From the Sector

In pandemic year 2020 circular knitting machine manufacturer Mayer & Cie. (MCT) has further improved its leading position in Turkey. So the country continues to be one of the company’s strongest and most consistent sales markets. Even in difficult years, the manufacturer and its longstanding Turkish representative Mayer Mümessillik have achieved positive results. The reasons for this year’s success, as Mayer & Cie. sees it, are the transfer of production to locations close to Europe, Turkey’s state-of-theart machinery and the increase in demand for comfortable clothing that is suitable as home office wear.

Turkish market is a growth market despite corona setback
“Compared to 2019, we anticipate a growth in the Turkish market even though the corona situation was a serious setback in the second quarter of 2020,” says Stefan Bühler, Mayer & Cie.’s regional sales manager for Turkey.

Mayer & Cie. got off to a strong start on the Bosporus in the first quarter of 2020 with additional positive effects until mid-March. This was due to a desire for production locations close to Europe. In the second quarter, during the lockdown, demand largely ground to a halt. Government measures helped to cushion the downturn. Says Ahmet M. Öğretmen, general manager of MCT’s Turkish sales partner Mayer Mümessillik: “In the second quarter, GDP was down by about 10 percent, so we got off lightly.”

Since July 2020, orders for Mayer & Cie. circular knitting machines have bounced back again. Ahmet M. Öğretmen sees an interplay of reasons for this recovery. The main reason, he says, is the low exchange rate of the Turkish lira, which has boosted exports of ready-made textiles. The Turkish daily Hürriyet reports, with reference to the Turkish state news agency, 11 percent year-on-year growth in August 2020. The most important export markets, the newspaper says, are Germany, the UK and Spain. Between them, they account for around half of exports totalling € 1.27 billion.* “This demand must be fulfilled,” Öğretmen says. “That leads to investment in machinery by manufacturers.”

Relanit is synonymous with single jersey
The machines of choice for Turkish knitwear manufacturers are regularly Mayer & Cie. machines. The long-established German firm’s share of the Turkish market is substantially higher than in other markets. The manufacturer’s position is particularly strong in the market for plain single jersey fabrics, with the Relanit 3.2 HS being the machine of choice. It achieves an extraordinarily high level of productivity, especially in processing elastomer yarns. It also handles a wide range of yarns reliably.

“Interlock is Mayer & Cie.”
Mayer & Cie. is one of the leader in the second major circular knitting discipline, rib and interlock fabrics. The machines used for double jersey fabrics are the OV 3.2 QCe, the D4 2.2 II and the D4 3.2 II. The OV 3.2 QCe knits interlock, 8-lock structures, spacers and fine gauge with 3.2 systems. The D4 2.2 II is another stalwart for rib, 8-lock and interlock. The 8-lock D4 3.2 II is the machine of choice for firms that want to manufacture structures such as Piqué, Punto di Roma or Thermal in addition to interlock.

The MBF 3.2 is another top seller in Turkey. A three-thread fleece machine, it knits fabrics for sportsand leisurewear such as hoodies and is very much in keeping with the trend in home office year 2020. “Comfortable clothing is circular knitted,” says Ahmet M. Öğretmen, “and we benefit from that of course.”

One of the world’s most state-of-the-art machine parks are in Turkey
Another advantage is the modernity of the Turkish machine park, which is doubly attractive in view of Turkey’s weak currency. Says Mayer Mümessillik general manager Öğretmen: “In the past 10 to 20 years there has been very heavy investment in high-quality machines. As a consequence we have the world’s youngest and most up-to-date production facilities.” Combined with geographical proximity to the main export markets in Europe that should prove a growth driver in the years ahead – and keep demand for Mayer & Cie. machines brisk and high.

*More informationen here.

The AVK – Industrievereinigung Verstärkte Kunststoffe e.V. – has once again announced the winners of its prestigious Innovation Awards. Decided by an expert jury, the awards recognise and honour sustainable innovations in three categories: “Innovative Products/Applications”, “Innovative Processes” and “Research and Science”.

