Precision Textiles' move to North Carolina puts it closer to core customers

When Precision Textiles opened its 160,000-square-foot plant here in September 2021, it marked a major shift in the manufacturing model it had in place for the past 30 years.Get more news about Smmss Non-woven Non-woven Fabric Production Equipment,you can vist our website!

During that time, the company's manufacturing was in Totowa, New Jersey, a facility that got its start producing apparel fabrics.

But as that business shifted overseas in the early 2000s, the company then shifted its manufacturing to the bedding segment, producing coated fabrics, nonwovens and laminates used in mattresses as well as the automotive and health care industries. Today this mix includes flame retardant-compliant materials designed for use in mattresses and sleep products.

"What was really important to me was to find an industry that I felt would stay domestic because we had built this great apparel business and then it went away," company CEO Scott Tesser told Home News Now. "So, at the time, the mattress business was heavily domestic and still is to a large degree. And we have been able to transition very well."
The company ended up selling its import apparel business in 2018, and today about 80% of its production is now for mattresses, with most of the balance being in automotive.
Because of the nature of the needle-punch-type materials used in both automotive and bedding, the company is able to perform both tasks using similar equipment.

But to better serve its customers with quicker turnaround and delivery times, the company decided to invest in the equipment of a company that produced similar materials for the automotive industry in Troy, a rural community about 50 miles south of High Point.

"We really needed to get down to what we considered the heart of the textile world, which is in North Carolina," Tesser said. "We were growing our business out of Totowa, but the majority of our customers were down south or out west. So freight became a big issue for us. But our important customers also are located down here, which is really the driver."He said moving farther south allows it to ship bedding manufacturers in the southern part of its territory in a matter of days, versus a week or so it would take from New Jersey, including production and shipping times.

"If I were shipping out of New Jersey to Florida - depending on how we were doing it - freight could be two or three days," he said, of the actual shipping time, noting that might be just a day or two from North Carolina. "And that one or two days makes a big difference. I don't have the pressure of getting goods out the door as quickly as we did in Totowa."

Now, Totowa will focus from Virginia up into the mid-Atlantic and Northeast states. The facility there is also downsizing from about 210,000 square feet to a location that is 80,000 square feet about five minutes away.