From the Sector

• Polynova to gain market share for the GRAFE Group in the Swiss region from November The GRAFE Group, Blankenhain, has found a new sales representative for Switzerland in Polynova Group AG, Risch-Rotkreuz (Switzerland).

The partnership will be officially launched at Fakuma 2021. "Our new Swiss agency specialises in the distribution and production of high-quality technical plastic granulates and has been active on the market for more than 20 years. The company has a large customer base and the necessary technical expertise to advance our goals in this important market. This includes raising our profile, educating people about our product range and ultimately gaining market share," says Stefanie Theuerkauf, Sales Manager for the D-A-CH region. Polynova employs five sales staff and three in logistics, all of whom have a technical background. The company's own warehouse in Rothenburg also ensures the availability of the plastics.

"GRAFE fits perfectly into our product portfolio," says Thomas Weigl, co-owner and responsible for business development at the Swiss distribution company, whose employees recently underwent intensive training in Blankenhain. "Our customers come from the sports goods, housing technology, automotive supplier and medical technology sectors - there are many synergies with GRAFE." Weigl himself has extensive experience in the masterbatch sector and has worked for two companies in the industry - Sukano and Americhem - as managing director. "Swiss companies want Swiss contact persons. We speak the languages German, Italian and French, are on site in the shortest possible time, offer direct contact and understand the needs of the customers and the requirements of the market," he explains. "Polynova is thus faster, closer and more direct." "The Swiss market is large and important for us," reports Theuerkauf and Weigl explains the background: "There are over 300 plastics processors, many are family-run and very technically oriented. The origins of the companies are often in the watch industry and in the production of the smallest precision parts such as gear wheels. In addition, coffee machine manufacturers, medical technology providers and automotive suppliers are important market players. A large number of well-known OEMs are located here."

Even though there are already masterbatch manufacturers in the Alpine country, says the sales expert, no one has the know-how to adjust compounds and masterbatches as perfectly and precisely as the company from Thuringia. In addition to a complete range of colours on practically all plastic substrates, flame retardants, UV additives, thermal stabilisers or lubricants are further examples of the extensive product portfolio. GRAFE is one of the specialists in the modification of thermoplastics and is an innovation driver in the production of colour masterbatches. "The technical possibilities in terms of a state-of-the-art technical centre and production machinery, as well as one of the largest research and development departments in the industry, are also not to be found elsewhere on the Swiss market. Our task now is to bring these to the attention of domestic customers," says Thomas Weigl, co-owner of Polynova AG together with founder Renato R. Huebscher.

Fibre Extrusion Technology of Leeds, UK has delivered nine meltspinning systems to clients in the biomedical sector since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, with a similar number currently on order for 2021/22. This way FET could confirm the position as an acknowledged world leader in meltspinning equipment for the production of precursor materials used in medical devices and as a default supplier for absorbable suture production systems, with orders virtually doubling year on year.

Recent installations include a multi-functional system that can produce both multifilament and monofilament pre-cursor fibres, but nonwoven systems have been particularly prominent, driven by the burgeoning demand for FFP3 masks, gowns and other medical products required during the pandemic. These have been sold to medical device manufacturing companies across the globe, including the Far East, USA and Europe. Research organisations have also invested in FET systems for biomedical applications, the most recent being the University of Leeds in a laboratory scale Spunbond system.

The FET in-house Process Development Laboratory and ongoing collaboration with biomaterial polymer suppliers has helped to optimise the biomedical melt spinning technology. The Laboratory is at the disposal of customers for all aspects of confidential testing and evaluation. To further increase this competitive edge, FET will be opening a new Process Development Laboratory and Visitor Centre in early 2022.

• Ramping Up Production of American-Made Polyester Tipped Swabs

The Biden Administration has awarded a contract for $6.5 million to U.S. Cotton LLC, the largest manufacturer of cotton swabs in the United States, to increase domestic production capability for polyester tipped swabs for home testing kits and mass testing applications to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.  Since the beginning of the pandemic, U.S. Cotton has retooled operations to produce over 400 million COVID testing kit swabs.

The Department of Defense (DOD), in coordination with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), announced the award today as part of the administration’s broader effort to increase domestic production capability for essential medical supplies.

