The Leadership Conference portion of the event allowed attendees the opportunity to gather insights into market trends, government affairs, member benefits, professional development and more. (The members-only Annual Meeting was closed to the media.)

 

During the morning sessions, INDA staff provided updates on the association – one of the largest, most active and highly engaged in the industry with more than 350 members throughout the supply chain. Morris Collins Jr., director of Member Services, offered information about member benefits.

 

“Think of us as a third-party virtual office,” Collins said of the organization. “Your membership has basically hired you a staff of 20 consultants with varied backgrounds, varied talents and a lot of experience.”

 

A nonwovens industry veteran with more than 30 years of experience, he said networking and visibility are two of the biggest strengths of the association, along with education, government affairs and market research data statistics. He added that one of the best reasons to be a member is its “all-encompassing” International Database, which includes more than 25,000 companies.

 

Collins also pointed out that an INDA mobile app, which includes industry news, company membership roster, events and more, is available.

 

Government Affairs

 

Jessica Franken, INDA’s director of Government Affairs, explained the role her department plays in Washington, D.C. She and a colleague handle policy issues and publish monthly newsletters for members, she said.

 

She also noted that INDA has been supportive of the recently negotiated Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), “first, because it does a great deal to facilitate trade throughout the region but more specifically because it lifts the other countries’ existing duties on items such as nonwoven roll goods immediately upon implementation of the deal, as well as other items from the industry value chain.”

 

The world’s largest-ever free trade agreement, TPP lifts duties on 18,000 products, she noted.

 

Franken also updated attendees on the World Trade Organization’s Environmental Goods Agreement (EGA), which is being negotiated between the U.S. and 16 other countries to cut duties on environmental products. Negotiations began in 2014, but specific products included have not been finalized. Earlier versions of the deal included such items as nonwovens, geotextiles, filtration goods, insulation and aramids, she said.

 

In addition, she dispensed information about the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB), which could provide duty relief for U.S. imports; flammability issues; and the Wiper Rule implementation, which addresses the overregulation of industrial wipes.

 

Market Research & Statistics

 

Brad Khalil, INDA’s director of Market Research & Statistics, said his group “provides industry thought leadership through the gathering, analysis and dissemination of relevant, reliable and insightful market information and industry reports to aid decision making.”

 

He gave an overview of member-only publications, including the monthly Price Trends Summary, the quarterly Market Pulse and the annual North American Supply Report. He also highlighted industry trends, noting that nonwovens capacity has grown by 5.5 percent over the last 24 years.

 

Khalil also drilled down to investment numbers by nonwovens process, production size and growth by region and process and by end use demand. He ended his presentation by covering certain members-only market outlook presentations such as Hygienix.

 

Education & Technical Affairs

 

Jim Loftis, director of Education & Technical Affairs who has been with INDA about a year after a long career with Owens Corning, covered the many courses and conferences the association organizes each year and went over technical matters such as flushability and FR standards.

 

He reminded members that INDA’s Journal of Engineered Fibers and Fabrics (JEFF) recently named Behnam Pourdeyhimi, Ph.D. and executive director of The Nonwovens Institute at N.C. State University, its new editor-in-chief. Also, he noted that Michael Starsinic, Ph.D., also joined JEFF as managing editor of the international, peer-reviewed, scientific e-journal.

 

“Our goal is to make JEFF one of the premier nonwoven academic journals out there,” Loftis said. “Even up until now the amount of readership we have and the level of articles we put into this journal, with no active marketing – this has all been word of mouth through academic institutions – is pretty amazing.

 

“Even though this is an academic journal, this is in no way, shape or form limited to academic papers,” he continued. “If member companies want to publish papers, this is a great opportunity to get those papers published.”

 

Afternoon session

 

In the afternoon session, Dr. Gerald D. Bell, founder and CEO of the Bell Leadership Institute and professor at the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, delved into leadership principles in a two-hour, interactive session. (Read related blog about his presentation here.)

 

Rounding out the day was Tim Boyum, Capital Tonight Anchor with Time Warner Cable News in North Carolina, who offered topical insights into the state and presidential political races.