Overview of all the winners in the three categories:

Category “Innovative Products/Applications”
1st Place: “Directly-cooled electric motor with integral lightweight housing made of fibre reinforced polymers - DEmiL” – developed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology ICT, Pfinztal, Germany, in partnership with the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Sumitomo Bakelite Co., Ltd.*

2nd Place: “Intrinsically Reprocessable, Repairable and Recyclable (3R) thermoset composites for more Competitive and Sustainable Industries” – developed by cidetec, Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain*

3rd Place: “Fireproof composite metal hybrid structure – LEO® fire protection sandwich with integrated Hyconnect steel-glass hybrid connector” – developed by SAERTEX GmbH & Co. KG and Hyconnect GmbH.*

Category “Innovative Processes”
1st Place: “Robotised Injection Moulding (ROBIN)” – developed by Robin, Dresden with the Institute for Lightweight Engineering and Polymer Technology at the TU Dresden*

2nd Place: “Omega stringer from the roll” – developed by the German Aerospace Center, Braunschweig*

3rd Place: “Hybrid die-casting – manufacturing of intrinsic CFRP-aluminium composite structures in aluminium high-pressure die-casting” – developed by Faserinstitut Bremen e. V. with Fraunhofer IFAM, Bremen*

Category “Research and Science”:
1st Place: “New high-temperature resistant UP resins and toughening agents” – developed by Münster University of Applied Sciences with BASF SE Global New Business Development, Leibniz Institute for Polymer Research e. V., Saertex multicom GmbH*

2nd Place: “Scientific basis for the industrial application of the thermoplastic resin transfer moulding (T-RTM) process” – developed by Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology ICT, Pfinztal*

3rd Place: “The material- and energy-efficient production of turbine struts by the integrative combination of thermoset fibre reinforced materials” – developed by the Institute of Polymer Technology, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg with the German Aerospace Center, Gubesch Group, Schmidt WFT, Siebenwurst, Raschig.

Award ceremony on the Internet for the first time
For the first time, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the award ceremony took place as an online event on 12 November 2020. Many of the award winners’ innovations will be presented again in this year’s AVK Innovation Award brochure. This will be available online: https://www.avk-tv.de/innovationaward.php

*Please see attached document for more information.

• Significant recovery in order intake in third quarter 2020
• Order intake of CHF 425.1 million after nine months
• COVID crisis management in place
• Continuous implementation of the strategy
• Outlook 2020

The market recovery, which Rieter reported in June 2020, has continued. This is reflected in capacity utilization at spinning mills worldwide, which Rieter monitors. In April 2020, the proportion of producing spinning mills was around 40% while at the end of September 2020 this was around 90%. Against this backdrop, the Rieter Group increased order intake in the third quarter of 2020 to CHF 174.4 million (2nd quarter 2020: CHF 45.7 million). In the first nine months of 2020, the Rieter Group achieved a cumulative order intake of CHF 425.1 million (2019: CHF 524.5 million). Compared to the previous year period, this represents a decline of 19%.

Order Intake by Business Group

Due to the positive development in the third quarter of 2020, order intake at the Business Group Machines & Systems reached a total of CHF 234.5 million in the first nine months. The reason for the relatively small decline of 8% compared to the previous year is that the new machinery business was already characterized by investment restraint in the first three quarters of the year 2019. The Business Group Components recorded a reduction of 33% to CHF 116.6 million while the Business Group After Sales posted an order intake of CHF 74.0 million, a decrease of 23%. This illustrates the effects of low capacity utilization at the spinning mills, especially in the second quarter of 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The order backlog as of September 30, 2020, was around CHF 515 million (September 30, 2019: CHF 285 million). Cancellations were in the normal range of around 5%.

COVID Crisis Management in Place

Rieter has quickly implemented comprehensive COVID crisis management. Priority is being given to protecting employees, fulfilling customer commitments and ensuring liquidity. The necessary measures to protect employees have been implemented worldwide and the order backlog is being processed largely as planned. Rieter has introduced 40% short-time working in Switzerland and Germany for the second half of 2020. Similar measures were implemented worldwide within the scope of the available legal options. As of September 30, 2020, Rieter had liquid funds of CHF 216.7 million and unused credit lines in the mid three-digit million range in order to ensure liquidity. At the end of September 2020, net debt of CHF 1.2 million was disclosed.

Continuous Implementation of the Strategy

In recent years, Rieter has consistently implemented the strategy with the focus on innovation leadership, strengthening the business on the installed base and optimization of the costs. The company intends to forge ahead with the strategy in the coming months in order to strengthen the market position for the time after the COVID-19 pandemic. The Rieter CAMPUS is an important element of Rieter’s innovation strategy. Depending on the business situation, construction work is due to begin in the first half of 2021.

Outlook 2020

As already announced, in terms of sales and profitability Rieter expects a stronger second half of the year compared to the first half of 2020. Nevertheless, due to the deferral of deliveries by customers, Rieter will also conclude the second half of the year − and thus the full year 2020 − with a net loss. Due to the existing uncertainties, it continues to be difficult to forecast sales and profitability for the second half of 2020. For this reason, Rieter refrains from providing more specific information for the full year 2020.

