From the Sector

Nach dem German Innovation Award und dem German Design Award hat drapilux den German Brand Award in der Kategorie „Interior und Living“ für seine exzellente Markenstrategie erhalten.

Auf dem Markt ist drapilux nicht nur der Hersteller von Bezugs- und Dekorationsstoffen mit der größten Auswahl an intelligenten Funktionen, sondern hat diese überhaupt erst eingeführt. Sicherheit, Hygiene, Raumqualität und Akustik werden durch die Funktionen „flammstop“, „akustik“, „air“ und „bioaktiv“ der drapilux-Textilien erheblich verbessert.

Das spiegelt sich deutlich in der Corporate Identity wider: „drapilux hat mit seiner ‚Mehr als nur Stoff‘-Imagekampagne den Markenkern besser denn je auf den Punkt gebracht“, sagt Marketingleiter Markus Overbeck, der den German Brand Award in Berlin entgegennahm. So bezeichnet der Claim „Intelligence woven in“, zu Deutsch „gewebte Intelligenz“, die hohe Qualität der Textilien mit eingebauter Sicherheit, für die die Marke international bekannt ist.
       
Dass die Textilien „innere Werte“ besitzen und damit Kunden im Alltag einen echten Mehrwert bieten, wird anhand symbolhaft dargestellten Stoffnachbildungen sichtbar: Ein roter Stoff-Feuerlöscher, grüne Ohrenschützer aus Textil, ein blauer, gewebter Ventilator und eine rosafarbene Textil-Desinfektionsmittelflasche zeigen auf der Webseite, auf Messen, auf allen Kommunikationskanälen, wofür drapilux steht. Die vier Imagemotive sind zu den Sinnbildern für die Alleinstellungsmerkmale von drapilux geworden. „Die Strategie, für die die Marke ausgezeichnet wurde, bauen wir auch weiter aus. Dazu wird es eine weiterführende Kampagne geben, die noch im Laufe des Jahres starten wird“, so Overbeck.

Frau Dr.-Ing. Iris Kruppke, wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin am Institut für Textilmaschinen und Textile Hochleistungswerkstofftechnik (ITM) der TU Dresden, wurde am 16. Juni 2018 zum Tag der Fakultät Maschinenwesen der TU Dresden mit dem Manfred-Hirschvogel-Preis geehrt. Der Preis ist mit 5.000 EUR dotiert und wird seit 2013 jährlich an allen TU9-Universitäten - den neun führenden technischen Universitäten in Deutschland - für die beste Promotion des zurückliegenden Jahres im Bereich Maschinenbau vergeben.

Im Rahmen ihrer Dissertation zum Thema „Entwicklung von Methoden zur Realisierung von maßgeschneiderten Adhäsionseigenschaften von faserbasierten Hochleistungswerkstoffen für Composites“ setzte sich Frau Dr. Kruppke mit der Oxifluorierung als Oberflächenbehandlungs-methode auseinander. Dieses hocheffiziente Verfahren, das zur Oberflächenfunktionalisierung eingesetzt wird, soll zukünftig insbesondere bei der Entwicklung neuer maßgeschneideter Carbonfasern zum Einsatz kommen. Frau Dr. Kruppke gelang es, das Thema der Oxifluorierung zum maßgeschneiderten Grenzschichtdesign von Carbonfasern im Rahmen der großen Forschungsinitiative „C³ - Carbon Concrete Composites“ innerhalb des BMBF-Programms „Zwanzig20 - Partnerschaft für Innovation“ mit starker Industriebeteiligung sehr erfolgreich weiter voran zu treiben.

Die Ergebnisse ihrer Dissertation, die Frau Dr. Kruppke Ende März mit der Bestnote „summa cum laude“ verteidigte, sind von enormer Bedeutung für die Herstellung von Faserverbundwerkstoffen. Sie eröffnen die Möglichkeit, Hochleistungsfasern in Hochleistungsstrukturen umzuwandeln. Solche Entwicklungen erfordern eine Anpassung der vorliegenden Grenzflächen dieser Hochleistungsfasern an neue polymerbasierte, z. B. thermoplastische und anorganische Matrixsysteme. Die besonderen Publikationsleistungen lassen erwarten, dass die bisher erzielten Resultate weiterhin als fester Bestandteil in die zukünftige industrienahe Carbonfaserforschung eingehen und somit ein neues Forschungsgebiet erschließen.

