{"id":132366,"date":"2023-09-28T07:35:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-28T05:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=132366"},"modified":"2023-09-25T13:01:11","modified_gmt":"2023-09-25T11:01:11","slug":"biotech-company-mycoworks-begins-production-at-the-worlds-first-commercial-scale-fine-mycelium-plant-in-union-south-carolina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/biotech-company-mycoworks-begins-production-at-the-worlds-first-commercial-scale-fine-mycelium-plant-in-union-south-carolina\/","title":{"rendered":"Biotech Company MycoWorks Begins Production at the World’s First Commercial-Scale Fine Mycelium\u2122 Plant in Union, South Carolina"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\"Courtesy<\/a>
Courtesy of MycoWorks<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Today, biotechnology company\u00a0MycoWorks begins production at its world-class manufacturing facility in\u00a0Union, S.C.Now capable of scaling-up to meet luxury industry demand, the company is set to grow millions of square feet of its leather-alternative material produced with the company’s proprietary technology, Fine Mycelium\u2122. This patented technology produces Reishi\u2122, a biomaterial with unparalleled hand-feel, strength and durability \u2013 on par with calfskin leather, the industry gold standard.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With partners including Herm\u00e8s and General Motors, MycoWorks’ progression into commercial-scale manufacturing is a sign of maturation for the biomaterials industry that the company continues its leadership in materials science. Per MycoWorks’ market sizing, there are serious challenges facing the $164 billion leather market and $28 billion luxury leather market such as supply chain constraints and inferior product alternatives. Since 2010, demand for luxury leather increased 251 percent, while high-end hide production declined by 22 percent due to falling beef and dairy consumption. MycoWorks, and its hallmark material Reishi\u2122, are answering these challenges with the world’s first full-scale alternative leather factory, a revolution in the production of high-quality natural materials for the luxury industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opening of the 136,000 sq. ft. factory also marks the world’s largest mycelium material operation, a major step for the use of mycelium\u2013 the “root structure” of mushrooms. Starting first with leather, MycoWorks’ Fine Mycelium\u2122 technology can later be expanded into other applications. The plant was made possible through a $125 million Series C funding round in 2021 from Prime Movers Lab, SK Networks, Mirabaud Lifestyle Impact & Innovation Fund, DCVC Bio, Novo Holdings and several strategic customers and investors. With construction beginning in 2022, the project was delivered on-time and on-budget, running the same tray-based mycelium growth system successfully piloted in its California plant yet scaled to 100x the volume.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“As MycoWorks continues to lead in biomaterial innovation, we are thrilled to open this first-of-its-kind facility in\u00a0South Carolina. This reality is thanks to our team of experienced manufacturing leaders and engineers from the consumer goods, automotive, food, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology industries who have adapted robotic equipment and systems to handle our unique tray-based biomaterials process. In turn, they have enabled the first high-quality mycelium material product at scale, a feat which has never been accomplished until now,” says\u00a0Doug Hardesty, MycoWorks Chief Operating Officer<\/strong>. “We thank the city and citizens of\u00a0Union\u00a0for welcoming MycoWorks into its community.”\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

MycoWorks’ facility uses state of the art robotics, digital analytics, and AI resources to achieve high-caliber quality and supply chain systems for the company’s customers in an entirely new manufacturing process. Using automated guided robots (AGRs), the company has automated 80% of its process, enabling MycoWorks’ to reduce handling costs but maintain expert interactions where they are critical for quality assurance, achieving both high quality and low-cost production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the leather industry, MycoWorks’ Union, S.C., facility is a breakthrough in supply chain management, providing full predictability, transparency, and provenance of high-quality natural materials while also reducing waste. Grown-to-spec, Fine Mycelium\u2122 can be customized for thickness, weight and mechanical properties, allowing for an unprecedented level of control of a natural material, previously impossible via traditional agriculture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luxury fashion and automotive brands have eagerly awaited this opening to move collection design from prototyping and capsules to full-scale adoption. To date, Fine Mycelium\u2122 has already been applied with great success to product categories from luxury handbags and footwear to vehicle interiors and home furnishings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Union, S.C.\u2014population 30,000\u2014 MycoWorks’ investment is reshoring production from an industry that primarily sources from Europe. Union has had a long history in textile manufacturing, and as the region is already home to leading automotive manufacturers, Fine Mycelium\u2122 will allow other industries in the area and globally to closely collaborate on development. This centralization of biotechnology and manufacturing has long been a goal of South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, a dedicated supporter of bringing cutting-edge science and technology to the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“We are thrilled to welcome MycoWorks to\u00a0Union\u00a0and have been eagerly awaiting the start of production,” said Governor\u00a0Henry McMaster<\/strong>. “We are already seeing the growth that this opening is bringing to the immediate and greater communities in the area, including more jobs, housing, storefronts, and overall investments. MycoWorks is a fantastic addition to our portfolio of energy-efficient plants, and we look forward to their long-term impact in\u00a0South Carolina.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About MycoWorks<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In 2013, co-founders\u00a0Philip Ross\u00a0and\u00a0Sophia Wang\u00a0formed MycoWorks, a\u00a0San Francisco-based biomaterials company dedicated to bringing new mycelium-grown materials to the world. MycoWorks’ patented Fine Mycelium\u2122 technology, an advanced manufacturing platform and breakthrough in materials science, engineers mycelium during growth to form proprietary, interlocking cellular structures for unparalleled beauty, handfeel, strength and durability. The company’s flagship material- Reishi\u2122 – is a new category of material for the world’s best luxury brands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today, biotechnology company\u00a0MycoWorks begins production at its world-class manufacturing facility in\u00a0Union, S.C.Now capable of scaling-up to meet luxury industry demand, the company is set to grow millions of square feet of its leather-alternative material produced with the company’s proprietary technology, Fine Mycelium\u2122. This patented technology produces Reishi\u2122, a biomaterial with unparalleled hand-feel, strength and durability […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"Providing the company's luxury leather alternative Reishi\u2122","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[5838,5796,17663,17005,17609,19005],"supplier":[20620,165,18582,13955,16000,19758],"class_list":["post-132366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-bioeconomy","tag-biotechnology","tag-fakeleather","tag-furleather","tag-mycelium","tag-myceliumleather","supplier-dcvc","supplier-general-motors","supplier-hermes","supplier-mycoworks","supplier-novo-holdings-as","supplier-prime-movers-lab"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132366\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132366"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=132366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}