Berman Increases Capacity with Fine-Tuning of Bamberg Plant
August 27, 2008
BAMBERG, South Carolina – As Rockland Industries continues to grow with the addition of proprietary designed transfer printed blackout fabrics, it's increasing capacity at its newly renovated plant and intends to maintain its domestic U.S. production. The plant expansion has also made a host of other capabilities possible, said Mark Berman, president of Rockland Industries Inc., the parent company of Rockland Mills Inc., makers of Roc-lon® blackout linings.
Rockland Industries Inc. is in the process of consolidating two plants into one 300,000 square foot facility in Bamberg under the watchful eye of Berman who spends several days a month in Bamberg overseeing the progress. The Baltimore, MD plant is now only used for administration purposes and will eventually be closed when it's sold in the future.
The expansion will increase capacity by one-third with the installation of a third wide-width coating line in the plant. Permanent press and water repellant finishes for the residential market are also applied in the plant for use in muslin fabrics for the craft industry and all of the blackout lining for the hospitality trade will now be produced under one roof in Bamberg, Berman said.
"Contract is two thirds of our business today and still growing while our export business now includes container load shipments to China and 90 other countries," he remarked. "Our three pass Roc-lon blackout is going into the Macao casinos by the container load today. The Chinese want the best they can buy and they can only buy it from us."
The company already produces an open line of prints for blackout and has recently added a third Lemaire machine for wide width printing of the custom designs available in as little as 50 yards per pattern. Rockland also produces Roc-rol®, a laminated textile roller shade with a foam core that can be printed on either side, in two different patterns depending on customer specification.
The company has developed textiles for digitally printed signage, fine art canvas and craft fabrics. Rockland also sees other applications for its coated textile technology in the future.
"We are also exporting our products to the Chinese," Berman said. "Imagine an American company selling textiles to the Chinese," he laughed. "Nobody in China can do what we do and we are not going to teach them how we do it either." Berman said Rockland has no plans to produce Roc-lon in China. "This is a highly automated process and with the value of the dollar what it is today and with the RMB up 15 percent this year, we can offer tremendous value in our products. The technology required for Rockland to produce 96 percent firsts in blackout lining is not easily obtained. It involves many different techniques in the way the foaming is done."
"It's either blackout or not. Our products will not let light through and our competition overseas makes great seconds. They haven't figured out how to make first quality three pass blackout yet. We also hear of increased cost of labor in China, even a labor shortage and demand for higher wages is building there. We have a terrific labor pool in Bamberg. The Chinese cost is going up while the dollar is going down."
"We have no plans to produce in China. The only way to keep our technology secret is not to share it with anyone. Even though the Chinese have a price advantage of 22 cents a yard because they produce linings with high formaldehyde polymer content, they still cannot make a comparable product to Roc-lon, Berman said. At the same time, Roc-lon is in the process of getting a green Oekotex designation.
The work on the Bamberg plant should be completed by 2009 and will allow the company to produce up to 144 inch width coated fabrics for industrial applications and offer coating services to other customers on a commission basis as well as to our own growing business, said Berman, the son-in-law of the founder Zandy Lederman, who passed on a few years ago.
Rockland Industries Inc. is in the process of consolidating two plants into one 300,000 square foot facility in Bamberg under the watchful eye of Berman who spends several days a month in Bamberg overseeing the progress. The Baltimore, MD plant is now only used for administration purposes and will eventually be closed when it's sold in the future.
The expansion will increase capacity by one-third with the installation of a third wide-width coating line in the plant. Permanent press and water repellant finishes for the residential market are also applied in the plant for use in muslin fabrics for the craft industry and all of the blackout lining for the hospitality trade will now be produced under one roof in Bamberg, Berman said.
"Contract is two thirds of our business today and still growing while our export business now includes container load shipments to China and 90 other countries," he remarked. "Our three pass Roc-lon blackout is going into the Macao casinos by the container load today. The Chinese want the best they can buy and they can only buy it from us."
The company already produces an open line of prints for blackout and has recently added a third Lemaire machine for wide width printing of the custom designs available in as little as 50 yards per pattern. Rockland also produces Roc-rol®, a laminated textile roller shade with a foam core that can be printed on either side, in two different patterns depending on customer specification.
The company has developed textiles for digitally printed signage, fine art canvas and craft fabrics. Rockland also sees other applications for its coated textile technology in the future.
"We are also exporting our products to the Chinese," Berman said. "Imagine an American company selling textiles to the Chinese," he laughed. "Nobody in China can do what we do and we are not going to teach them how we do it either." Berman said Rockland has no plans to produce Roc-lon in China. "This is a highly automated process and with the value of the dollar what it is today and with the RMB up 15 percent this year, we can offer tremendous value in our products. The technology required for Rockland to produce 96 percent firsts in blackout lining is not easily obtained. It involves many different techniques in the way the foaming is done."
"It's either blackout or not. Our products will not let light through and our competition overseas makes great seconds. They haven't figured out how to make first quality three pass blackout yet. We also hear of increased cost of labor in China, even a labor shortage and demand for higher wages is building there. We have a terrific labor pool in Bamberg. The Chinese cost is going up while the dollar is going down."
"We have no plans to produce in China. The only way to keep our technology secret is not to share it with anyone. Even though the Chinese have a price advantage of 22 cents a yard because they produce linings with high formaldehyde polymer content, they still cannot make a comparable product to Roc-lon, Berman said. At the same time, Roc-lon is in the process of getting a green Oekotex designation.
The work on the Bamberg plant should be completed by 2009 and will allow the company to produce up to 144 inch width coated fabrics for industrial applications and offer coating services to other customers on a commission basis as well as to our own growing business, said Berman, the son-in-law of the founder Zandy Lederman, who passed on a few years ago.