Gerade im wissenschaftlichen Bereich des Maschinenbauwesens sind Frauen in leitender Position bedauerlicherweise immer noch selten zu finden. Mit der erneuten Auszeichnung beweisen die Wissenschaftlerinnen des ITM ihr enormes wissenschaftliches Know-how, welches sie am ITM dank der exzellenten Infrastruktur erlangen und deren Ergebnisse auf renommierten nationalen und internationalen Konferenzen regelmäßig offeriert werden. Bereits 2017 wurde eine weitere Wissenschaftlerin des ITM mit dem Bertha Benz-Preis für ihre herausragende Promotion zur Entwicklung eines neuartigen Verfahrens zur Herstellung metallischer 3D-Strukturen auf Webmaschinen ausgezeichnet.

Manfred Hirschvogel Preis
Die Frank Hirschvogel Stiftung hat 2013 zum ersten Mal den Manfred Hirschvogel Preis verliehen. Der Preis wird zu Ehren des Lebenswerks von Dr. Manfred Hirschvogel vergeben.
Der Preis ist mit 5.000 EUR dotiert und wird seit 2013 jährlich an allen TU9-Universitäten - den neun führenden technischen Universitäten in Deutschland - für die beste Promotion des zurückliegenden Jahres im Bereich Maschinenbau vergeben.

Exhibiting at this week’s Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) Annual Conference, Hygienically Clean Healthcare certified laundries provided nearly 200 copies of a training video guiding caregivers in improving soiled linen handling performance.

Provided on a flash drive: the 13-minute video (The Six Cs: Handling Soiled Linen in a Healthcare Environment), a quiz to immediately assess viewers’ grasp of the video’s lessons and posters to reinforce these year-round. Distributed since 2016, the video has been hailed for its value in aiding compliance with OSHA universal precautions regarding items saturated with blood, bodily fluids, harmful residue from treatments and other potentially infectious material.

The flash drive offer intrigued infection preventionists (IPs) from a single facility or those responsible for this function throughout health systems, whether acute or outpatient care environments or both. The drive also attracted the attention of other professionals who visited the Hygienically Clean exhibit, such as federal and state health officials and suppliers of products and services to the IP profession.

Distributing the flash drive is a hallmark of the Hygienically Clean program’s philosophy of addressing healthcare providers’ operational needs outside the scope of outsourced laundries’ traditional functions. Certified operators’ certification fees provide funding for creating and distributing the video and other education tools for healthcare facilities.

Visitors to the Minneapolis display who previously received the video vouched for its effectiveness. Certified laundries have individually distributed the flash drive to customers and prospects in addition to  their collective effort to provide them at previous APIC and Association for the Healthcare Environment (AHE) expos.

The video’s easy-to-follow steps improve infection control and patient care and reduce costs by addressing OSHA-required universal precautions. Employees who handle soiled linen (usually nurses and environmental services staff) must assume all human blood and potentially infectious materials they touch are infected, because they can’t be sure which patients are infected or what infections are present.

Adhering to the six Cs (cover, collect, contain, consolidate, clean, cooperate) each day prevents injury and reduces the risk of spreading of infection to co-workers, patients and residents. These positive outcomes are only achieved when workers first protect themselves.

The flash drive is available to all healthcare providers at no cost. It also contains the Hygienically Clean standard and other guidance documents for infection preventionists related to linen and uniforms. Among these documents: Handling Clean Linen in a Healthcare Environment, an 8-page guide to safeguarding through effective transportation, storage and distribution.

Linen, uniform and facility services operators certified Hygienically Clean Healthcare presented evidence today to members of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) that medical care facilities should more carefully control public wearing of employee uniforms.

Engaging visitors to the Hygienically Clean exhibit at APIC’s 2018 expo, certification staff had a receptive audience for the data. Most attendees interviewed indicated they support preventing employees from wearing scrubs and other healthcare apparel outside medical facilities. Many said they have policies to this effect but find these difficult to enforce.

