January 2000

Buoyant year-end for UK industry

Membership of the UK’s Nonwovens Network has grown considerably since its inception just over a year ago, and over 100 members and their guests attended the organisation’s second annual dinner in Brighouse, West Yorkshire, just before Christmas.

These included honoured members from as far afield as Germany – Alfred Watzl and Christian Shaeffer of Fleissner.

The event took place at a particularly buoyant time for the UK industry, with manufacturers, convertors and agents – particularly those supplying to the medical and hygienic disposables sectors – reporting hectic activity to meet increased customer demands. The majority seemed to be running to full capacity, moving product out as fast as it could be produced.

One contributing factor to this, it is believed, is that many orders in these fields were being upped as a precaution against any possible Y2K problems. Whether these actually materialised was not possible to say at the time of writing.

Imports from the USA

What will be specifically of interest to the UK nonwovens industry as a whole, is the latest report from the US Census Bureau, which says that in the first nine months of 1999, exports from the USA into the UK of medium weight fabrics in the 25-70gsm range increased ten-fold in the first nine months of 1999, from virtually nothing to more than 3,000 tonnes. US exports generally, increased by 40% in the three months up to September 1999, largely as a consequence of this, which suggests some major shift on the part of P & G or K-C, or both, and begs the question, why isn’t it being done here?

Spunbond possibilities

Presumably, what’s coming in from the US is spunbonded materials, and David Hook of the B4 agency is not alone in believing there is a very real possibility of two or three small-to-medium spunbond manufacturers arising in the UK in the next few years, whether new or established players.

Consequently, B4 has a brand new principal, Italy’s Meccaniche Moderne, which manufactures both complete spunbonding lines and fibre extrusion and recycling equipment.

"We have been talking to MM for some time, but they really didn’t see a market in the UK," he said. "At ITMA last June however, this changed, and we know now have a firm agreement for UK representation. There really is a market for two or three small-to-medium spunbond manufacturers in the UK. Much of the UK interest to date has been in the company’s equipment for the recycling of PET, but there is also a lot of genuine interest in spunbonding machinery."

Bombi Termecannica

B4 has also been very successful in introducing another Italian company, Bombi Termecannica, to UK firms, with both a thermobonding line and foaming technology installed at the plants of UK manufacturers in 1999.

"It’s taken a lot of time, but these things do," David Hook said. "Bombi was not a well-known name in the UK prior to us representing it here."

B4 also reports that 2N brand machinery is being sold by the new Italian company Tec Tex.

Price increases

Moving into 2000, it seems likely that the price of nonwoven roll-goods will rise generally between 4-8%, and for fibre producers it appears that the worst of the over-supply from the Far East countries is over. Demand for fibre is high, but price remains an issue.

The UK industry, in terms of actual nonwovens producers, remains predominantly needlepunch-based, and new lines are known to be going in at a number of companies, though in the new spirit of openness which the UK Nonwovens Network has pledged to promote, nobody wants to talk about them.

The very well-attended seminar held by Groz-Beckert at Tatham’s in Rochdale earlier this year, however, perfectly illustrated the vast interest in this manufacturing technology. Specialists from the company detailed the many different techniqes for mechanical web bonding, including GB’s latest Cross Star needle advantages.

"What we’re interested in now," said Andrew Hill, of the company’s UK arm, " is what the user wants us to think about, and what questions need answering, whether they are already using our needles or are thinking of buying looms for the first time."

It’s been a busy year for the German headquartered needle producer, which has announced two significant acquisitions in recent months. The company is to acquire all shares in Grob Horgen, the Swiss manufacturer of weaving accessories, such as heddles, frames and reeds, and is also taking over the Singer Spezialnadelfabrik Singer SNF) plant at Würzelen from the insolvent Singer Company.

The company is now also involved in various areas of co-operation with Foster Needle.

End-uses

One of perhaps the most little-known end-uses for needled nonwoven products can be found in the equestrian trade. Staple products for Fybargate, of Morley, West Yorkshire are needlepunched felts for the handicraft sector, but the company also manufactures a dye-cut and laminated product called Fyba Gee which is used to protect the hooves of horses when in transit.

Fybargate decorative felts cut into a variety of shapes find their way into endless products for displays and costumes, toys and many items in the educational field. The company also offers a cutting and packing service to customers, with limited sewing and manufacturing of special products. Fybargate is part of the Cosmopolitan Group.