During the Innovate Textile & Apparel (ITA) virtual textile machinery show which will run from October 15th-30th 2020, Monforts will be emphasising its leadership position in three key fields – advanced coating, denim finishing and fabric sanforizing.

With its multi-head capability, the latest Monforts texCoat coating system provides flexibility with an unprecedented range of options and a wide range of modules available.

Refinements
“Since we acquired the coating technology that our systems are based on we have made a lot of refinements and all of them are reflected in higher coating accuracy and the resulting quality of the treated fabrics,” says Monforts Head of Technical Textiles, Jürgen Hanel.
“Our systems have the shortest fabric path from the coating unit into the stenter and we have all variations of coating application systems too – and all of these options are available in wider widths, with the engineering and manufacturing from a single source here in Europe.”

CYD
Denim finishing is meanwhile a field in which Monforts has an undisputed lead and it has been working closely with its many partners in the key denim manufacturing countries of Bangladesh, Brazil, China, India, Mexico Pakistan and Turkey to develop advanced solutions. The latest of these is the CYD yarn dyeing system.
“CYD is based on the proven Econtrol® dyeing system for fabrics*,” explains Monforts Head of Denim Hans Wroblowski. “It integrates new functions and processes into the weaving preparatory processes – spinning, direct beaming, warping and assembly beaming, followed by sizing and dyeing – in order to increase quality, flexibility, economic viability and productivity. The CYD system has been developed in response to a very strong market demand.”

Pre-shrinking
Monforts has also recently delivered a significant number of its latest Monfortex sanforizing lines to customers around the world.
Sanforizing is vital to final fabric quality, pre-shrinking it by compressing prior to washing, to limit any residual or further shrinkage in a made-up finished garment to less than 1%, for perfect comfort and fit over an extended lifetime.

As with industry-leading Montex stenters, Monfortex lines benefit from the latest Qualitex 800 control system which allows all parameters to be easily automated via the 24-inch colour touchscreen, including production speed, control of all fabric feed devices, rotation spray or steaming cylinder options, the width of the stretching field and the rubber belt pressure. Up to 10,000 separate process parameter records can be generated and stored by the data manager.

*Econtrol® is a registered mark of DyStar Colours Distribution GmbH, Germany.

• The CHT Group is constantly expanding its sustainable product range for a circular economy according to the Cradle to Cradle principles

Progress in itself does not necessarily have to be sustainable but in the CHT Group it certainly does. For this reason the company has defined progress more precisely. The developers and chemists from Tübingen show true inventive talent with sustainable innovations.

According to the CHT Group's self-perception, sustainable innovation always includes a responsibility component for the future. With decades of experience along the textile value chain, the globally active CHT Group offers an incomparably wide range of services focusing on sustainable, resource-saving and forward-looking speciality chemicals and the efficient shaping of textile processes.

The circular economy takes over a decisive role: In the CHT Group we are convinced that recyclable textile products are the right means to protect resources and reduce the environmental impact. Therefore, our team works closely with textile manufacturers and brands to achieve the common goal of avoiding waste and harmful substances along the textile production process and thus producing more ecological textiles.

The Cradle to Cradle approach provides a trend-setting concept in the textile world that perfectly fits the company's sustainable strategy: Right from the start products shall be created which are suited for the biological (compostable) or technical (recyclable) circulation.

The CHT Group focuses on the development of dyes, pigments and auxiliaries for textile finishing which can be decomposed without leaving any residues and easily returned to the natural circulation.

For textiles which are to be developed and produced strictly according to the Cradle to Cradle principle, CHT offers a comprehensive, constantly growing, compostable range for textile finishing. With 57 textile auxiliaries and 32 dyes/pigments CHT has succeeded in achieving the highest rating, the Platinum Material Health Certificate of the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute.

These products help textile manufacturers to achieve the Platinum rating in Material Health, one of five categories of the Cradle to Cradle Certified™ product standard on finished textiles. This contributes to giving textiles a positive ecological footprint.

Textiles can be given the decisive distinguishing feature through the Cradle to Cradle Certified™ product standard. Cradle to Cradle Certified™ is the world's leading science-based standard for safe, recyclable and sustainable materials and products. CHT offers the possibility of designing tomorrow's sustainable textiles already today and is therefore part of the Circular Economy.