The 3-day APIC exhibit is building awareness of Hygienically Clean certified providers among infection preventionists: individuals who recommend what linen and uniform service their facilities should use. Discussing issues with them such as uniform hygiene positions certified operators as the foremost laundry science experts with an unprecedented commitment to educating healthcare professionals regarding linen and laundry.

Visitors to the Hygienically Clean exhibit received Curbing the Infection Risks of Healthcare Garments, a brief compendium of studies and journal articles that point to the risk-reduction value of professionally laundering employees’ garments, worth the additional cost to a healthcare facility that currently makes employees responsible for washing them.

Hygienically Clean staff noted that TRSA, the global association for the linen and uniform industry that administers the certification program, has begun planning to raise the issue’s profile with healthcare industry stakeholders. TRSA’s Healthcare Committee has formed a task force on the matter. Staff has contacted TRSA associate members (suppliers to the industry) who manufacture scrubs, lab coats and other healthcare employee garments to explore promoting a new voluntary standard that would urge medical providers to prevent wearing these in public.

An Association of Perioperative Registered Nurses (AORN) standard currently performs this role regarding garments worn in surgical suites. TRSA will weigh the possibility of supporting creation of a much broader measure, covering all clinical functions with discernible risk of pathogen transmission from healthcare garments to patients and the public.

As TRSA investigates courses of action, hoping to involve such stakeholder groups, Hygienically Clean certified providers will continue to point to the mounting evidence of the risks of garments carrying pathogens out of healthcare facilities and inadequate domestic laundering bringing them in.

In contrast, contracting with a Hygienically Clean provider, whose processes (laundry practices) are verified and outcomes (product cleanliness) are quantified by third parties, provides maximum confidence that all garments used in a healthcare setting have diminished presence of harmful bacteria. It’s a cost-effective way to essentially eliminate this single risk of infection transmission, unlike so many others that require preventionists to constantly guard against.

Die „ZiTex-Textil & Mode NRW“ hatte am 12. Juni zu einem Pressetermin Düsseldorfer Flughafen eingeladen. Unter dem Motto ‚Textil erobert die Luft‘ eröffnete Detlef Braun, Leiter der ZiTex mit einem Brancheneinblick die Veranstaltung. Nach zwei informativen Vorträgen der Unternehmen ANKER und SAERTEX gab es die Gelegenheit in der Lufthansawerft die Anwendung der technischen Textilien in zwei Maschinen vom Typ A330 (Langstrecke) und A320 aus der Nähe zu begutachten.

Hightech-Textilien zum Anfassen
Bereits der erste Blick in die Wartungshalle des Hangar 7 sorgte für großes Staunen: Die imposante Lufthansa Maschine des Typus A330, die fast täglich von Düsseldorf nach New York fliegt, steht dienstags zu Wartungsarbeiten im Hangar und bot die perfekte Kulisse, sich die Hightech-Textilien einmal aus der Nähe anzuschauen. Das war sowohl für die Veranstalter als auch die Pressevertreter eine ganz neue Erfahrung. „Ich freue mich sehr, dass wir mit dieser Veranstaltung die innovative Textilindustrie so informativ, praxisnah und erlebnisreich präsentieren konnten“, sagt Detlef Braun begeistert: „Veranstaltungen wie diese tragen dazu bei, den Hightech-Charakter der Branche nachhaltig zu verdeutlichen. Textil ist Zukunft! Dies wurde am Beispiel des Flugzeugs heute mehr als deutlich.“

Ruhig & Robust – Airline Teppichböden
Für das Unternehmen ANKER, traditionsreicher Webteppichboden-Spezialist mit Sitz im rheinischen Düren, referierte Alexander von Fuchs-Nordhoff, Sales Director, über den Einsatz der Teppichböden in Flugzeugen. Zum 50. Jubiläum in diesem Jahr der ANKER Teppiche in der Luftfahrt passte das Event ganz besonders, wurde der erste ANKER Airline Teppich 1968 in einer Lufthansa Maschine verlegt. Dabei gibt es die unterschiedlichsten Varianten der Material-Beschaffung und -Verarbeitung sowie Anbringung der Teppiche. Besonders innovativ: der leichteste Teppich in einem Flugzeug überhaupt, der mit 800 Gramm pro Quadratmeter um die Hälfte leichter ist als die herkömmlichen Varianten und damit deutliche Kerosin-Einsparungen ermöglicht. Durch die Zusammenarbeit mit international renommierten Architekten und Innenarchitekten liegen ANKER Teppichböden weltweit sowohl in Flugzeugen als auch in unzähligen Bürogebäuden, Hotels und öffentlichen Gebäuden. Neben der Kreativität setzt ANKER branchenweit Maßstäbe für Nachhaltigkeit und Innovation.