Cormar Textiles, of Ramsbottom in Lancashire, is another needlepunchcompany with an interesting niche market – that of seed mulch mats, which are even being used for the cultivation of wild flowers in certain areas of the UK.

Heartfelt

Cormar’s main field though, remains carpet backings, and recently the company introduced a range of carpet underlay materials called Heartfelt, which are a blend of recycled wool and the Plasticisers anti-bacterial PP fibre Permafresh.

"The response to Heartfelt at Harrogate was amazing," said David Wolfenden, Chief executive of the company david Wolfenden reports an amazing response to this new product in the first few months of its launch.

Heartfelt is in the region of two-to-four times thicker than comparable rubber-based offerings, and the Permafresh addition adds to its attractiveness.

Double-digit growth

All the signs are that Permafresh will be a major 2000 success story for Chapelthorpe Group, which includes both Plasticisers and sister polypropylene fibre producer Drake Fibres, and hit double digit profit margins in the six months up to the end of September last year.

The group reported pre-tax profits of £4.86 million for the period, compared to a loss of £3.15 million in the comparative period of 1998, after exceptional chages of £7.96 million

This performance, however, was bolstered by the performance of North American business segments, off-setting the impact of the strength of sterling which has both encouraged cheap imports to the UK, and at the same time impacted on UK exports to Europe.

In July, the group purchased Asota, of Austria, formerly one of its major rivals in the polypropylene businesses in Europe.

Thermobonding possibilities

Peter Sidebottom of Allertex was pleased to announce at the UK Nonwovens Network event that his company has now considerably extended its offering to the nonwovens sector by securing UK representation of Santex, of Switzerland.

This allows Allertex to supply complete thermobonding lines, drawing on its representation of the Laroche range, as well as complete needlepunching lines through its agreement with Fehrer of Austria.

In addition, there is reported to be tremendous interest from UK manufacturers in the possibilities offered by the Santex Santafleece system, which allows the production of ‘Struto-type’ fabrics (via a different route to Struto technology) which are finding a number of markets, most notably in highly resilient upholstery materials. A number of UK companies are now carrying out trials with this technology.

The market leader in finishing equipment for knitted goods, Santex has more than 800 customers worldwide and an annual turnover of some Sfr 70 million.

Allertex has supplied many Laroche lines to UK customers and reports continued success with the French company’s blending systems, which are suitable for both virgin and recycled materials. The ingenious Weblinker developed by Laroche – a technology which allows 3D structures to be created via a system of multiple feeder webs and spacer bars – has yet to find UK acceptance, despite the tremendous interest it has aroused. A machine has, however, been installed in France for the European Space Agency, a co-operation between the UK and France, to produce specific composites for the aeronautical sector.

Hectic activity for Dortex

Business for Dortex, of Bradford, is particularly hectic at the moment, in all areas in which the company is active.

Dortex supplies UK manufacturers with polyester, polypropylene, polyethylene and viscose fibres and also nonwovens – notably the thermobonded and spunlaced materials of Jacob Holm Industries, based at Soultz in France.

Jacob Holm’s new spunlacing line is running close to capacity at a stage much earlier than originally anticipated, to the extent that the company has been forced to take debottlenecking measures, and is now in the process of installing bigger winding frames, which in addition to boosting capacity will allow the diameter of rolls to be increased from one to two metres.

"To say the company is busy would be an understatement," said Mike Dorrington of Dortex. "It is running near to full capacity in all areas of production."

Just as busy, is another Dortex principal, fibre producer DS Fibres of Belgium, which plans to add two further polyester production lines to meet demand, the first of which will be installed in March, and the second later in the year. This will both increase capacity and provide the abiliy to spin down to 3.3 dtex, which is the fibre size being demanded by the automotive industry for use in headliner materials. Stock-dyed fibre is also finding increased favour, since it has been proven to eliminate fogging of materials, and is also now much more competitive on cost, as a result of the rising price of pure white fibre.

Terram on track

Terram 1000 geotextile and the company’s Geogrid product have been used extensively in the 28km-long London tram system which has been built to connect Wimbeldon with Beckenham and New Addington.

The use of Terram 1000 enabled the construction schedule to be maintained in difficult weather conditions – a most important consideration for the construction joint-venture of Sir Robert McAlpine and Arney Construction, who were contracted on a fixed price.

More details in the February edition of NRI.