Cradle to Cradle Certified™ is a registered trademark of the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute.

• Finnish coating and gelcoat manufacturer Finnester strengthens its activities in the D-A-CH region with AMAC

As of September 15th 2020, the Finland-based coating and gelcoat manufacturer Finnester Coatings Oy strengthens its activities in German speaking countries, the so-called D- A-CH region, comprising Germany, Austria and Switzerland with Dr. Michael Effing from AMAC.

Finnester is a pioneer in developing high-quality coatings and gelcoat for both urface spread as well as flame and thermal insulation of composite solutions in different fields of industries. Their portfolio comprises products based on Polyester coatings for fire and thermal protection as well as ceramifying polymers like HybridRED, compliant with the requirements of the standards e.g. EN45545-2. In
order to develop new business opportunities in the D-A-CH region for the endmarkets building and infrastructure, transportation, marine, industrial and electrical industries, Finnester is cooperating with AMAC to accelerate the process of locating suitable partnerships.

Ari Hokkanen, CEO of Finnester: “Finnester has developed unique high-quality coatings. The cooperation with AMAC will accelerate our growth ambitions and supports us in finding new business opportunities. We are happy to benefit from AMAC and Dr. Effing’s long-term experience as a pioneer in the composites industry and his high-quality network along the entire value chain.” Dr. Effing, CEO of AMAC GmbH confirms: “Fire-retardant coatings are very important to the composites industry in order to be successful especially in rail, fast ferry and building & infrastructure applications with their tough fire standards. The DACH region represents more than 30 % of the European market and is the key target for Finnester. I am looking forward to supporting Finnester with their unique offerings and connecting them with key players in the D-A-CH region.”

As the first composites trade show worldwide since the Covid-19-crisis, the China Composites in Shanghai (September 2 to 4, 2020) took up its activity. The show counted about 600 exhibitors and over 20 000 visitors, mostly Chinese locals, attended the exhibition.

Chinese Reach Group under the lead of its president Daniel He represented a large portfolio of European companies and their recent developments through their cooperation with Dr. Michael Effing´s AMAC/Germany, among them Airborne (NL), Textechno (D) and Conbility (D).

Daniel He describes the situation: „The Chinese market is picking up again; a price increase of 7% for glass fibers was announced right before the China Composites Show, on August 25th 2020, which was even leading to a temporary material shortage. Today, the most booming industries in China are wind energy, building and infrastructure and innovation for electric cars. Unlike the rest of the world, where the aircraft industry undergoes a deep decline, in China it takes up by 50 %, which is very promising. Furthermore, we expect half a year for a full recovery of the industry, while the China growth of 2020 is still expected to be between 2 and 4 %.“

Michael Effing replied: “Enabling the composites business between China and Europe is the aim of our cooperation with Reach and with our customers, which are active in digital automatization, testing equipment or cost optimization software. We are very happy to have been present in China through our representant Reach and are looking forward to bridge and overcome the Covid-19-crisis with our upcoming event in Germany, the Composites for Europe in Stuttgart in November and hope to be back to full global business speed at the JEC in Paris in 2021.“

• Rieter protects its innovations and products with patents and registered designs.

The company takes consistent action against patent and design infringements. In mid-July 2020, in a legal dispute, the Shanghai Intellectual Property Court of the People’s Republic of China ruled in favor of Rieter Ingolstadt GmbH (Germany).

Rieter machines stand for outstanding quality, high operational safety, excellent performance and user-friendliness as well as unique design. In order to benefit from these characteristics, competitors copy the successful Rieter machine concepts and even adopt the coveted Rieter design.

Rieter protects its innovations by means of patents and registered designs. The company takes consistent action against companies that infringe Rieter patents or designs and copy products or machines. In 2018, Rieter registered design infringe-ments by Shenyang Hongda Textile Machinery Co., Ltd. in relation to double-head draw frames, and decided to file a lawsuit against the Chinese company.

In mid-July 2020, the Shanghai Intellectual Property Court of the People’s Republic of China determined that the double-head draw frames JWF1316 and JWF1316T of Shenyang Hongda Textile Machinery Co., Ltd. are similar to and fall within the scope of protection of the design patent concerned. The defendant Shenyang Hongda Textile Machinery Co., Ltd. was sentenced to compensate the plaintiff Rieter Ingolstadt GmbH for financial losses and expenses.

Following the successful commissioning of two new Monforts Montex wide-width stenter lines and additional environmental management equipment at its plant in Germany, GtA – Society for Textile Equipment GmbH – is aiming to be the first textile finishing company to become entirely CO2-neutral in the manufacture of all of its products by 2025.