Stabil & Energiesparend – Tragflächen & Strukturbauteile
Steven Bakker, Global Director Business Unit New Products & New Markets von SAERTEX, einem Familienunternehmen, das Weltmarktführer in der Herstellung von Carbongelegen ist, präsentierte deren unterschiedliche Einsatzbereiche im Flugzeug: in den Tragflächen, der Druckkalotte sowie Stringerelemente und Verkleidungsteile und erläuterte, welchen besonderen Gegebenheiten die Materialien standhalten müssen. Insbesondere die Luftfahrt setzt auf solche Composites, die durch Verstärkungsmaterialien aus Glas-, Carbon- und Aramid-Fasern an Leichtigkeit, Stabilität und Korrosionsbeständigkeit gewinnen. Als Weltneuheit konnte Saertex im März dieses Jahres auf der JEC WORLD 2018 in Paris, der Fachmesse für Verbundwerkstoffe, ein Verfahren vorstellen, das Carbon Gelege automatisch, kontinuierlich und ohne Zerstörung auf Schäden, Lücken und Krümmungen prüft. Airbus setzt dieses Verfahren zur Materialprüfung bereits in Serie ein.

Einblicke in die Praxis vermittelte die Lufthansa Technik
Im Hangar Nr. 7 der Lufthansa Technik erfuhren die Presseteilnehmer viele Details von Wartungsleiter, Sascha Bongartz. Die Lufthansa Technik Gruppe ist ein Geschäftsfeld der Deutschen Lufthansa AG rund um die Themen Wartung und Überholung von Flugzeugen, Geräteversorgung, Triebwerke, Fahrwerke und VIP-Services. Mit 50 Standorten auf der ganzen Welt und 26.700 Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeitern – davon rund 11.000 in Deutschland – ist die Lufthansa Weltmarktführer im Bereich luftfahrttechnischer Dienstleistungen.

• Fibres for automotive composites, technical textiles, hygiene and medical nonwovens
• UltraLink fibres offer sustainable system cost reduction solutions to the automotive industry
• Meralux offers improved liquid management for a dry feeling
• Stand 2034, ANEX 2018, 6-8 June, Tokyo Big Sight, Japan

Beaulieu Fibres International, the leading European polyolefin fibre supplier, marks its Asia Nonwovens Exhibition and Conference (ANEX) debut with unique products and capabilities to support innovation at a local level within the automotive and hygiene segments.

At Stand 2034, Beaulieu Fibres International demonstrates its commitment to the global market growth for automotive composites and technical textiles, as interest increases in adopting lightweight materials to reduce vehicle weight and fuel efficiency.

The company will present UltraLink bonding fibres that improve the mechanical, thermal and functional properties of the final part, allowing customers to meet OEM specific standards in a more sustainable way. They are available in both MONO and BICO technology – a first for the composites industry.

Jefrem Jennard, Global Sales Director – Industrial Fibres, comments: “Beaulieu Fibres International developed UltraLink fibres over the past two years to provide an answer to the automotive industry’s continuous strive for lower weight, lower emission, lower cost and better properties. They are being introduced in new global automotive programmes with SOP 2019-2021. We are delighted to introduce them to the Asian market at ANEX.”

At ANEX 2018, Beaulieu Fibres International also presents its platform of unique Meralux fibres offering significant improvements to the dryness of nonwoven for hygiene and medical applications. The BICO fibre has a special cross section, which enables it to provide bulk, opacity and enhanced fluid management compared to standard round fibres to nonwoven constructions. As a result, a dry feeling is achieved for the final nonwoven.

