Nonwovens live

Green honour for J&J

Healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson was third in the 2009 Green Rankings – Newsweek magazine’s assessment of the environmental performance of North America’s largest 500 companies.
Newsweek commented that J&J’s commitment to climate change is rare for its peer group and that it has strong environmental management in place, although it has has not pledged to become carbon neutral.
J&J also has the largest fleet of hybrid vehicles in the world, although it was also said to be “a top emitter of toxic pollutants compared to other companies within its industry”.
Procter & Gamble ranked 26th, and its was noted that it has reduced the size of its product packaging for laundry detergent, following a request from Wal-Mart, its largest customer, significantly reducing shipping volume and chemical emissions.
P&G was also said to have dramatically reduced the raw materials in manufacturing disposal diapers and offers refills on baby wipes and liquid hand soaps, which can reduce packaging by up to 80%.
Hewlett-Packard was first in Newsweek’s rankings, followed by Dell.

SCA buys Argentine femcare company

SCA,  through its Colombian joint-venture company, has acquired Algodonera Aconcagua – one of the largest players in feminine care in Argentina.
The decision to acquire Algodonera Aconcagua was taken by SCA’s half-owned, joint-venture company in Colombia, Productos Familia SA. The purchase price is approximately SEK 165m on a debt-free basis.
The operation of the acquired company focuses on feminine care products, an area in which Algodonera Aconcagua currently holds a market share in Argentina of about 20%, placing the company in third position in the country. The three largest companies account for about 80% of sales in this market.
Algodonera Aconcagua also holds a small market share in baby diapers and incontinence care, which presents the potential for future expansion in these segments.
“This acquisition gives us a strong foothold in what is a new and attractive market for us with considerable growth potential,” said SCA’s president and CEO Jan Johansson “The transaction is entirely in line with our strategy, which is to expand in selected, clearly identifiable emerging markets.”

Recession prompts new strategy for Ahlstrom

As part of a new strategy, Ahlstrom’s operations will now be based on two distinct business models, the first with a focus on providing added value products for customers and the second on operational excellence.
It is envisaged that the value-added business will be the company’s primary growth engine, developing through organic growth and possibly by making small acquisitions. New products that help Ahlstrom’s customers become more competitive will create the foundation for success, it is believed.
The cluster will include the Fiber Composites segment’s Advanced Nonwovens and Glass and Industrial Nonwovens business areas, as well as transportation and liquid filtration media in the Filtration business area. It will also include crepe papers and vegetable parchment from the Technical Papers business area of the Specialty Papers segment.
The focus of the operational excellence business will be to develop cost effective products through, for instance, alternative raw materials or new technological solutions. The cluster covers the Release and Label Papers business area and the majority of the Technical Papers business area in the Specialty Papers segment. In the Fiber Composites segment, it will include the Home and Personal Nonwovens business area and air filtration media in the Filtration business area.
The long-term target of the strategy is to strengthen Ahlstrom’s competitive position and generate returns that are in line with the company’s financial targets. One of the most important indicators is return on capital employed (ROCE), which should reach its target level of 13%. In January-September 2009  ROCE was 1.5% and in July-September 4.8%. Measures to reach these targets will be continued in respect of the product lines and units falling below the target level.
Ahlstrom’s net sales for the three months from July to September 2009 were €400.6 million, compared to €451.2 million in the same period in 2008, but EBIT for the 2009 period was up, at €13.1 million compared to €11.3 million, as was profit before taxes of €7.3 million  compared to €3.5 million.
In the nine months of 2009 to date, however, net sales were €1,175.6 million compared to €1,383.4 million in the same period of 2008, EBIT was €12.1 million compared to €50 million and  the company has recorded a loss before taxes of €6.6 million, compared to profit of €28.9 million.
Having carried out two restructuring programmes, the company has shed 516 jobs in 2009 to date, while approximately 2,400 employees have been affected by temporary layoffs and other flexible working hour arrangements
“Despite the challenging market environment, we achieved a positive EBIT for July-September, particularly as a result of streamlining efforts, cost control and lower raw material prices,” said president and CEO Jan Lång. “Employees have committed themselves excellently to our target of shifting the focus towards cash flow and working capital reduction. Our net debt has decreased by over €87 million since the turn of the year, but our profitability is still not satisfactory, so the streamlining efforts will continue. Due to higher raw material prices, we have also announced price increases.”
The very challenging market conditions resulting from the recession continued until the end of the first half of 2009, when the weakening of demand for Ahlstrom’s products stopped and the demand for some products began to pick up. The positive trend continued during July-September, but demand did not increase to the level of the corresponding period last year.
In the Fiber Composites segment, the recession has not impacted the demand for Ahlstrom’s food packaging and teabag materials or nonwovens in medical applications. Between January and September their demand remained close to the usual level. The demand for Ahlstrom’s construction materials increased slightly in July-September compared to the first half of the year, as it did for wipes and transportation filtration media.
Net sales of the Fiber Composites segment amounted to €637.7 million in the first nine months of this year, representing 54% of the group’s overall sales and compared to €758.3 million in the same period of 2008.
Ahlstrom’s capital expenditure for January-September was €53.9 million, its largest on-going investment project being the construction of a medical nonwovens plant in Gujarat, India. Operations at the plant are estimated to start in the first quarter of 2010. The project has proceeded according to plans, and the buildings and installations of equipment are nearly complete. The estimated total cost of the project is €38 million. 