GtA is a partner company to Germany’s large-format digital printing fabric leader, Georg and Otto Friedrich GmbH, which has has this year been able to considerably expand its portfolio due to the new Monforts lines.

Headquartered in Gross-Zimmern, close to Frankfurt, Georg and Otto Friedrich GmbH and its partners in Germany have an annual production of 37 million square metres of warp knits for a range of end-use applications, including garments, automotive interiors and technical textiles, but increasingly with a concentration on digital printing substrates.

Fault-free textiles

A new standard in pure white, 100% clean and fault-free textile substrates has been demanded by this market in recent years due to the rapid growth in digitally-printed banners and billboards – often referred to as ‘soft signage’.

The substrates of choice for digital printing are 100% polyester warp knits which are resilient and allow excellent take-up of inks, and vibrant colours and clear and precise images to be achieved with digital printing techniques. The knitted construction also has the advantage of elasticity, which is a plus in terms of flexibility for installers.

Critically, the warp knitted fabrics have extremely smooth surfaces which is becoming increasingly important due to the general move away from PVC coatings which were the standard in the past.

It was to finish these fabrics for Georg and Otto Friedrich GmbH as well as providing such services for many other customers, that the GtA plant in Neresheim, Baden-Württemberg, was established in 2015.

The purpose-built plant on a greenfield site was initially equipped with a fully-automated, 72 metre long Monforts installation comprising a washing machine integrated with a 3.6 metre wide, seven-chamber Montex stenter. The line quickly went from single to double shift production and then to 24/7 operation  to meet demand.

Expanded widths

Building on the success of this installation, GtA has now installed two more Montex stenter lines – both in expanded working widths of 5.6 metres and purpose-built at Montex GmbH in Austria.

A six-chamber Montex unit is combined with a washing machine to guarantee the purity of the substrates, while a five-chamber line is integrated with a wide-width coating machine. This new coating capability at GtA has led to a number of new additions to the Georg and Otto Friedrich DecoTex range for digital printing, including wide width fabrics with flame retardant, antimicrobial and non-slip finishes.

The new Montex stenter lines benefit from all of the latest innovations from Monforts, including the Smart Sensor system for the optimised maintenance planning of key mechanical wear components on the stenters. A comprehensive overview of the condition of all parts at any time is now available for operators within the highly intuitive Qualitex visualization software.

With Qualitex, all article-specific settings can be stored and the formulations for thousands of treatment processes called up again at any time. Individual operators can also personalise their dashboards with the most important machine functions and process parameters.

Environmental commitment

GtA is run by a seasoned team of textile professionals led by Managing Director Andreas Niess.

“We have received excellent service from Monforts from the outset and we were happy to place the order for these two new lines as part of our ongoing cooperation,” he says. “With all of the latest Monforts advances in technology we are fully in control of all production and quality parameters with these lines, as part of our significant commitment to innovative environmental technology.”

The GtA plant, which operates in near-cleanroom conditions, has also been equipped with proprietary technology to fully exploit the Monforts air-to-air heat recovery systems that are now standard with Montex stenters.

“Around 30 per cent of our investment volume at the site goes to energy-saving measures and we are sure that this commitment is worthwhile,” Mr Niess says. “As an example, our integrated heat recovery system fully exploits the waste heat from the process exhaust air and the burner exhaust gases of the Monforts stenters, allowing us to achieve an exhaust air temperature of  between 30 to 34°C, compared to what would conventionally be between 140 to 160°C. Another focus has been on exhaust air purification technology and here too, the latest technology has been installed with integrated heat recovery elements.”

This, he adds, saves 52% of the energy that would normally be used – equating to 5,800,000 KwH per year. The necessary audits for energy-efficient companies are also carried out annually.

In addition, GtA has purpose-designed the automatic chemical mixing and dosing systems that feed the padders for the key treatments that are carried out on the fabrics through the stenters.

The company is going further, however, in its pursuit of clean production and raw materials.

"We want to be an asset and not a burden on our immediate environment and therefore do not use any additives containing solvents," Mr Niess says. “We were the first to use fully halogen-free flame retardant chemistry, and we use bio-based, finely ground alumina products for the washing process instead of surfactants. PES polyester yarns made from recycled material are also increasingly used and the latest additions to our raw materials portfolio, the RC-Ocean products, are made from recycled sea plastic.