U.S. Cotton, based in Cleveland, Ohio, said the company will increase its production capacity from 92 million polyester swab tips per month to approximately 371 million polyester swab tips per month by May 2022 to support domestic COVID-19 testing. The DOD contract award was funded through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to support the domestic industry base expansion for critical medical resources.

John Nims, President of U.S. Cotton said, “We are proud to be involved in a national effort to help deploy these testing kit swabs for the American people. These swabs are designed to make it easier for people at home to self-administer coronavirus tests and will also be used for mass testing applications, which is critically important. We greatly appreciate the collaboration with DOD and HHS to ramp up essential capacity of polyester-based synthetic swabs that will help in the fight against the pandemic.

“We continue to step up to meet our nation’s critical need for American-made coronavirus testing kit swabs on a massive scale. It is an honor to work with our government to help fight this pandemic and use our innovative technologies based here in the United States to fill a national and global demand for testing kits. I especially want to thank Senator Brown and Senator Portman for all their incredible support to help us retool and expand our operations in Cleveland. We can’t thank them enough for their tireless work and also want to recognize their hard working staff. As the Delta variant surges across the country, this timely investment will help in the fight against COVID by adding this much-needed, long-term surge capacity.”

Kim Glas, President and CEO of NCTO, said, “We want to sincerely thank President Biden, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Health and Human Services for leading this critical industrial expansion effort. We appreciate the administration’s commitment to expand the U.S. industrial base for these essential products.  We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to onshore these critical supply chains long-term and we look forward to working with the administration and Congress to advance long-term solutions.”

Fibre Extrusion Technology Ltd, UK has completed the installation and commissioning of a new FET Laboratory Spunbond system for the University of Leeds.

This FET spunbond system is now an integral part of the research facilities of the CCTMIH (Clothworkers’ Centre for Textile Materials Innovation for Healthcare), led by Prof. Stephen Russell based in the School of Design, University of Leeds, who commented “The new spunbond system is perfectly suited to our academic research work, and is already proving itself to be extremely versatile and intuitive to use”.
 
This spunbond system complements existing research lab facilities at the university, which covers all areas of fibre and fabric processing, physical testing and characterisation. It forms part of a wider investment in facilities to support fundamental, academic research on ‘future manufacturing’ for medical devices, where the focus is on studying small-scale processing of unconventional polymers and additive mixes to form spunbond fabrics with multifunctional properties.
 
Key to this research is developing the underlying process-structure-performance relationships, based on the measured data, to provide detailed understanding of how final fabric performance can be controlled during processing.

As a rule, many exciting materials developed in academic research struggle to progress beyond the bench, because of compatibility issues with key manufacturing processes such as spunbond. By leveraging mono, core-sheath and island-in-the-sea bicomponent technology, the Leeds University team is working with polymer and biomaterial research scientists, engineers and clinicians to explore the incorporation of unusual materials in spunbond fabrics, potentially widening applications.
 
FET has built on its melt spinning expertise to develop a true laboratory scale spunbond system and is currently working on a number of other such projects globally with research institutions and manufacturers.

• New high-capacity line enables diversification to meet growing demand

Avgol, a global leader in the manufacture of high performance non-woven fabric solutions, has announced it is investing in a new high-speed, high-capacity flexible multiple beam production line at its facility in Uzlovaya, Russia.

“The addition of this new line enables us to have greater production capacity for growing regional markets and support the release of new Avgol technologies,” said Tommi Bjornman, CEO of Avgol.
“Serving the growing baby diaper, adult incontinence and feminine hygiene markets along with satisfying sustained demand for meltblown filtration and medical materials, this investment enables Avgol to deliver an improved degree of service across the entire area while consolidating and strengthening our existing position,” he said.

Avgol, an Indorama Ventures Limited company, leads the global hygiene market with the most comprehensive range of ultra-lightweight spun-melt nonwoven fabrics. This new line at the company’s Uzlovaya facility, in the Tula Oblast region of Russia, will see Avgol investing in new Reicofil 5 (RF5) technology. The third line for this location will include biocomponent and corresponding high-loft capabilities thus producing materials for applications that meet the needs of upper tier products for Hygiene customers.

