Mondi Presented Frost & Sullivan's New Product Leadership Award

Based on its recent research into the natural fiber composites market, Frost & Sullivan, U.K., has presented Mondi, South Africa, with its 2013 Global New Product Innovation Leadership Award for Fibromer®, Mondi's natural fiber composite that offers high mechanical performance with significant weight reduction. This makes it an ideal replacement for polymers and polymer compounds in a number of industries, including the automotive sector.

Frost & Sullivan notes that Mondi has leveraged years of expertise in the paper and pulp industry to develop this innovative and revolutionary product. Manufactured through a proprietary compounding technology that homogenously mixes pulp with polymer granules, Fibromer exhibits superior performance attributes when compared with short-glass fiber, other natural fibers, and talc-filled composites. The lower density of the material combined with the incorporation of cellulosic fibers in optimal proportion makes the finished components much lighter than before. Since Fibromer is highly compatible with injection molding processes; it also helps reduce fabrication time by up to 30%.

"This is very relevant today as OEMs and Tier-I suppliers are increasingly relying on high volume processing," said Frost & Sullivan Industry Analyst Deepak Karthikeyan. "Fibromer also enables higher productivity, higher tensile strength, increased stiffness, higher heat distortion temperature, and lower density of the final composite part."

Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to a company that has developed an innovative element in a product by leverage leading-edge technologies. The award recognizes the value added features/benefits of the product and the increased ROI it offers customers, which in turn increases customer acquisition and overall market penetration potential.

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