabrics, hip designs and souped-up turnaround times to keep its edge in a soft economy, said Randy Taylor, president of Absecon.
Citing a 10 percent growth rate in 2003, Taylor says he plans to install 16 jacquard Dornier looms with Bonas head this year and in 2005 will add corporate offices at the Cologne headquarters.
"We knew we wanted to be a big, international player in seating fabrics," Taylor said. "The market was down so we pressed harder."
Though Polypropylene has traditionally been Absecon's fiber of choice and accounts for 80 percent of its fabric at the moment, Absecon recently introduced no-burn Icon™ fabric in 100 percent polyester for the hospitality trade and will present new seating fabrics in the future. Its tried, true and durable 75 percent dobby will become 60/40 dobby/jacquard and will be available in fresh designs created by Absecon's new design chief, Linda Taylor, Randy Taylor's wife.
"Today, our business is being driven by the designer," Randy Taylor said. Linda hired Jeremy Noonan, a designer from the automotive textile industry, to help design a new look for Absecon fabrics. Noonan has introduced 36 new colors and patterns, as well as a new line of high-performance fabrics, Crypton® and Nano-Pel®.
Taylor said he keeps a tight reign on quality control. "Fifteen years ago, the industry standard was seven defects per piece," he said. "Today it's five per piece. Absecon has never accepted that standard. We have only .4 defects per 55 yards. That means one defect in four rolls total. Nobody can touch that record."
The company achieves that low defect rate by hand weaving every defect out of its goods in the mill before shipping the product. "Absecon wants to achieve a defect rate of zero parts per million," Taylor said.
Absecon reduced its lead-time from four weeks to one day by analyzing its production line from the raw materials stage to the customer receipt of finished goods and eliminating all wasteful processes, said David Adair, executive vice president. He said the company paired its yarn inventory down to half its original size, forcing suppliers to deliver daily. "Our goal is the order comes in the front door in the morning and is shipped at the day's end," Adair said. "This is an endless quest for perfection."
Absecon also takes an offbeat approach to customer service. Every year, its customer service reps take five-day trips to visit clients. "We want our customer service reps to be more than just voices on the telephone," Taylor said.
Absecon competes with some of the largest mills in the world but unlike many of its competitors, Absecon is not diversified—it produces only seating fabrics. "We're dedicated to contract/hospitality seating fabrics placed on nonresidential seating in shops, offices, trucks, hotels and airplanes," Taylor said. A dominant player in the American cinema seating business and an important factor in all nonresidential seating, Absecon's business is 80 percent furniture manufacturers and 20 percent jobbers in the domestic market, and 50/50 manufacturer and jobber overseas.
Citing a 10 percent growth rate in 2003, Taylor says he plans to install 16 jacquard Dornier looms with Bonas head this year and in 2005 will add corporate offices at the Cologne headquarters.
"We knew we wanted to be a big, international player in seating fabrics," Taylor said. "The market was down so we pressed harder."
Though Polypropylene has traditionally been Absecon's fiber of choice and accounts for 80 percent of its fabric at the moment, Absecon recently introduced no-burn Icon™ fabric in 100 percent polyester for the hospitality trade and will present new seating fabrics in the future. Its tried, true and durable 75 percent dobby will become 60/40 dobby/jacquard and will be available in fresh designs created by Absecon's new design chief, Linda Taylor, Randy Taylor's wife.
"Today, our business is being driven by the designer," Randy Taylor said. Linda hired Jeremy Noonan, a designer from the automotive textile industry, to help design a new look for Absecon fabrics. Noonan has introduced 36 new colors and patterns, as well as a new line of high-performance fabrics, Crypton® and Nano-Pel®.
Taylor said he keeps a tight reign on quality control. "Fifteen years ago, the industry standard was seven defects per piece," he said. "Today it's five per piece. Absecon has never accepted that standard. We have only .4 defects per 55 yards. That means one defect in four rolls total. Nobody can touch that record."
The company achieves that low defect rate by hand weaving every defect out of its goods in the mill before shipping the product. "Absecon wants to achieve a defect rate of zero parts per million," Taylor said.
Absecon reduced its lead-time from four weeks to one day by analyzing its production line from the raw materials stage to the customer receipt of finished goods and eliminating all wasteful processes, said David Adair, executive vice president. He said the company paired its yarn inventory down to half its original size, forcing suppliers to deliver daily. "Our goal is the order comes in the front door in the morning and is shipped at the day's end," Adair said. "This is an endless quest for perfection."
Absecon also takes an offbeat approach to customer service. Every year, its customer service reps take five-day trips to visit clients. "We want our customer service reps to be more than just voices on the telephone," Taylor said.
Absecon competes with some of the largest mills in the world but unlike many of its competitors, Absecon is not diversified—it produces only seating fabrics. "We're dedicated to contract/hospitality seating fabrics placed on nonresidential seating in shops, offices, trucks, hotels and airplanes," Taylor said. A dominant player in the American cinema seating business and an important factor in all nonresidential seating, Absecon's business is 80 percent furniture manufacturers and 20 percent jobbers in the domestic market, and 50/50 manufacturer and jobber overseas.