Petra Bohle-Stricker, Global Sales Director – Hygiene Fibres, comments: “As Asia Pacific heads towards becoming the largest regional tissue and hygiene market by the end of 2025  , nonwovens producers can already take advantage of the benefits of Meralux to launch new and innovative products that will grab the attention of global and local manufacturers. Visitors to our ANEX booth can experience Meralux fibres first-hand in nonwoven samples.”

Since Meralux was first launched in April 2017, the portfolio has expanded to include Meralux T and Meralux Soft. Beaulieu Fibres International is currently expanding its production programme with polyester-core (PET) BICO. In addition a pilot line for new developments is under construction. Both are expected to come on stream in 2018.

• Geschäftsbereich Surfaces wird SAUERESSIG UNGRICHT

Die Firma SAUERESSIG GmbH & Co. KG, Teil der Matthews International Corporation, fasst ab sofort alle Surfaces Aktivitäten unter der Marke SAUERESSIG UNGRICHT zusammen. Somit werden die Surfaces Abteilungen der Gesellschaften SAUERESSIG GmbH & Co. KG, UNGRICHT GMBH + CO KG, Wetzel GmbH, DORNBUSCH ENGRAVING GMBH und Saueressig Design Studio GmbH zukünftig unter einer gemeinsamen Dachmarke am Markt auftreten. „Mit der Zusammenführung können wir unser kombiniertes Produkt- und Dienstleistungsangebot im globalen Surfaces Markt festigen und weiter ausdehnen“, erklärt Dr. Tomas Sterkenburgh, Gruppengeschäftsführer der Matthews International. „Die Aktivitäten an den einzelnen Standorten bleiben von diesem Schritt unberührt.“

SAUERESSIG UNGRICHT vereint vielfältige Kompetenzen aus allen Bereichen der Surfaces Sparte. Diese lassen sich in die Kernbereiche Technik und Design differenzieren:
Als ein international führender Anbieter von Dienstleistungen entlang der Druckvorstufe sowie von Tiefdruck- und Prägezylindern, verfügt SAUERESSIG UNGRICHT über eine starke technische Expertise. Diese liegt insbesondere im Bereich von Tissue- und Hygieneprodukten, der Vliesstoffherstellung, der Glas- und Metallverarbeitung sowie der Holzwerkstoff-, Fußboden- und kunststoffverarbeitenden Industrie.

Die Marke bündelt zudem umfangreiche Kompetenzen im Oberflächendesign. Diese werden vorwiegend in der Dekorentwicklung sowie der Automobil-, Leder- und Tapetenindustrie eingesetzt.

SAUERESSIG UNGRICHT unterstützt seine Kunden entlang der gesamten Produktionsphase durch Lösungen für komplexe Marktanforderungen, innovative Designs und kontinuierlich optimierte Produktionsprozesse. „Unter einer gemeinsamen Dachmarke können wir unsere Leistungsstärke und Vielseitigkeit am internationalen Markt noch besser repräsentieren“, so Sterkenburgh. Mit dem Zusammenschluss fünf traditioneller Familienunternehmen vereint Matthews jahrzehntelange Erfahrung in einer neuen Marke und setzt auf Zuverlässigkeit, Qualität und internationale Gruppenstärke.

• In its aim to promote composites materials, JEC Group will highlight the latest technologies that enable the automotive industry to innovate in product design, emission reductions and production.

Paris - In its mission to address composites end-use industries specifically, JEC Group, the world leading organization for the promotion of composite materials, moves up a gear to target the automotive industry. Introduced many decades ago in car manufacturing, and not only for high-end performance models, composites are now offering many alternatives to steel and aluminum, thanks to their specific features, which go far beyond their lightweight properties.

“Today, nearly 2.9 cars are produced and sold worldwide every second. Yet growth potential is still enormous. In value, the automotive industry makes up 20% of the total composites market with promising opportunities for lighter, stronger and more efficient materials in the years to come. They offer new design opportunities, enable a reduction in tooling investment and allow several functions to be integrated in one, on top of their corrosion and impact resistance. Furthermore, composite materials contribute to the development of a new generation of cars, offering innovative battery integration solutions for electric vehicles, as well as a new generation of fuel storage tanks for hydrogen-powered vehicles. JEC Group is moving forward in its strategy to democratize and promote the use of composites materials among end-user segments that, in this case, are OEMs and car manufacturers,” said Ms Frédérique MUTEL, JEC Group President & CEO.