As part of the investment, Avgol is including new capacity for meltblown production with a dedicated line, ensuring a continuous supply of this critical material for the region. One other aspect of the investment, and a new inhouse capability for Avgol, includes the addition of cutting-edge lamination capabilities. These capabilities will allow Avgol to offer enhanced performance products into the existing markets the company serves, as well as allowing the company to explore new opportunities in other markets. “The RF5 line, meltblown line and lamination capabilities will provide us a powerful set of platforms as a base from which to provide high-value products for our customers,” said Mr. Bjornman.  “It will enable us to further diversify the Avgol innovation portfolio while remaining true to our roots.”

Mr. Bjornman further commented that the investment will also significantly support further sustainable product development in Avgol, under its innovative FIT™ (Forward Innovative Thinking) strategy. “Avgol is committed to the future of nonwoven fabrics with a particular focus on bringing polyolefins forward as viable resins in single use articles,” he said. “We are excited to bring new assets, new capabilities, and new technologies that will challenge customer expectations of the nonwoven fabric industry.” This investment will move the Russian production facility to the second largest site for Avgol (the largest facility remains the Mocksville site in North Carolina, USA).

• Key Provision Guarantees Long-Term Contracts for Domestic PPE

The National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO), representing the full spectrum of U.S. textiles from fiber through finished products, issued a statement today welcoming Senate passage of the bipartisan U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA). As part of the bill’s effort to address overall manufacturing and technology competitiveness issues from the perspective of the U.S.-China relationship, the legislation will help reconstitute a domestic supply chain for personal protective equipment (PPE).

“We commend the Senate for ushering the bipartisan USICA, designed to make the U.S. more globally competitive against China, across the finish line which includes an important provision to help onshore personal protective equipment (PPE) production,” said NCTO President and CEO Kim Glas.

“We sincerely thank Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) and Senator Gary Peters (D-MI) for working to include their Make PPE in America Act in the USICA, a critical priority of the U.S. textile industry,” Glas said. “This language will help onshore critical production of medical personal protective equipment (PPE) by guaranteeing long-term contracts for American-made PPE and establishing a much-need domestic procurement requirement for federal purchases of these essential products. It will ensure that that U.S. taxpayer dollars are utilized to construct and secure a domestic production chain for the manufacture of lifesaving PPE and other essential medical supplies,” Glas said.

NCTO led an industry and labor coalition effort supporting the inclusion of the Make PPE in America Act in the USICA.  The USICA contains the key provisions of the Portman-Peters bill that ensures all PPE purchased by the Departments of Homeland Security, Health and Human Services and Veterans Affairs are Berry Amendment-compliant and guarantees long-term contracts for these critical items to incentivize domestic production.

“While we support the overall USICA package, which includes many items of critical importance to the U.S. textile industry, our industry is extremely concerned about a provision that was added in the eleventh hour that could sidetrack the critical effort to onshore a self-sufficient PPE industry,” Glas added. “This harmful provision would unilaterally suspend normal tariffs and penalties assessed on PPE imports for two years. Doing so would allow China to maintain its stranglehold on the U.S. PPE market, while working at cross-purposes with other provisions of the bill designed to incentivize much needed investment in domestic PPE manufacturing. U.S. manufacturers retooled production and have significant idle capacity.  It is critical that the House of Representatives strike this damaging language if this legislative package is considered.

“Congress and the administration need to keep PPE tariffs in place to support U.S. businesses and workers who abide by higher labor, environmental and production standards.  The industry reconstituted supply chains to help healthcare frontline workers.  Our industry has significant capacity to help meet U.S. medical needs.  This provision is the absolute wrong message to send to American manufacturers and its workforce.” Glas noted.

• ANDRITZ receives an additional order for a high-speed spunlace line from Zhejiang Kingsafe, China

International technology Group ANDRITZ has received an order from Zhejiang Kingsafe Hygiene Materials Technology Co., Ltd. in Hezhou, China, to supply a complete new neXline spunlace line. The line is scheduled for installation and start-up during the second quarter of 2022.

This high-capacity spunlace eXcelle line will process either 100% biodegradable fibers or blends of polyester and viscose. It is dedicated to the production of hygiene and medical fabrics. The final products will have fabric weights ranging from 30 to 100 gsm, and the annual production capacity will be up to 18,000 tons.

