Segment Information

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2014

Segment Reporting [Abstract]

Segment Information

11. Segment Information

On February 20, 2014, the Company acquired the Industrial Filtration business from Andrew Industries Limited, which is being reported as a separate reportable segment since the acquisition date. Segment information is consistent with how management reviews the businesses, makes investing and resource allocation decisions and assesses operating performance.

The Company’s reportable segments are Performance Materials, Industrial Filtration, Thermal/Acoustical Metals, and Thermal/Acoustical Fibers. Other Products and Services (“OPS”) includes Life Sciences Vital Fluids.

Performance Materials Segment

The Performance Materials segment includes filtration media solutions for air, fluid power, and industrial applications (“Filtration”), air and liquid life science applications (“Life Sciences Filtration”), and thermal insulation solutions for building products, appliances, and energy and industrial markets (“Thermal Insulation”). Filtration products include LydAir^® MG (Micro-Glass) Air Filtration Media, LydAir^® MB (Melt Blown) Air Filtration Media, LydAir^® SC (Synthetic Composite) Air Filtration Media, and Arioso^® Membrane Composite Media. These products constitute the critical media components of clean-air systems for applications in clean-space, commercial, industrial and residential HVAC, power generation, and industrial processes. Lydall has leveraged its extensive technical expertise and applications knowledge into a suite of media products covering the vast liquid filtration landscape across the engine and industrial fields. The LyPore^® Liquid Filtration Media series addresses a variety of application needs in fluid power, including hydraulic filters, air-water and air-oil coalescing, industrial fluid processes, diesel filtration and fuel filtration.

Industrial Filtration Segment

The Industrial Filtration segment includes non-woven felt filtration media and filter bags used primarily in industrial air and liquid filtration applications. Non-woven filter media is the most commonly used filter technology to satisfy increasing emission control regulations in a wide range of industries, including power, cement, steel, asphalt, incineration, mining, food, and pharmaceutical.

Industrial Filtration segment products include air and liquid filtration media sold under the brand names Fiberlox® high performance filtration felts, Checkstatic™ conductive filtration felts, Microfelt® high efficiency filtration felts, Pleatlox® pleatable filtration felts, Ultratech™ PTFE filtration felts, Powertech® and Powerlox® power generation filtration felts, Microcap® high efficiency liquid filtration felts, Duotech membrane composite filtration felts, along with traditional scrim supported filtration felts. Industrial Filtration also offers extensive finishing and coating capabilities which provide custom engineered properties tailored to meet the most demanding filtration applications. The business leverages a wide range of fiber types and extensive technical capabilities to provide filtration products that meet our customers’ needs across a variety of applications providing both high filtration performance and durability.

Thermal/Acoustical Metals Segment

The Thermal/Acoustical Metals segment offers a range of innovative engineered products to assist in noise and heat abatement within the transportation sector. Lydall products are found in the underbody (tunnel, fuel tank, exhaust, rear muffler, and spare tire) and under hood (engine compartment, turbo charger, and manifolds) of cars, vans, trucks, SUVs, heavy duty trucks and recreational vehicles.

Thermal/Acoustical Metals segment products are stamped metal combinations which provide thermal and acoustical shielding solutions for the global automotive and truck markets. Thermal/Acoustical Metals products include AMS^® shield which is an all metal shield designed to be used in various vehicle applications, and Direct Exhaust Mount Heat shields which are mounted to high temperature surfaces like exhaust down-pipes or engine manifolds using aluminized and stainless steel with high performance heat absorbing metals. The recently developed and patented CLD (constraint layer damped) material used in our heat shields is a lightweight material with characteristics to reduce vibration and parasitic noise on powertrain mounted heat shields.

Thermal/Acoustical Fibers Segment

The Thermal/Acoustical Fibers segment offers a line of innovative engineered products to assist in noise and heat abatement within the transportation sector. Lydall products are found in the interior (dash insulators), underbody (wheel well, fuel tank, and exhaust) and under hood (engine compartment) of cars, vans, trucks, SUVs, heavy duty trucks and recreational vehicles.

Thermal/Acoustical Fibers segment products offer thermal and acoustical insulating solutions comprised of organic and inorganic fiber composites for the automotive and truck markets primarily in North America. Lydall’s dBCore^® composite is a lightweight acoustical composite that emphasizes absorption principles over heavy-mass type systems. Lydall’s dBLyte^® barrier is a high-performance acoustical barrier with sound absorption and blocking properties and can be used throughout a vehicle’s interior to minimize intrusive noise from an engine compartment and road. Lydall’s ZeroClearance^® barrier is an innovative thermal solution that utilizes an adhesive backing for attachment and is ideal for protecting floor sheet metal from excessive exhaust heat. Lydall’s specially engineered wheel wells provide a solution with weight reduction and superior noise suppression capabilities over conventional designs.

Thermal/Acoustical Metals segment and Thermal/Acoustical Fibers segment operating results include allocations of certain costs shared between the segments.

Other Products and Services

The Life Sciences Vital Fluids business offers specialty products for blood filtration devices, blood transfusion single-use containers and the design and manufacture of single-use solutions for cell growth, frozen storage and fluid handling, as well as equipment for bioprocessing applications.

The tables below present net sales and operating income by segment for the quarters ended March 31, 2014 and 2013, and also a reconciliation of total segment net sales and operating income to total consolidated net sales and operating income.

Consolidated net sales by segment: (1)

	Quarter Ended
	March 31,
In thousands	2014		2013
Performance Materials Segment:
Filtration	$	17,873	$	16,650
Thermal Insulation		8,528		8,156
Life Sciences Filtration		2,452		2,677
Performance Materials Segment net sales		28,853		27,483
Industrial Filtration Segment:
Industrial Filtration		17,656		-
Industrial Filtration net sales		17,656		-
Thermal/Acoustical Metals Segment:
Metal parts		37,025		33,109
Tooling		5,431		7,093
Thermal/Acoustical Metals Segment net sales		42,456		40,202
Thermal/Acoustical Fibers Segment:
Fiber parts		30,322		27,784
Tooling		2,191		143
Thermal/Acoustical Fibers Segment net sales		32,513		27,927
Other Products and Services:
Life Sciences Vital Fluids		4,724		4,307
Other Products and Services net sales		4,724		4,307
Eliminations and Other		(976)		(890)
Consolidated Net Sales	$	125,226	$	99,029

Operating income by segment: (1)

	Quarter Ended
	March 31,
In thousands	2014		2013
Performance Materials	$	1,863	$	1,277
Industrial Filtration		786		-
Thermal/Acoustical Metals		3,653		3,018
Thermal/Acoustical Fibers		7,341		6,154
Other Products and Services		420		356
Corporate Office Expenses		(6,437)		(4,288)
Consolidated Operating Income	$	7,626	$	6,517

(1) Industrial Filtration segment reports results for the period following the date of acquisition of February 20, 2014 through March 31, 2014.