The BMW i3 the largest-volume production car ever to extensively use composites for emission-free mobility

With this in mind, JEC Group will invest in a significant number of composites pavilions at key automotive events in Europe, America and Asia. The first of these will be at Mondial.Tech Paris, part of Paris Motor Show, held on October 2-6, 2018 in Paris. The composites pavilion will include an innovation showcase, expert presentations and networking activities.

The second composites pavilion will be at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit on January 14-18, 2019 and will focus on the same goals of sharing knowledge and developing networking.

Additional events, particularly in Asia, are being planned to cover the global automotive market.

Although the composites pavilions are organized by JEC Group, they will be supported by major composites manufacturers. These combined efforts will enable stands to showcase several solutions provided by composites for the automotive industry, driving innovation in this sector.

• Additives, pigments and masterbatches for transportation, packaging, textiles & fibers
• Support to “future-proof” medical applications
• Contributing towards more sustainable engineering plastics

Clariant, a world leader in specialty chemicals, turns the spotlight on its increasing on-the-ground support and innovation focus for North America’s four key plastics application segments at NPE 2018 Booth S18155.

Clariant is pushing forward with plans for growth in the region by advancing R&D competencies, and increasing its manufacturing footprint and technical capabilities across its 50+ sites, 3 R&D and 6 technical innovation centers. Clariant’s innovations for the plastics industry include advanced additives, masterbatches and pigments which support the packaging sector in engaging consumers via differentiated, convenient solutions. At NPE, it will also highlight solutions for enhancing and protecting healthcare products, as well as its contribution to stronger and colorful textiles and fibers for everything from e-mobility to industrial applications.

Deepak Parikh, president of region North America, Clariant comments: “Clariant’s product innovation for the US and wider North American plastics industry embraces the region’s fastest growing end-use areas of automotive and construction. It also addresses the impact of trends driven by changing consumer lifestyle preferences and market regulations on other important segments such as packaging and healthcare.”

Transportation
Clariant brings color and protection to support the increasing use of engineering plastics and high temperture resins in automotive interiors, exteriors and under-the-hood. Halogen-free Exolit® OP 1400 provides outstanding flame retardancy to polyamide parts, enhances safety with UL 94 V0 performance down to 0.4 mm and enables the molding of complex parts with no mold deposits and blooming. Exolit OP 1400 has been awarded the Clariant EcoTain®label for outstanding sustainability and performance. At the same time, Clariant offers low-halogen controlled high-performance PV Fast® pigmentswith excellent migration and weather fastness properties to meet the high requirements of today’s transportation and automotive industry. Easy processing Renol® compounds and masterbatches for engineering and high temperature resins provide heat and light stability, and flame retardancy, while maintaining critical flow properties in parts like SMT connectors. Importantly, they are available as small lots which enables customers to purchase only what they require and contribute to a reduction in their carbon footprint.

Packaging
As US packaging manufacturers explore more consumer-friendly, lighterweight and appealing solutions, Clariant is on hand to support their functionality, sustainability-related and color desires. Clariant Pigments has an innovative cooperation with Konica Minolta and matchmycolor to enable fast, precise and efficient color matching of HDPE products, using select organic PV Fast and Graphtol® pigments that comply with FDA regulations. The ColorWorks®center in Chicago is dedicated to US brand managers and designers with teams of color design experts to create color formulations faster than ever before for bottles, caps, closures and films.

According to market reports, plastic pouches are gaining share from traditional pack types in packaged food and are mainstream in home care. To support smoother and more environmentally-compatible processing especially for film applications, Clariant offers an FDA-compliant, vegetable-based powder amide wax, Licolub® FA 1, which acts as a slip and anti-block agent. It is suitable for polyolefins and PVC.

Textiles & Fiber
At NPE 2018, Clariant puts the focus on strong and colorful textiles, carpets and industrial fibers. New AddWorks® TFB 117 offers a number of benefits to help stabilize and smoothen fiber production processes, protect color, and improve heat stability and mechanical properties of fibers. AddWorks TFB 117 ensures smooth spinnability with less filaments breakage, even at low processing temperatures and at high speed spinning up to 5,500 m/min. Clariant also offers a broad range of colorants for polypropylene, polyester, polyamide and acrylic fibers, featuring migration fastness, chemical stability, light- and weather-fastness.

