Bharat Apparel - Apparel Portal

ISRAEL: Textile manufacturer happy with local workers

JERUSALEM: Arad Towels company founder Gary Heiman says he continues to make profit from manufacturing in Israel than to manufacture in China. The company manufactures towels and uniform for the world’s institutional market.

Recently the Delta company moved all its production activity to neighboring Arab states. Other companies are also following suit. Many prefer China because of the cheap labor available there.

Arad towels’ is the main supplier (60%) of the Marriott chain and other leading chains. The company's founder, Gary Heiman, is the co-owner of an American textile empire Standard Textile, which has a yearly turnover of $600 million. Arad Towels is Standard Textile's main subsidiary and is responsible for 20% of its sales.

He decided to build a factory. The factory was founded in Arad in 1976. An investment by Delta, which bought about 40% of Arad Towel's shares, helped the company. At that time, Standard Textile dealt with marketing and distributing products to the American market only. Arad Towels was its first manufacturing factory.

After 10 years the company was removed from stock listings. The company has no plans to issue bonds. In 1998, Heiman was appointed president of Standard Textile. Today the company has 24 factories in 14 countries and it is considered the no. 1 textile company in the United States and in Europe, with a market share of more than 60% in hospitals. It is the third biggest manufacturer of textile products to US hotels.

The holding company employs 3,600 workers, 800 of them in China and 1,000 in Israel. The Arad factory manufactures 85% of the company's towels and the rest are produced in the factory built in China, where it was the first foreign company to enter the market without a local partner.

The company's products are sold in 57 countries, and its customers include the Accor, Ritz, Hyatt, Intercontinental and Le Meridien hotel chains.

Arad Towels has become the biggest supplier of its kinds of towels and bedclothes for hospitals and hotels. Eight months ago, the company entered the retail market for the first time, opening three stores – in Arad, the Dead Sea and Eilat. Two additional stores are expected to open in Tel Aviv and in northern Israel by the end of the year. Arad Towels owns two additional factories in Irbid, Jordan.

Source: Agencies • News Courtesy: BharatTextile.com