“We are now planning a combined heat and power plant for the production of electrical energy and heat and we will also build a photovoltaic system that converts solar radiation into electrical energy. GtA wants to be the first textile finishing company to be CO2-neutral in the manufacture of all of its products by 2025. The complete heat supply and heating for the 13,000 square metre production hall, as well as the office building and the hot water supply for the domestic water, is already energy-neutral. We are convinced that this commitment will pay off in the long term and our positive business development proves that sustainability and business profitability are perfectly compatible.”

In addition to the products for Georg and Otto Friedrich GmbH, GtA  offers its manufacturing capacities for other customers as a contract service.

All products are manufactured in accordance with Öko-Tex Standard 100, product class 1 and the company is also involved in the research and development of new sustainable manufacturing processes, in cooperation with many regional universities and funding project partners.

• Schleswig-Holstein Minister President visits Neumünster, Germany

Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, the worldwide demand for protective masks and apparel has resulted in a record number of new orders in the high double-digit millions of euros at the Oerlikon Nonwoven business unit of the Swiss Oerlikon Group. From the manufacturing site in Neumünster, Germany, the high-tech meltblown systems – with their patented ecuTE+ nonwovens electro-charging technology – are meanwhile be exported all over the world. For the very first time, a contract has now been signed with a business in Australia. Today, Schleswig-Holstein’s Minister President Daniel Günther was won over on site by the technology of a ‘global player’. Rainer Straub, Head of Oerlikon Nonwoven, was thrilled, stating: “The machines and systems for manufacturing manmade fiber and nonwovens solutions from Neumünster enjoy an outstanding reputation throughout the world. It is especially in this crisis that the technology from Schleswig-Holstein has proven itself to be absolutely world-class.”

In addition to a tour of the meltblown system and its assembly and production facilities, the visit by Minister President Daniel Günther had one purpose above all: the dialog between politicians and business. Rainer Straub, Head of Oerlikon Nonwoven, and Matthias Pilz, Head of Oerlikon Neumag, jointly expressed their thanks for the support that Oerlikon has repeatedly had the fortune to experience over the past months and years in Schleswig-Holstein and looked to the future full of hope. “As a result of our additional investment at the site here in Neumünster – be this in our new technology center that will be completed by the end of this year or in our new logistics center that is already operating – we, as one of the region’s largest employers, are continuing to move forward, supported by a State Government that is also focusing on both promoting industry and business and on advancing an efficient training and educational system, as innovation is only possible with outstanding engineers”, stated Matthias Pilz. And Rainer Straub directed his appeal specifically at the Minister President: “Treat education and training as a priority. Ultimately, they will secure the future of Schleswig-Holstein as a center of excellence and manufacturing!”

Five-million-euro digitalization program

Daniel Günther, the incumbent Minister President of Schleswig-Holstein since 2017, immediately responded, making reference to one of the Federal State’s current training initiatives: “The State Government is supporting higher education institutions and students in the present coronavirus crisis. With a five-million-euro digitalization program, we are investing on the long-term digitalization of our higher education institutions. With this, we are overall creating a future for young people, particularly also for those who could very well go on to invent the next generation of manmade fiber systems.” And the Minister President was just as impressed by the willingness and readiness with which Oerlikon has been providing high-level support since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic to master the present challenges as he was with the company’s meltblown technology itself. Rainer Straub explained: “When, at the beginning of the pandemic in February, demand for protective face masks increased rapidly, we at Oerlikon Nonwoven responded immediately. We ramped up all the available production capacities here in Neumünster in order to quickly manufacture nonwovens for producing face masks using our laboratory systems. As a result, we have been able to make a small, regional contribution to covering demand. In parallel, we have pulled out all the stops in order to systematically further expand our skills as machine and system builders so as to cater to the initially expected, and now also continuing, global demand for meltblown systems as quickly as possible.”

Leading meltblown technology

The Oerlikon Nonwoven meltblown technology – with which nonwovens for protective masks can also be manufactured, among other things – is recognized by the market as being the technically most efficient method for producing highly-separating filter media made from plastic fibers. The capacities for respiratory masks available in Europe to date are predominantly manufactured on Oerlikon Nonwoven systems. “Ever more manufacturers in the most diverse countries are hoping to become independent of imports. Therefore, what we are experiencing in Germany is also happening in both industrialized and emerging countries throughout the world”, commented Rainer Straub. In addition to China, Turkey, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Austria and numerous countries in both North and South America, Australia and not least Germany will for the first time also be among the countries to which Oerlikon Nonwoven will be delivering machines and equipment before the end of 2021.