From the Sector

International technology group ANDRITZ has received an order from Fouani, Nigeria, to supply two baby diaper lines for its facilities in Lagos. The lines will produce a wide range of diaper products with absorbent cores made of pulp and SAP (super absorbent polymer). Start-up is scheduled for 2022.

Fouani Nigeria Ltd was established in 2001 as a subsidiary of the Fouani Group of Companies. The company has grown to be a pioneer and the sole distributor of LG, Hisense, and Maxi products in Nigeria, Africa, thus winning several awards for its proactive market penetration.

The two baby diaper lines feature the most advanced forming technology for the absorbent core and SAP dosing.The lines are equipped with a web tensioning control system and quality check devices to ensure a high level of production quality. In addition, ANDRITZ will provide services for installation and start-up of the machines.

Kelheim Fibres GmbH is announcing that with effect from 01. October 2021, or as contracts and agreements allow, prices for its range of viscose fibres will be increased by €0,20/kg. In addition, freight cost adjustments will be applied on an individual customer basis. In cases where energy cost adjustments are not included in contracts and agreements, a temporary energy surcharge will be applied.

“The measures we are taking are absolutely necessary to ensure that Kelheim Fibres remains in a position to supply fibres with the levels of quality and service expected by our customers,” says Matthew North, Commercial Director of Kelheim Fibres.

The year 2021 has brought extraordinary challenges for society and for industry. Alongside the Covid-19 pandemic, recovering demand, disruption in the global freight systems and dramatically increased energy costs are driving significant cost increases for raw materials and negatively influencing supply chains. Prices for energy and freight currently lie well outside their historical ranges.

Es sei der Kelheim Fibres GmbH gelungen, die Auswirkungen der Pandemie auf die Faserproduktion zu begrenzen. Aber als Unternehmen mit eigener Kraft-Wärme-Kopplungsanlage und einem hohen Exportanteil in Staaten außerhalb Europas hätten sich diese Kostenfaktoren im zweiten und dritten Quartal 2021 stark negativ auf die Margen ausgewirkt. Da die Energiekosten auf einem beispiellos hohen Niveau verharrten und im vierten Quartal möglicherweise weiter ansteigen werden, keine Entlastung bei den hohen Frachtkosten absehbar sei und auch die Rohstoffkosten auf hohem Niveau blieben, müsse das Unternehmen Maßnahmen ergreifen, um eine weitere Margenerosion zu verhindern.

Kelheim Fibres GmbH had succeeded in limiting the impact of the pandemic on fibre production. However, as a company operating its own cogeneration energy plant and with a high level of export business outside Europe, these cost factors have had a severe negative impact on margins during the second and third quarters of 2021. With energy costs set to remain at unprecedentedly high levels and potentially increase further in the fourth quarter, no relief to the high level of freight costs foreseeable, and raw material costs also remaining at a high level, the company needs to take steps to prevent further margin erosion.

Kelheim Fibres’ Business Managers will be in contact with individual customers during September with further information.

The two AZL Partners Conbility GmbH and Fraunhofer IPT, Aachen started their long-term cooperation for the further development and for the commercialization of Fraunhofer´s tape-placement and tape winding systems with in-situ-consolidation by the usage of laser or IR heat sources.

With this cooperation, the company Conbility GmbH makes 25 years of expertise in special machine development of tape placement systems of the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT commercially available. Conbility offers two different tape processing systems available in different configurations.

The “PrePro 2D” machine system allows for the automated tailored tape placement of UD laminates and which can be used for subsequent thermoforming or as stiffening structures in injection molding processes. The machine comprises a rotating and translational table which is moved relatively to the applicator station. The table is scalable according to the requirements of customers. Standard table diameters are 1200 mm or 2000 mm. The applicator station can be equipped with a single or with multiple spool applicators. Because of the large process area, a 9 kW IR heater is used for the in-situ-consolidation process.  
Three in one: Three technologies included in one single modular system
Furthermore, the award-winning “PrePro 3D” tape placement and winding applicator is available as modular product with decentral control system (including closed-loop control of energy input into the processing zone) for the “plug-in” implementation in existing robot systems or machine systems by standard interfaces for the communication with the master control system. Conbility provides the single applicator as well as turn-key ready systems including the robot and handling systems.

Unique selling point of the PrePro 3D system is its multifunctional range of usage: it accomplishes laser-assisted thermoplastic tape placement, IR-assisted thermoset prepreg placement and dry fiber placement: Three technologies included in one single modular system.  

During the JEC World in Paris (March 6th – 8th 2018), Conbility GmbH will present its new “VCSEL Tape Placement and Winding Applicator” (Fig. 3), developed in cooperation with Fraunhofer IPT and Philips Photonics at the AZL Composites in Action area (Hall 5A, C55).

VCSEL Laser Systems as heat source for lower investment and process costs
This applicator uses an integrated VCSEL Laser System as heat source which has been developed by Philips Photonics. This tape placement and winding applicator can also be integrated as modular “plug-in” system into industrial jointed-arm and linear gantry robots in variable manufacturing cells. Using the new VCSEL Laser as heat source (VCSEL: Vertical-Cavity Surface Emitting Laser) leads to significant lower investment and process cost in comparison to other laser systems. Furthermore, the VCSEL laser system can accomplish controllable in-process adjustments of the laser-spot geometry as well as the intensity distribution within the spot size during the process (in-process control of laser-spot geometries and intensities) for the first time. The new system with 2 kW laser power and 10 separate emission zones which can be controlled separately will be shown at JEC World in Paris 2018 as new product of Conbility GmbH.