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Xerium Announces Production Expansion
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Raleigh, North Carolina, USA 27 March 2013 -- (BUSINESS WIRE) --  Xerium Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:XRM) a leading global manufacturer of engineered textiles and roll covers and provider of mechanical services used in the production of paper, paperboard, building products, nonwoven materials, and general industry, today announced a 350 ton global press felt production increase through a combination of the following actions:

  • Equipment investments in base fabric making, card making, needling and heat setting
  • A centerpiece investment in a new, state-of-the-art DILO needle loom
  • Additional production in Xerium’s Asian and South American plants

Xerium is increasing its capacity in its press felt plants in response to strong global demand from customers for Xerium’s high-end surface sensitive press felts. This additional capacity will be coming on line beginning in Q2 2013 and continue through Q4 2014. Xerium is largely capacity constrained with regards to press felt sales growth and, therefore, somewhat hampered in terms of partnering with growing customers, growing areas of the market and growing regions of the world.

The DILO needle loom is a special machine used in the production of high-end surface sensitive felts. These products are used on paper machines, fiber cement machines used in the production of building products and general purpose industrial textile machines. The high-speed, high-density needling capabilities of DILO’s Hyperpunch machine will expand Xerium’s current platform of needling looms used to manufacture Xerium’s most technologically advanced press felts. The DILO machine is on order.

“We are excited to be investing for sales growth and expanding our capacity to make press felts of all types - paper machine press felts, fiber cement products, nonwoven products, and general purpose industrial textiles. Xerium’s ability to grow in these areas has been limited by available capacity. These actions give our customers and sales teams more flexibility to pursue growth plans and additional new products. There are many parts to increasing our global capacity in a high-quality manner and it is a top priority at Xerium. We are expanding our base fabric capabilities, our heat setting capabilities, our needling capabilities, our card making capabilities and our finishing capabilities,” said Harold Bevis, Xerium’s President and CEO. “These actions increase our global capacity, lower our costs, increase our quality, and balance our production more efficiently to improve our lead times to customers. We are committed to reducing our total costs, growing our sales and maintaining our global technology leadership positions. These actions help us achieve these goals.

We have also reorganized our global machine clothing Operations team so that Xerium can optimize outcomes and efficiency across all regions of the world. We have four new leaders in charge of these matters.

  • Jürgen Hartmann – based in Germany, VP & Global Operations Leader for Forming Fabrics
  • Alain Cayer – based in Canada, VP & Global Operations Leader for Press Felts
  • Jürgen Heiss – based in Germany, Director of Global Planning and Scheduling for Forming Fabrics
  • Lynn Height – based in USA, Director of Global Planning and Scheduling for Press Felts

Proper leadership will make these investments a reality for our customers and we are proud to announce these four promotions from within the ranks of Xerium. They are all veterans of our company and of the industry.”

About Xerium Technologies

Xerium Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:XRM) is a leading global manufacturer of specially engineered fabrics, belts and roll cover technology used in the production of paper, paperboard, building products, nonwovens, and specific industrial processes. The Company, which operates around the world under a variety of brand names, utilizes a broad portfolio of patented and proprietary technologies to provide customers with tailored solutions and products integral to production, all designed to optimize performance and reduce operational costs. With 30 manufacturing facilities in 13 countries around the world, Xerium has approximately 3,275 employees.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains forward-looking statements involving risks and uncertainties, both known and unknown, that may cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated. These risks and uncertainties include the following items: (1) we may not be able to expand production as much or as fast as we anticipate; (2) our efforts to increase capacity while lowering costs and increasing quality may not be successful; (3) once operational, the loom may not increase production as much as we anticipate; (4) customer lead times may not be reduced as much as we expect; and (5) the other risks and uncertainties discussed elsewhere in this press release, our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012 filed on March 11, 2013 and our other SEC filings. If any of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or if our underlying assumptions prove to be incorrect, actual results may vary significantly from what we projected. Any forward-looking statement in this press release reflects our current views with respect to future events. Except as required by law, we assume no obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Copies of our SEC filings are available from the SEC and in the investor relations section of our website at www.xerium.com.

Source: Xerium Technologies, Inc.

 

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