Healthcare
Clariant supports risk control and regulatory compliance for medical polymer and pharmaceutical packaging solutions. Its Mevopur® color and performance masterbatches and compounds include a USP Class 6 line of compliant products and multiple global ISO, 87, 88, and 661.1 certifications ahead of the market deadline. Clariant also offers selected FDA-compliant organic pigments and polymer soluble dyes that meet purity migration fastness as well as toxicological properties for medical devices and pharmaceutical packaging.

Exhibitors from eight countries have already confirmed to participate in the fair’s European Zone. They join an expected 500-plus total exhibitors from around the world. The 2018 edition of this biennial fair takes place from 4 – 6 September in halls N1 – N3 of the Shanghai New International Expo Centre.

While China retains its edge in terms of technical textiles and nonwovens production capabilities, in the eyes of Chinese buyers, European suppliers are still the leaders when it comes to technology and innovation. This was widely reported by European exhibitors at the previous edition in 2016 of Asia’s leading biennial trade event for the industry: Cinte Techtextil China.

“In the Chinese market, buyers want good quality products, so overseas companies, and products with recognised quality certifications, have a lot of potential,” Ms Ping Chen, General Manager of IBENA Shanghai Technical Textiles commented. “As a leading German company in the industry, our products are welcomed by many buyers at this fair. It is also important to be in the German Pavilion as this signals to buyers that we have quality products, and it attracts more attention.” Swiss firm Sanitized AG had the same experience. “As a Swiss company in the European Zone I believe it’s an advantage, as some local buyers have more confidence towards imported products,” Mr Steven Liu, Sales Manager said.

Other exhibitors commented on the long-term trends in the Chinese market. “There’s a definite shift to more high-quality machinery in China that isn’t affected by what’s happening in the overall economy. Moreover, there are opportunities for overseas suppliers as there is still a gap between us and what Chinese companies produce,” Dr Joachim Binnig, Vice President, Head of Development & Technology, Autefa Solutions Germany GmbH explained.

Mr Roger Zhang, Sales Manager for German firm J.H. Ziegler Nonwovens and New Materials commented: “Our products are mainly for high-end Chinese customers, such as BMW and Audi. The Chinese market has gradually matured, but the production capability for high-performance products which are energy efficient and eco-friendly is still developing, so there is a lot of space for overseas brands to develop here.”

European Zone highlights
This year’s European Zone will feature around 30 exhibitors from eight countries, including Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK, while further exhibitors can be found in national pavilions from Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany and Italy. Some of the exhibitor highlights in the European Zone include:

• Arkema (France): with brands including PMMA Altuglas, Rilsan, Pebax, Kynar PVDF and Bostik, they will present polymer resin for fibres and yarns, which apply to a wide range of applications, at the fair.
• Dakota Coating (Belgium): specialists in thermoplastic and thermosetting adhesives, their polymer products, based on polyethylene, polyolefin or mixtures, ethylene vinyl acetates, co-polyamides, polyurethanes and co-polyesters, are suitable for automotive, building, heat transfer and sound insulation uses.
• Lenzing Plastics (Austria): a new exhibitor at the fair, they are a leading manufacturer of polyolefin and fluoropolymer products, such as Thermoplast and PTFE products. One of their core competencies lies in the monoaxial stretching of films and filaments, and they offer special solutions in the fields of construction & insulation, medicine & hygiene, packaging and cables, as well as automotive and technical textiles. They will highlight their PROFILEN® PTFE product at the fair, and with its extreme durability and very smooth surface, it is highly valued in many niche applications in the technical and medical sectors.
• Protechnic (France): leading manufacturers of hot-melt adhesives and plastic printed films, they will showcase hot melt thermo-adhesive nets, webs and films at the fair.
• Trelleborg Coated Systems (Italy): another new exhibitor this edition, they produce high-performance, engineered coated fabrics. They offer a wide variety of substrates – from Kevlar® to silk – with a choice of weaving methods.