Shieldex Added New Countries to Its Sales Network in the Last Two Years

Robert Erichsen, CEO of Shieldex

Offering antimicrobial, thermal and electrically conductive solutions as well as silver-plated yarns and fabrics for textile and flexible applications, Shieldex company addresses the Turkish market with Teksel Tekstil, which is its representative. Shieldex company, whose products are used in many fields from automotive to aviation industry, from clothing to medical industry, produces several tons of yarn per year.

Robert Erichsen, CEO of Shieldex, with whom we interviewed for the ‘Special Section of Yarn Technologies’, said that they developed new products and ideas to solve the problems of the future in the field of R&D during the pandemic period. “We listen to customers’ needs and focus on what our customers and partners want to achieve from the material and what might be needed in the future,” Erichsen says.

Could you tell us about your yarn product portfolio and usage areas? Which products of yours are the most demanded?

Shieldex silver-plated yarns are available as monofilaments, multifilaments and twisted yarns. Due to their antistatic, antimicrobial, odor- inhibiting, temperature-regulating and thermally conducting properties they can be used for versatile applications in a wide range  of  industries.  Whereas the  automotive  or  aeronautic industry  for  example uses our yarn as a  sensor  or conductive lightweight cable, the garment industry  is using it  for medical (antimicrobial) and wellness purposes and the fashion and design Industry is utilizing it to heat up or light up a fabric or specific item.

Furthermore, Shieldex twisted yarns are tear-resistant and highIy conductive. They are ideally suited for technical applications and are primarily used in the automotive and smart textile sectors due to their electrically conductive properties.

What is your yearly production capacity?

In general, we can produce several  tons of yarn per year. However, Shieldex is not only producing yarns, but  also  fully  metallized  fabrics made of Silver, Copper, Nickel or Tin. Depending  on the market situation we can upscale both production lines in a very short time.

Can you talk about the major functional improvements you recently made to yarn sector how this will benefit the textile industry?

Especially in times of the global pandemic, our antimicrobial yarns and fabrics have been sold and used around the world for  PPE  such  as masks, antimicrobial doorhandles or other solutions that could potentially help to prevent the    virus    from  spreading Overall,    the    technical  yarn sector, especially  in regard  to sensor  technology,  has  been growing significantly.

What do you pay attention to while making technology investments to increase your competitiveness and maintain your quality, what are your criteria?

 For decades, Shieldex has been an important supplier to a wide range of industries with its worldwide unique 3D metallization process. With over 40 years of experience, we are the global market leader in the field of silver-plated fabrics. As a medium-size business, it is a clear advantage for us to be able to meet the market trends and to present innovative solutions for the challenges of tomorrow. We listen to the customers’ needs and develop in two directions: What our customers and partners are looking to get from the material as well as what we think will be needed in future.

Could you tell us about your worldwide sales and support network and the countries you export?

Our worldwide institute and university network is growing and their requirements are as unique as our products. We see customers as our partners and due to the versatility of our products, new synergies are constantly being formed. Both us and our clients can learn from each other, while gaining an insight into which products will be needed in the future. In addition, our R&D department is cutting the edge in the field of product development, process optimization and textile finishing. Our main export countries are the US and our Partners in Europe as well as the UK, but of course we reach the Asian market, and it‘s need for high quality products from Germany, more and more.

 If you assess in terms of export markets what is the importance of Turkey market for your company?

The Turkish textile industry is known for its expertise and manufacturing of textiles around the world. We are very Iucky to have a strong partnership with Teksel Tekstil from Istanbul, a company which is a great innovator and has invested a lot of effort into developing the Turkish market with us. Great cooperations have been built over the past years and products have been invented and developed by them, especially for the need of the Turkish partners.

What are your predictions and your expectations for 2021?

Looking back at 2021 to day, our expectations somewhat met the reality. Despite knowing that the pandemic will have a major impact on the global economy and health situation, we were still able to start many great projects and were even able to expand our network to new countries. World crisis can always be seen as a chance. Especially in the field of R&D we developed some great new products and ideas to solve problems of the future.

Interview: Dilek HAYIRLI