Posted June 6, 2016

 

UXBRIDGE, England – Coats, one of the world’s leading industrial thread manufacturers, announced the acquisition of two companies – Gotex and Fast React Systems.

 

Gotex, based near Barcelona, Spain, designs and manufactures high-performance fibers, yarns and tapes used in the telecommunications, energy and oil and gas sectors. Coats has acquired 100 percent of Gotex, which becomes part of Coats Speciality.

 

Fast React Systems, a UK-based company, provides software solutions and expertise to improve the operational efficiency of manufacturers, sourcing companies and retailers in the apparel and footwear industries. Fast React Systems becomes part of Coats Global Services (CGS).

 

Gotex range of products

 

Gotex’s unique fiberglass coating technology and products will complement Coats’ existing coated aramid product range. There is much synergy between the product offerings and together, the companies will be able to provide an enhanced range of products to the fiber optics cable industry. The acquisition reinforces Coats’ strategy of expanding into value added engineered yarns.

   

Gotex employs about 60 people. It has three main categories of products:

• technical yarns – yarns transformed via unique and proprietary coating technologies, used in the cable industry to reinforce, insulate and protect optical fibers’

• technical woven tapes – woven high-technical fibers such as fiberglass, aramid or carbon used to protect cables from impacts, rodents, etc. and in composites; and

• product trading – buying and selling additional products that cannot be manufactured in-house, e.g. mica tapes, FRP rods, plastic films.

 

Its core customer base is fiber optic cable manufacturers, although oil and gas flexible pipe producers and high-tech sports equipment manufacturers are also growing areas.

 

“Gotex is an exciting first acquisition for our Speciality business that is fully aligned with our growth strategy and is a global market leader in developing and producing innovative, high-performance materials that complement our existing product portfolio,” said Paul Forman, Coats’ group chief executive. “It is an ideal fit with our Speciality business.”

 

David Ferré, managing director of Gotex, added: “This offers great opportunity both for Gotex and our customers. It provides a way to accelerate our business growth and further develop our brand through significantly enhanced market strength and opportunity, as well as prospects for product collaboration with a global market leader.”

 

The acquisition of Gotex follows the highly successful acquisition of GSD Corporate Ltd. in May 2015.

 

Fast React Systems portfolio

 

Fast React Systems has 76 employees in six countries. It is based in Derby, U.K., where half of its employees are based. In addition it has employees in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, China, Thailand, Korea and Hong Kong.

 

Fast React Systems has three core products:

 

• Evolve is a visual and flexible “drag-and-drop” planning tool that allows fast and accurate scheduling of manufacturing lines, machines and supporting processes. The Evolve solution brings together the essential elements of capacity, critical path and materials into a single solution and provides a vital management tool as much as a planning tool; 

• Vision is an extended PLM solution, designed to manage all key processes for the design, development and purchasing and tracking stages of the apparel supply chain; and

• Align is a visual planning and management tool for coordinating textile production, i.e a capacity planning and modeling software solution that allows textile mills to match demand against available capacity, manage their commitments and improve the order confirmation process, work-in-progress and inventory levels.

 

“This is an excellent fit with Coats Global Services,” Forman said. “We are seeing a growth in demand from our customers for value-added services in operational efficiency, so there is a strong synergy between Fast React Systems’ products and the CGS offering. We share a footprint of both existing and target customers and together, we can provide an even wider and more attractive product portfolio.”

 

Andrew Brown, group managing director, Fast React Systems, added: “This is a huge opportunity for our products, customers and employees. The combination of our technical expertise with the global reach and also the customer and brand relationships of Coats marks the start of an exciting new phase in our development.”

  

Coats Global Services was launched in 2013 in response to customer demand. It provides the sewn product industries with expert insights, technical guidance and practical solutions to realize productivity improvements across the supply chain.

 

The acquisition enables Coats Global Services to offer an even wider range of productivity improvement tools. GSD Corporate Ltd. is a U.K.-based company supplying expert management solutions that analyze time, cost and production capability in the sewn products sector with the focus on maximizing productivity and controlling costs.

 

Source: Coats