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Coats opens first Innovation Hub

Coats, the world’s leading industrial thread manufacturer, has opened the first of three Innovation Hubs.

These are dedicated centres around the world for collaboration with a range of partners including customers, brands, suppliers, universities and start-ups. Coats Innovation Hub – America, at its Sevier manufacturing site in North Carolina, US, has been formally opened by Mike Clasper, Chairman; Rajiv Sharma, Group Chief Executive; and members of the Coats Board. Innovation Hub – EMEA, in Bursa, Turkey and Innovation Hub – Asia, in Shenzhen, China will be opened in early 2019.

The Innovation Hubs will develop pioneering new products and processes in Apparel and Footwear and Performance Materials, which encompasses hi-tech products for end uses in Automotive, Oil and Gas, Protective Wear and Telecom. They provide creative and inspiring spaces where an innovative idea can be developed collaboratively and rapidly worked up into a prototype design which is then manufactured in a stand alone pilot factory.

Rajiv Sharma, Group Chief Executive, Coats, said: ‘Coats is a pioneering company aiming to deliver further revenue growth from higher performance and value enhancing new products that do not even exist today. To facilitate that we are developing three dedicated Innovation Hubs at key locations around the world. Customer centric innovation is an important part of our future growth strategy and the inauguration of the Innovation Hub – America is a key milestone.’

Coats Innovation Hub – America comprises three zones. The Innovation Gallery features a video wall, display pods of most recent product developments and a timeline tracing Coats from its origins in Paisley, Scotland to the FTSE 250 global manufacturing company it is today. State of the art technology showcases Coats as a pioneering global manufacturing company that is reinventing itself for the digital age.

The Materials Lab is where customers are able to collaborate directly with R&D technologists in the idea generation and creation processes. The Prototyping Area is where ideas and prototypes can be created. It includes a pilot factory with a full range of manufacturing machinery that can used to fine tune production processes in a controlled stand alone environment.

To support the opening, a 360 virtual tour of Innovation Hub – America has been created to provide an idea of what collaboration partners will experience.

To take a virtual tour of Coats Innovation Hub – America here (opens new browser window).

ENDS

For more information, please contact:

Kristina Blissett, Head of Group Communications
kristina.blissett@coats.com
T +44 (0)208 210 5084, M +44 (0)7714 539887

Notes to Editors

About Coats
Coats is the world’s leading industrial thread manufacturer and a major player in the Americas textile crafts market. At home in some 50 countries, Coats employs 19,000 people across six continents. Revenues in 2017 were US$1.5bn.

Coats’ pioneering history and innovative culture ensure the company leads the way around the world: providing complementary and value added products and services to the apparel and footwear industries; applying innovative techniques to develop high technology Performance Materials threads and yarns in areas such as automotive, composites and fibre optics; and extending the crafts offer into new markets and online.

Headquartered in the UK, Coats is a FTSE 250 listed company on the London Stock Exchange. It is the Official Thread Supplier to the Royal Shakespeare Company.

  • Each year we make enough thread to go into 8 billion pairs of jeans – that’s one for every person on the planet
  • Every month Coats produces enough thread to stretch all the way to the sun
  • More than 450 million pairs of shoes are made every year using Coats’ thread
  • More than 100 million car airbags are made using Coats’ Performance Materials thread every year
  • In 1879 Thomas Edison used Coats’ thread in his experiments to invent the light bulb
  • Our Red Heart knitting and crochet yarn brand has been named ‘America’s Most Recommended’ by the Women’s Choice Award for three years running
  • Our flame retardant Performance Materials threads can withstand temperatures as high as 1,000 degrees Celsius

To find out more about Coats visit www.coats.com

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