Two years, two worlds for Buckeye

Airlaid manufacturer Buckeye Technologies began its financial year, which ended on June 30 2009, with record sales for the first quarter of $221 million, but then the recession started to bite.
For the first time in more than a 50 Years, the company’s Foley Plant took market downtime in December and January, and this was just one of the factors leading to it eventually  reporting a loss for the year of $65.4 million,
Buckeye earned $22.8 million in 2009 compared to $47.5 million in fiscal year 2008 and remarks that comparing the two years is “a comparison of two different worlds with different market dynamics”.
Net sales for 2009 were $755 million, 9% below the company’s best ever sales of $826 million in 2008. Buckeye recently opened an office in Beijing that is already adding value and the company believes there will be growing opportunities in China for all of its products.
The company notes that demand for airlaid nonwovens grew significantly in the 1990s, but since then, significant capacity expansion in 2001, primarily in North America, resulted in the market being oversupplied. Buckeye is the leading supplier of airlaid nonwoven materials worldwide.
The markets in which its competes also utilise nonwovens materials produced with technologies other than airlaid such as spunlace. It lists its major nonwovens competitors as Ahlstrom, Fiberweb, Concert Industries, Duni AB, Koch Industries, Kimberly-Clark Corporation and PGI.
While the North American industry is operating in an environment of excess supply, the European market has been more balanced. Concert has announced a line at its Falkenhagen, Germany facility with an annual capacity in the range of 15,000 to 20,000 metric tons to be online in the fall of 2009 and Lycell is planning to install a new airlaid line in Finland with startup in early 2010. Fiberweb permanently shut down an airlaid line in Italy in January 2009 but has started up a second machine in China, which has approximately 10,000 metric tons of annual capacity, while Sambo started up a 10,000 metric tons per year line in South Korea last year.
The stated capacity of airlaid nonwovens machines is based on an assumed mix of products, Buckeye says. The flexible nature of airlaid technology allows for a wide range of materials to be produced. Machine production capability has typically been lower than the stated capacity, often by factors of 10-20%, when adjusted to reflect the actual product mix. Based on current product mix, utilization of Buckeye’s airlaid machines worldwide, as at June 30 2009, was approximately 70% of total capacity.

TAL success at Techtextil India

India’s technical textile sector was out in force from October 10-12, for TechTextil India in Mumbai, reports Technical Absorbents Ltd (TAL).
The UK-based manufacturer of SAF (superabsorbent fibre) says it was inundated with enquiries throughout the show. TAL is owned by Bluestar Fibres which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of China National Bluestar Corporation – in-turn wholly-owned by ChemChina.
In addition to the manufacture of SAF, TAL also toll manufactures SAF-containing nonwovens, yarns, woven fabrics and finished consumer goods and has built relationships with some of the world’s leading specialist fibre converters, roll-goods producers and end product manufacturers. It is now working to develop similar networks with Indian companies in order to enhance routes to market in this region.
“India offers exciting market potential for TAL,” explains the company’s business development manager Dave Hill. “The country has a high skill-set in terms of scientific and technical manpower and huge levels of expertise within the textile market. This means that the understanding of what SAF technology can offer is made easier.
“We pride ourselves on our ability to create new and innovative absorbent solutions and at TechTextil India we spoke to many people who were looking for this type of technology for new development projects. Some key areas of market interest were for TAL’s new washable sweat absorbent under jackets and our agro and geotextile ranges. India’s knowledge of SAF and its endless possibilities has definitely increased over the past few years, which led to more in-depth conversations than at previous events.
“TAL already has a presence in India through Business Co-ordination House (BCH) – which is a vital resource. The team has excellent links with both the global and Indian technical textile industries and has already been successful in introducing TAL to various companies, entrepreneurs, students, academicians and other industry stakeholders. TAL now has dedicated member of the BCH team to help it develop the India market even further and help follow up enquiries from trade exhibitions such as this.”

