22 October – 26 October
Istanbul Fuar Merkezi
Saha Expo Savunma & Havacılık Fuarı
Istanbul, Turkey
Istanbul, Turkey
No events found!
2017 Turkish Composites Manufacturers Association | All Rights Reserved
METYX Group has completed an agreement with the Gaston County Economic Development Commission
in North Carolina to acquire a manufacturing facility for its new METYX USA Technical Textiles Division.
An initial investment to purchase and upgrade the existing 30 acre (120 000 sq. m) site and existing
buildings has been finalised, which includes 130,000 sq. ft (~ 12,000 sq. m) of covered space. The site is
located in Ranlo, Gaston County, a town approximately 28 miles west of Charlotte city. Production is
expected to start by the end of Q3 2018. Significant support and incentive programs are being provided at
both county and state levels which, combined with the ideal location, have made this a highly attractive
package for the group and helped to secure the deal.
The planned new METYX US operations in North Carolina, expected to employ up to 200 people, will
initially focus on setting up technical textiles production lines for manufacturing a range of glass and
carbon fabrics, along with sales, customer service and warehousing facilities to serve the North American
composites market. As a next phase, in line with customer needs, fabric, core and vacuum consumable kit
cutting capabilities will be added in the future. METYX is primarily looking to establish business with US
and Canadian OEMs and tier 1 converters in the wind energy generation, marine, road and rail
transportation and industrial sectors.
METYX Group Managing partner, Uğur Üstünel stated: “Having been interested for several years, we
believe now is the right time to invest and bring our portfolio of products and services to the North
American market. The US is a very attractive market, being the biggest globally in several key industry
sectors with good future growth prospects. Without doubt, it is a fiercely competitive region, but we believe
that our passionate customer service culture and solutions offering approach, combined with our strong
product and service offering gives us a unique selling proposition that will attract new business. This is a
very exciting time for METYX and we look forward to starting our US operations later this year.”
Üstünel will head up METYX USA working alongside newly appointed advisory board team members
Christian Kissinger, Evren Aykol and Stefan Kanburoglu, who will play a key role in getting METYX USA
up and running in the coming months. They will also provide considerable local knowledge and business
networking as all three are based in North Carolina, living nearby in Charlotte city, so commutable to the
new location in Ranlo.
North Carolina is an established manufacturing location in the USA, with more than 75,000 people working
in plastics and chemicals manufacturing, being home to leading multinationals including DowDupont and
BASF. The state also has a long history of textile manufacturing, with around 700 companies, including
competitors. Manufacturers in a number of target market sectors for METYX technical textile products are
also in the region. In more recent years, North Carolina has seen significant growth in the renewable
energy companies, particularly wind turbine generator manufacturing, as well as a growing number of
automotive, truck and heavy machinery manufacturing companies.
