Spotlight on New Afera Converter Member ADDEV Materials, which has recently incorporated Parafix

Parafix, a member of the ADDEV Materials Group, is one of Europe’s leading specialty adhesive tape converters, with 50 years of expertise and located in the south of England near Brighton. Having just rejoined Afera, the company serves markets such as healthcare, automotive, electronics, aerospace and defence, and general industry. Parafix holds ISO 13485 (medical devices) and FDA certifications, ensuring the highest quality standards for medical products. Additionally, its ISO Class 7 Clean Room capability allows for the production of premium medical solutions.

Parafix joins ADDEV Materials

In 2023, Parafix became a member of ADDEV Materials, an international mid-sized company specialised in the converting of technical films and fibres, tapes and foams, and the custom-packaging of surface treatments, adhesives and paints for leading industrial customers. “The Parafix name will continue as it is well-recognised and respected in Europe and beyond by both the tapes and associated industries and customers within its markets,” said Mike Punter, former Managing Director of Parafix Holdings, Ltd., and current senior advisor for ADDEV Materials. “As a leader in the healthcare industry, Parafix will support ADDEV Materials’ European expansion to serve customers with a superior range of medical-grade materials.” Parafix and ADDEV Materials will be “co-branded”, as Parafix now becomes a “Member of & ADDEV Materials”.

“ADDEV Materials also has a long history in the tapes converting business,” commented Mr. Punter’s colleague Marie Blanchard Brunel, chief marketing and revenue officer at ADDEV Materials. “Created in 2006, it has since grown quickly, combining organic and external growth in Europe and North America. Both Parafix and ADDEV Materials convert not only adhesive tapes, but foams, films and non-woven, often combining them.”

ADDEV Materials

ADDEV Materials employs 750 people in 16 industrial plants in Europe (U.K., France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and Poland) and North America (Canada and USA), with a turnover of 200 million euros. Thanks to their technical capability and experience, ADDEV Materials and Parafix combine long-lasting and strategic relationships and are preferred partners of renowned adhesives and tapes world-class manufacturers. "Converting industrial challenges into sustainable materials solutions" is ADDEV Materials’ purpose: Both ADDEV Materials and Parafix share this common vision of providing high-quality, innovative and tailored solutions to their customers, as well as accompanying them on their journeys of carbon footprint reduction and responsible growth.

Their offering

Parafix produces over 300 million adhesive components for over 750 customers every year. “This is why we created our unique website as a reference point providing options to engineers with bonding challenges,” explained Mr. Punter. “So before calling us, they can consider their options. It receives more than 5,000 hits a month from all over the world.” 
Ms. Blanchard-Brunel added, “Within ADDEV Materials Group, we have a wide range of converting capabilities for cutting and stamping, slitting, spooling and laminating, also including leading-edge technology such as multi-head rotary cutters and in-line lasers.”

The reach of ADDEV Materials through its locations and markets provides Parafix with the opportunity to further its pan-European ambitions, thereby increasing its attractiveness to larger companies with multiple locations. Combining their large customer base, ADDEV Materials and Parafix will ensure a strong and global reach, also being able to create synergies among teams and technical experts within the Group. 

The changing business

“I have been connected to the adhesive tape business for the last 45 years,” shared Mr. Punter. “My first 25 years in the business was in industrial distribution into the automotive manufacturing market. The model was very successful, but the supply chain changed, knowledge became more transparent with the development of the internet, and its value and associated margins declined.” 

He then moved to the engineered adhesive solution provider business, again to add value to both the supplier and customer. Nearly all converted parts are unique to a customer and an application. Mr. Punter has also seen the converter market evolve over the last twenty years: Adhesive products have become more sophisticated, customers have become more demanding around service and tolerances, and like the distribution business, converters have seen larger companies emerge which are capable of running million-euro machines across several locations.

The trends they see

Ms. Blanchard Brunel and Mr. Punter shared the current and future trends they see affecting the tapes converting business: 

• Automation of processes at both the converter and end user. Parafix already supplies a line of pick-and-place solutions to its customers.
• Mobility market, electrification. Beyond traditional automotive, not only electric powertrains but sensors, screens everywhere (“car is the new smartphone”) and even paint-finishing.
• Resource efficiency. With resource scarcity and energy price increases, we need to work on energy-efficient solutions, lightweighting and alternative resources such as hydrogen and renewable energies.
• Eco-responsible solutions. Again, with resource scarcity and the carbon neutrality target, we need to reinforce the circular economy, work on alternative low-impact materials and focus on waste reduction. Waste must also be driven out of the process through increasing process efficiency and physical waste reduction.

On learning about Afera

“I have always said the specialty tape converter is not understood or appreciated and feel the same today still,” Mr. Punter emphasised. “I therefore rejoined Afera to try to influence mechanical engineers, tape sales guys and the markets in general.” He recalled how Afera listened and allowed specialty tape converters to join our industry collective, after which he was elected to Afera’s Steering Committee as Marketing Committee Chairperson. Among other things, under his direction, the active group created Why Tape?, showcasing the benefits of tapes over traditional fixing methods and of course the world of tape conversion.

What European Adhesive Tape Association topics drive your desire to participate in and benefit from Membership?

“ADDEV Materials is a very forward-thinking, ambitious company with high standards,” Ms. Blanchard Brunel explained. “So we are very interested in Afera’s Flagship Sustainability Programme, in addition to networking with industry peers and groups within the Association.” Both Mr. Punter and Ms. Blanchard Brunel expressed interest in Afera’s workforce topic: to promote the education of mechanical engineers of the features, advantages and benefits of the converted adhesive part.

For more information, visit https://addevmaterials.com/en/