A tough but successful year for Ikano Industry
A year of construction and start-ups puts Ikano Industry in a leadership position in the mattress industry and one step closer to becoming the world’s first, completely climate neutral foam producer.
There’s no doubt that 2021 has been hard on our production business as we have struggled with everything from price increases of raw material to availability issues and temporary IKEA store closures. But we have pulled through despite all those challenges.
Busy as ever, this year started out with the move of our pilot plant at Ramos Arizpe industrial park in Mexico to our new building nearby – a move made possible thanks to the commitment and energy of our co-workers. We officially ceased to be a pilot plant in September, and since then, we’ve produced more than 45,368 m3 of flexible polyurethane foam which translates to approximately 86K mattresses, headed to the homes of IKEA customers in North America.
Ramping up sustainability in Mexico
For us, it is important that we get off to a good start in Ramos Arizpe – a region that is both sunny and very dry. This has sparked a number of sustainability initiatives, such as installing sanitary facilities to cut water-use by 24,000 litres annually and using only local vegetation that requires little water in the outdoor areas.
We are also proud of our parking roof equipped with 1349 solar panels that boosts our plant with 820.000Kwh of energy. As we near our first year at this facility, we continuously work to achieve our production goals while also securing new and clever ways to reach our sustainability targets.
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On a straight path to becoming circular
At Ikano Industry Poland, we are moving at full speed to becoming fully circular by 2025, that is, to recycle as many mattresses as we produce.
In 2021, we worked to complete the construction of our new plant and warehouse for the production of Repoliol in Rogoźno in Poland. Simply explained, Repoliol is an Ikano-patented material made from recycled foam and the main building block for producing new foam. The new site is an EUR 6.3 million investment aimed to achieve zero waste while achieving 100% circularity in foam production.
In our current facilities in Rogoźno, we produce 1,000 tonnes of foam per year using the residue from the mattress production process. From the start-up of the new line, it will be possible to process an additional 2,000 tonnes/year, meaning we will be processing our residual foam at 100%. Production testing is set to start in early 2022.
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The year 2021 also saw the development of the collaboration with Retour Matras. There are currently 4 plants in the Netherlands for the mechanical dismantling of post-consumer mattresses, 90% of each mattress can be reused in production. In the recycling process, fabrics are separated from the other part of the mattress, and the foam is processed mechanically: shredded, glued and pressed. The result is rebond foam, which can be used as soundproofing mats for floors .
Together with Retour Matras, we are also building a new Repoliol plant in the Netherlands with a planned start-up set for March/April 2022. The capacity will be around 900 tonnes of foam from post-consumer mattresses per year, which will produce around 2,200 tonnes of Repoliol. Glorious future!