Italian US visit

ACIMIT – the Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers – and the Italian Trade Commission (ICE) are to hold technical workshops dedicated to Italian technology for the nonwovens and technical textile industries at North Carolina State University in Raleigh from November 11 and 12.
At the meetings, organised in partnership with the Nonwovens Institute of North Carolina State University, Italian manufacturers of machinery will introduce their updated technologies and exchange views and ideas with the main US companies involved in these sectors.
ACIMIT estimates that about 100 of its member companies are involved in the production of machinery for technical textiles or nonwovens. This sector is observing a steadily growing turnover, accounting for 10% of the total turnover of the Italian textile machinery industry. 

New line at Neumag

A new meltblown pilot line is to be installed at the Oerlikon Neumag Spunlaid Solution Centre in Neumag, Germany. 
The stand-alone line will be dedicated to supporting the development of meltblown applications such as fine fibre barrier nonwovens or filtration composite media.
During 2008, the centre’s existing spunlaid pilot plant was expanded to a three-beam system for spunbond and metlblown composites production.
Both plants are available for customer trials.
The meltblown line can also be extended by other available web forming technologies to achieve multi-compound webs with optimised product qualities and characteristics.

EMS buys Nexis

The Swiss EMS Group is to take over Nexis Fibers GmbH which manufactures polyamide-based technical fibres in Neumünster, Germany, and formerly belonged to Rhodia.
The current owner of Nexis, ExNex AG filed for insolvency in March this year.
Nexis has annual net sales of around Sfr 40 million and a current workforce of 95.
EMS intends to integrate it into its own speciality fibre business and to continue work at both production sites in Domat/Ems, Switzerland and Neumunster, Germany.
The purchasing price was said to be in the “low single-figure million range” and will be financed by EMS from its liquid assets.

H1N1-killing wipes approved by NHS

Technical Textiles Services, based in Manchester, UK, has announced that its Clinitex R320X has been officially listed by NHS Supply Chain and is now available to be purchased by all English NHS hospitals.
The product, explained sales director David Beardsworth, is an alcohol-free, multi-surface antibacterial wet wipe that employs an enhanced RB1600 fluid that has been tested to EN14476:2007 with Log 5 reduction and a five minute kill time (99.9%) against influenza viruses – including the H1N1 strain known as Swine Flu.
 “Given the current threat of an epidemic we believe there continues to be a serious requirement from nursing homes, schools, nurseries, hospitals for this a cost-effective and scientifically proven wet wiping product, especially given its fairly unique technical properties,” said Mr Beardsworth.
The wipes have also been tested to EN1276 and was found to demonstrate Log 5 reduction against E Coli, MRSA, Salmonella Typirium, P. Aeruginosa and Lysteria Monocytogenes.
The wipes are being made available in a one litre dispensing canister containing 200 of the RB1600 impregnated 200mm x 200mm wipes, with a case of 12 canisters costing distributors £23.40 per case, or £880.00 + VAT for full pallet loads of 40 cases.

Elmarco Nanospider for consortium

Elmarco has entered into a cooperation agreement with the University of Akron, Ohio, as a new member of the Coalescence Filtration Nanomaterials Consortium (CFNC).
Other CFNC associate companies are Ahlstrom, Donaldson, Cummins Filtration, Parker Hannifin Corporation and MemPro Ceramics.
Elmarco’s initial contribution to the consortium is the delivery of unique laboratory equipment for the production of nanofibres, the Nanospider lab machine. Elmarco’s proprietary technology is easily upscaled to industrial levels, which opens great opportunities to explore the results from consortium research projects in commercial uses.
The University of Akron has a long and very successful tradition in the research and development of electrospinning processes for nanofibre production and applications. Professors Darrell H. Reneker and George G. Chase are widely considered to be experts in this field. They recognised the huge potential for practical applications of nanofibres, and in 1998, established the CFNC in order to synergize ideas and scientific background of the University with technology transfer experience of the innovative industrial members of the consortium.
The mission of the CFNC is to conduct fundamental research in performance coalescence filters and the design of filter media, including the development and application of nanofibres. The research scope includes:
• Theory, modelling and experiments on capture and coalescence of micron and nanometer size drops and particles in nonwoven filter media made of micron and nanometer diameter fibres.
• Methods of nanofibre generation and construction of nonwoven media with nanofibres.
• Liquid-liquid and gas-liquid coalescence.