ANDRITZ will deliver a complete line, from web forming to drying, also integrating two high-speed TT cards, the well-known JetlaceEssentiel hydroentanglement unit and the neXdry through-air dryer equipped with a neXecodry S1 system for energy saving. This combination is becoming the market benchmark for the production of lightweight spunlace fabrics dedicated to the hygiene market.

“We are proud to operate ANDRITZ nonwoven lines, which are very reliable and efficient. It helps us a lot in producing top-of-the-range, nonwoven roll goods, thus enabling us to be recognized as a key player among nonwovens producers worldwide,” says Kingsafe’s president, Mr. Huarong Yan.

Zhejiang Kingsafe Hygiene Materials Technology Co., Ltd., founded in 1987, is one of the largest companies in China producing spunlace and spunbond nonwoven roll goods, with several spunlace lines already in operation. The final products are exported all over the world and used in many fields, such as the medical sector, health care, high-tech agriculture, and high-quality consumer and household products.

The new line is now the ninth spunlace line supplied by ANDRITZ and the third with high-speed TT cards, thus confirming the successful, long-term partnership between ANDRITZ and Zhejiang Kingsafe. The order also proves that the solution provided by ANDRITZ is recognized as the benchmark for production of premium spunlace roll goods and contains the perfect combination for wipes converting machines.

Flexibility, product uniformity and automation are the keys to success for coating businesses in today’s rapidly-changing technical textiles industry, explained Jürgen Hanel, Monforts Head of Technical Textiles, at the recent 1st World Congress on Textile Coating.

Introducing the latest Montex®Coat magnetic roller coating option to virtual delegates from around the world at the conference organised by International Newsletters, Hanel explained why this technology makes perfect sense now

“The magnetic roller system allows a wide range of coatings and finishes to be carried out, while being easy to handle for operators and much easier to clean at the end of the process,” he said. “It provides textile finishers with an expanded range of options due to the fully-adjustable positioning of the magnet within the roller and with four different magnet positions possible, can be set to operate both as a direct coating system and as an indirect coater.”

With traditional dip coating systems, he added, as well as with many standard knife coating technologies, there is always a difference in the tension between the centre and the edges of the wide width fabrics being treated – and hence the amount of pressure with which the coating is applied. With the use of a magnetic roller, equal pressure is applied across the full width of the fabric, with consistent results even at wide widths of over 2.4 metres. In addition, adjusting the roller surface, rather than changing the coating formulation to match the required add-on and viscosity for each coating effect required, leads to much higher output from the line.

Cleaner and less wasteful
The contribution of such flexible and resource-saving new technologies to a cleaner and less wasteful textile industry was a key theme at the congress – held virtually across the four afternoons of February 11th, 12th, 18th and 19th – as was digitalization and the many advantages it is providing.

“A typical integrated Monforts coating line is automated from the inlet feed to the winder,” Hanel told delegates. “Adjustments can also be made simply and easily from the touchscreen and with the new hand-held remote controller which has recently been introduced for the Montex®Coat unit.”

Manual adjustment, he added, is time consuming and needs the attention of an experienced operator or the reproducibility will not be accurate between coating operations. The adjustment by motors allows each coating to be stored and downloaded again for 100% reproducibility.

The motors can be fully controlled from the touchscreen and all necessary adjustments carried out remotely, making switching from one process to another extremely quick and easy.
The accuracy that is now being demanded by today’s most exacting customers is met with an optional carbon fibre roller – especially in dealing with the winding tension required in the processing of materials such as prepregs for composites and other heavyweight fabrics. Typical applications for the Montex®Coat include the finishing of tents and awnings, black-out roller blinds and sail cloth, automotive interior fabrics and medical disposables. Full PVC coatings, pigment dyeing or minimal application surface and low penetration treatments can all be accommodated.

“The World Congress on Textile Coating was characterised by some very stimulating presentations and forums between the speakers and a global audience of textile specialists,” Jürgen Hanel concluded. “It truly reflected the high level of positive changes now taking place in not just textile coating, but the entire textile industry. I look forward to the next edition, which hopefully will be a face-to-face event for even deeper level discussions and debate.”

