Gewerbegebiet Nord 3 | 09456 Mildenau

Founded

1877 as a flax spinning meadow bath

Milestones

1976 Start of development of ‘nonwoven bonding by fibre entanglement’ at the Karl-Marx-Stadt Research Institute. Goal: a nonwoven fabric that is hydrodynamically bonded without a binder. | 1983 Production plant at VEB Technotex Karl-Marx-Stadt, Wiesenbad plant | In the mid-1980s, the project is renamed NORAFIN – English for NOnwoven fabric, Latin for rotating water ‘Aqua Rotans’ and German for research institute (ForschungsINstitut). | 1985 First large-scale waterjet plant in Europe | 1992 Privatisation | 1997 Construction of the plant in Mildenau – the plant in Wiesenbad is shut down at the end of 2000. | 2012 Norafin becomes completely independent. | 2018 Inauguration of a new production facility in Mills River, North Carolina (USA) | 2020 Foundation of the subsidiary Norafin Technologies GmbH for the sale of ready-made nonwoven products at the Mildenau site

In recent years, a turnaround had to be achieved, away from the mass markets and towards high-quality niche production. This not only resulted in a reorganisation of production and the raw materials used, the entire corporate identity was changed.

Managing director

André Lang

Location(s)

Mildenau and Mills River, USA

Workplaces

192 in Mildenau, 43 in Mills River

Production/research focus, product range

High-quality nonwovens, innovative material structures and composites: protective equipment, filtration, cleaning, construction and industry, cosmetics and healthcare

Company philosophy

“Norafin is an innovative solution provider that offers durable and sustainable products based on nonwoven technology. We support a safe life. In our production process, we attach great importance to the careful use of scarce raw materials. We not only rely on waterjet technology, which does not require any additional chemical binders – the treatment and reuse of the water required is just as important to us.”

Thanks to 40 years of expertise in water jet and needle technology, Norafin has developed into a globally sought-after supplier of high-quality nonwovens, innovative material structures and composites. The technical textiles are used in areas such as protection, clothing, transport, filtration and a variety of specialised fields such as medicine, cosmetics, construction and cleaning.