After announcing plans to double the capacity of its Shanghai airbag fiber facility, INVISTA has now completed plans to generate up to 4,500 tons of additional nylon airbag and industrial yarn at its production facilities in Kingston, Ontario, and Gloucester, U.K. “Invista has been supplying the airbag business since the early 1980s,” said John Barnes, global business director for Invista’s nylon industrial specialties business. “Our strategy remains the same: produce and deliver high-quality yarns for use in automotive restraints so that customers across the globe can meet the evolving needs of the industry.”
The additional capacity, which is currently needed to meet the growing global market demand, will be made available in several phases throughout January and February of 2011.
“Invista has a broad capability to serve the airbag industry worldwide,” said Barnes. “Our use of a standard spinning platform on all of our airbag yarn manufacturing sites allows us to take developments made on one continent and rapidly apply them elsewhere.”
In addition to expanded production capacity in the three regions, Invista recently opened an advanced development facility in Canada, allowing Invista to move quickly from concept through testing to application.
