Inside Our Manufacturing: Specialty Fibers at Kuraray America's VECTRAN Site

Kuraray America, Inc. (KAI) is recognizing National Manufacturing Day and World Standards Day by highlighting our people, processes, technology, and quality practices behind manufacturing across our U.S. sites.

Kuraray America’s VECTRAN site in South Carolina plays a specialized role within The Kuraray Group’s U.S. manufacturing operations. For more than 20 years, the site has manufactured VECTRAN™ liquid crystal polymer (LCP) fiber for medical devices and industrial applications, supporting customers with demanding requirements for strength, consistency, and performance.

Our VECTRAN site is one of KAI’s manufacturing sites and its only facility dedicated to specialty fiber production in North America. Over the years, the site has expanded its capabilities to include on-site braiding, allowing customers to source both VECTRAN™ fiber and braided fiber products based on their application requirements.

From medical devices to industrial uses such as construction or aerospace, the end-use can look very different. What connects them is the level of performance expected from the material.

One of the most recognizable aerospace end-use examples came in 1997, when airbags made with VECTRAN™ fiber helped cushion the Mars Pathfinder as it landed on the surface of Mars. The material had to perform under extreme conditions, and low-temperature performance, flex fatigue, abrasion resistance, and tensile strength were all key considerations in its selection.

One part of meeting those performance requirements is producing the fiber with the appropriate denier for its intended application. The finest fiber made at Kuraray America, Inc.'s VECTRAN site is about as fine as a human hair. At just 25 denier, the fiber can be difficult to see as it moves through the equipment and winds onto a bobbin.

At the other end of the range, the site produces fiber up to 1,500 denier. Denier measures the weight, in grams, of 9,000 meters of fiber, providing a way to distinguish fibers ranging from extremely fine medical grades to heavier industrial products.

Manufacturing of VECTRAN™ fiber

The process begins with liquid crystal polymer and other materials sourced both domestically and from Kuraray’s operations in Japan.

The polymer moves through extrusion, where it is formed into fiber. During this stage, fiber intended for medical devices is checked to ensure it meets customer-specific requirements.

The fiber proceeds through additional steps before being wound onto finished bobbins. For medical devices, every bobbin is tensile tested and visually inspected before it is released to shipping. Industrial fiber follows a lot-based testing process, with samples taken from each load and checked against established tensile-strength specifications.

Once testing is complete, the finished VECTRAN™ fiber leaves the site wound onto bobbins and packaged according to the size and customer order. Some material can also move through the site’s braiding operation when customers require braided VECTRAN™ fiber.

VECTRAN™ fiber is a specialty product, shipments are typically much smaller than what might be expected from a standard manufacturing site. Order sizes can range from a single box shipped by parcel carrier to larger palletized quantities, with shipping methods tailored to the size and requirements of each order.

Production Supported Across a Global Network

Our Fort Mill site works closely with Kuraray’s Fiber & Textiles team in Japan to coordinate production and help maintain a reliable customer supply. Certain production is supported across both locations, while material intended for medical applications is produced at Fort Mill which complies with the ISO* 13485 and ISO 9001 Quality Management Standards.

Beyond manufacturing, the South Carolina team supports warehousing, distribution, and sales, making coordination between Fort Mill and Japan an important part of keeping material and information moving across the supply network. The teams work closely to align production needs and help reduce the potential for supply disruptions.

*ISO – International Organization for Standardization

Quality and Traceability Built Into the Process

During extrusion, fiber is checked for denier size before moving through additional processing steps. Finished material undergoes tensile testing and visual inspection according to established site procedures and standards.

For material intended for medical devices, requiring individual bobbin traceability, each bobbin is inspected and maintained as its own record, including data for:

• tensile strength,
• denier size, and
• finish content.

Material intended for other industrial applications is managed through lot-based release procedures, with representative testing performed as part of the quality process. This approach helps ensure only the materials meeting the applicable specifications move forward to shipping.

Supporting these processes is a quality management system that has continued to evolve with the site. Fort Mill first earned ISO 9001 certification in 2011 and added ISO 13485, the quality management system standard for medical devices, in 2020. Compliance with ISO 13485 required the site to expand its quality system, including more detailed procedures and recordkeeping requirements.

To support the additional level of traceability, the site worked with an outside development group through Kuraray America’s IT organization to create a custom quality data management application known internally as the VECTRAN app. Used across manufacturing, the laboratory, and management, the application digitizes quality records and provides a centralized way to log and track material data.

Each Person Makes a Visible Difference

The Fort Mill site operates with an onsite team covering responsibilities spanning production, quality, commercial activities, logistics, and site operations.

For Business Manager Michael Iwanski, team collaboration is a key component of efficient operations.

A key recent addition has been a dedicated maintenance coordinator, strengthening the site’s approach to equipment reliability, spare-parts management, and preventive maintenance while building on the hands-on equipment knowledge developed by the production team.

At the end of each production day, the quality and production teams connect to review the shift and identify anything requiring follow-up. With a team of this size, close coordination across functions is essential.

Close communication also supports how the team approaches safety.

Since 2005, the VECTRAN site has maintained Kuraray’s “5 Zeros” performance targets, a companywide benchmark used to support safety performance and culture across Kuraray sites. The team’s efforts have also been recognized in previous years with the Kuraray Group President's Safety Award.

At VECTRAN, that also means ensuring people are prepared to work safely across multiple parts of the process. Operators receive cross-functional training in extrusion, heat treatment, and winding, and learn to run tensile testing in the laboratory.

Kuraray America’s commitment to community volunteerism extends to South Carolina through employees at its VECTRAN site.

In previous years, the VECTRAN team has supported local food banks and nearby organizations through donation drives, and employees have also taken part in hands-on projects with Project Safe Pet, where they helped build weatherproof doghouses for pets in need across the Carolinas. Together, those efforts reflect a team that contributes locally in practical ways beyond the work happening inside the site.

Together, those efforts reflect a team willing to contribute where there is a need, both within the community and in the work they do every day.