NEENAH INC.

Company Overview

Fast growing company in nonwoven filter media is Neenah Paper, a Delaware corporation that came into existence following the spin-off by Kimberly-Clark of its technical products and fine paper businesses in 2004.

Filter media accounts for 44% of the Technical Division’s sales, with the remainder accounted for by backings for specialty tapes and abrasives, performance labels, digital image transfer papers and other specialty products.

Filter media for transportation are manufactured at the Weidach Mill in Feldkirchen-Westerham, Germany, which is equipped with two wetlaid machines and three meltblown machines, along with three saturators and lamination and finishing equipment. In addition to the German manufacturing plant, the Technical Division has another plant in Munising, Mich. This plant specializes in wetlaid media for reverse osmosis water filters and is equipped with two wetlaid machines and eight calenders.

In 2017, a filtration machine (which was converted from a fine paper machine) and adjacent saturating plant began production in Appleton, Wis., a site also shared with the fine paper and packaging business.

In June 2014, Neenah Paper acquired Crane Technical Materials from Crane & Co. for $72 million. Crane, headquartered in Dalton, Mass., has been the sole manufacturer of dollar bill substrates since 1879, while its paper-making facility at Tumba near Stockholm in Sweden has been operating since 1753 and is today one of the most advanced in the world.

The production process at Tumba has been developed to enable the introduction of an extensive range of embedded and applied, overt and covert security features, and in addition, durability has been a focus for many years, resulting in raw material formulations that are far more sophisticated than most other papers—and thus are closer, in fact, to highly engineered nonwovens.

Crane Technical Materials brought a wide range of materials to Neenah, primarily for industrial applications from glass, synthetic and natural fibers.

In July 2014, Neenah announced that it would acquire ASP FiberMark from American Securities for $120 million.

FiberMark is a specialty coating and finishing company with a strong presence in luxury packaging and overlapping technical product categories, including meltblown and wetlaid nonwovens.

Most recently, Neenah acquired W.A. Sanders Coldenhove Holding BV a specialty materials manufacturer based in The Netherlands, with a leading position in digital transfer media and other technical products.

Company's Business Segments

• Specialty Materials : The company provides filter media and durable, saturated, and coated substrates for a diverse set of end-markets.