• ISKO Vital™+ Premium community face cover receives the NEN certification in the Netherlands.

The responsible face cover brand is the first to be awarded the Dutch standard, recently established by The Royal Netherlands Standardization Institute. The mark of conformity was issued on January 19, when ISKO Vital+ completed the certification process.

Supported by parent company ISKO’s 100-years of experience and know-how in the textile industry, ISKO Vital+’s range of Premium face covers has exceeded the requirements set out by NEN for community face covers. The recently established Dutch standard, NEN-spec 1- 2 requires manufacturers to pass rigorous testing for bacterial filtration efficiency, breathing resistance, fit and ease of use and sustainability.
With a bacterial filtration efficiency (BFE) of ≥95% that exceeds the NEN’s minimum requirement of ≥70%, the ISKO Vital+ Premium face cover is a patented 4-fold design made from ISKO Vital™ fabric, a groundbreaking textile solution created by ISKO’s in-house research and development experts. It is fluid repellent and very easy to breathe through thanks to a single layer of organic cotton which is dermatologically tested, OEKO-TEX Standard 100 certified and gentle on the skin, providing a superior level of comfort as assessed by an independent panel.

Available in different sizes and colors, the Premium face covers surpass the minimum NEN requirement for breathing resistance of <70 Pa/cm2 too, with a respiratory resistance lower than 40 Pa/cm2 – making the face covers very comfortable to wear. In addition, they are much more sustainable than disposable masks as they can be reused and hand or machine-washed up to 15 times without loss of quality. “Current circumstances are expected to last in the foreseeable future, so it is extremely important to wear proper community face covers”, explained Edgar van der Linden, ISKO Vital™ Medical Business Lead. “Thanks to the mark of conformity, it is now clear that face cover must have the highest possible filtration efficiency and must also be comfortable, expressed in the lowest possible breathing resistance. Environmental aspects are also addressed. As a supplier of washable face covers made from one innovative layer of organic cotton we consider that very important. A good community face cover offers a combination of high filtration efficiency, comfort, ease of use and minimizes the burden on the environment”.

The Turkish textile industry, which continues its exports and investments without slowing down despite the devastating pandemic, once again proved its strength, especially in this period. ITM 2021 Exhibition, which will be held in Istanbul between 22 and 26 June 2021, will provide a great advantage to companies that desire to expand their investments and introduce their brand new technologies.

Although there were slowdowns in the textile industry in April and May this year due to the troublesome coronavirus pandemic , the Turkish textile industry succeeded a big breakthrough with the removal of restrictions in June, thanks to both its textile production infrastructure and international exports capacity. The exports of the textile and raw materials sector increased and the companies turned to new investments. While many local companies enlarged their facilities, some of them made new investment decisions. For example, while a giant hygienic and medical fabric production facility was invested in Çorlu, another Turkish company, a global brand in textile machinery production, decided to invest 40 million Turkish Lira. Gaziantep-based spunbond and meltblown nonwoven manufacturer company added two new meltblown lines to its operations. Another company also began to invest in the production of raw materials that they import. This investment activity in Turkey, where is a manufacturing base of European customers whet the appetite of international investors. One of South Korea's largest conglomerates has rolled up its sleeves for an investment of 430 million US Dollars in Çerkezköy. Due to the investments, the purchase of textile machinery increased by 37.1 percent in the first nine months of 2020 amounting to over 1 billion US Dollars.

The Accurate Address for Investment Decisions: ITM 2021 Exhibition
Although the companies took advantage of the pandemic period as an opportunity and continued their investments, many of them are waiting for the ITM 2021 Exhibition for large machinery purchases. ITM 2021 Exhibition, which will be held between 22 and 26 June 2021 at Istanbul Tüyap Fair and Congress Center, will gather thousands of participating companies and visitors under one roof. The company officials, who will have the opportunity to observe the latest technological products to be exhibited by the international and domestic exhibitors, will direct their investments by meeting with the experts of the sector. The machines produced for technical textiles, which became even more important during the devastating pandemic period, will attract the attention of visitors. Thanks to the machinery purchases and business partnerships of both domestic and international companies, there will be great dynamism in the textile industry and the national economy.