Trio of principals

John Nuttall of machinery agent Kirstol reports increased activity in the nonwovens field as a result of the continued success of three of its main clients, Trützschler, Küsters and Ungricht.

Though perhaps more well-known for its opening and blending equipment in the spinning field, Trützschler is becoming increasingly successful in nonwovens, and the ability to supply chute feeding to five metres in width is proving decisive. Küsters, meanwhile, continues to make advances in the thermobonding field, and also with ultrasonic bonding, through a partnership with Herrmann Ultraschall.

Keeping clean

With the publication of the new European Standard for Sterilisation Wraps – EN868 Part 2 – Vernon-Carus has changed the name of its Azo 100 Plus tray wrap to Azo Resist, in order to better reflect the product’s performance and compliance with the standard.

Azo Resist is said to fully meet the requirements EN868 Part 2 as a tray wrap and more importantly as an alcohol-repellent sterile field. It is resistant to fluid, to micro-organisms and to low surface tension fluids, i.e. alcohol.

The strength, drapeability, quality and performance of the tray wrap has been retained, and product codes remain the same.

Following on from the success of the Azowipe range, Vernon-Carus have now launched Azospray – a hard surface disinfectant spray.

Also available from the company are Strentex nonwoven general purpose wipes, for use in conjunction with Azospray.

Wet wipes expansion

Wet-wipes specialist Nice-Pak UK is currently in the process of erecting a new 3,000-square-metre extension at its Welsh plant in Flint, in order to house machines which have been ordered to boost new capacity.

Italian success

The machinery of Octir/HDB, which includes equipment for opening through to crosslapping, is becoming increasingly successful, most notably in Italy and the Far East. In the UK the organisation is represented by Border Textiles.

Rory Wilson of Border pointed to successful installation at Orlandi and Union – both major Italian nonwovens producers – over the past year. Octir/HDB also has an arrangemeNt with Fehrer for the provision of complete needling lines.

Border is also representing Santa Lucia of Italy and Calamard of France in the nonwovens machinery field.

Dexter restructuring

In 1999, Dexter Corporation announced it would restructure its nonwovens operations, in addition to selling its printed wiring board (PWB) operation, which the previous year had sales of $43 million.

Dexter (www.dexternonwovens.com)is the world’s leading producer of wet formed nonwovens and patented its long fibre, inclined wire technology back in the 1930s.

The company’s proprietary Hydraspun technology combines the characteristics of the wet formed process with the softness, strength and durability found in hydroentangled fabrics.

The announced restructuring focused on improving manufacturing efficiency and marketing effectiveness, and involved some staff cuts across European operations.

After 27 years with Dexter Nonwovens, Duncan Middleton has been named as its new president and will relocate from the UK to the worldwide headquarters of the operation in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, USA.

Viscose future

Speaking at the recent Insight conference in San Diego, UK consultant Calvin Woodings said that the nonwovens industry was founded on the ready availability of low-cost viscose rayon fibres, and this fibre continued to be the leading raw material until the mid-seventies. Since then, however, the reducing cost of synthetics, coupled with their easy conversion into binder-free spunlaid and meltblown fabrics, had caused a steady decline in rayon’s market share.

Ways of redressing the cost disadvantage of man-made cellulosics over the coming decades involved operating the new solvent spun cellulose process (lyocell) on scales comparable to modern polyester fibre plants, and changing it’s feedstock from costly dissolving pulps to something more like bleached Kraft.

The market justification for a major investment in man-made cellulosics has arisen from the predicted inability of cotton to expand acreage or yield in line with predicted demand over the next half century, Mr Woodings explained. One study has predicted the need for an additional 70 million tonnes of fibre by 2050 (a 150% increase) and while most of this would still originate from fossil fuels, natural cellulose was seen as the most economical and environmentally secure future source of ‘comfort fibres’.

Past and future developments in spunlaid and meltblown cellulosics were illustrated by reference to the patent literature in Calvin’s talk. He added that recent work by Weyerhauser had demonstrated that on a small scale at least, excellent lyocell fibres could be spun from an NMMO solution of a treated Kraft pulp. Furthermore, direct extrusion of such solutions onto a conveyor belt could be set-up to give spunlaid cellulosic nonwovens, meltblown microfibre nonwovens or a crimped tow, free from the damage inherent in mechanical crimping processes.

Drylaid Seminar

Earlier in the year, the UK Nonwovens Network held a very successful seminar on drylaid nonwovens.

Among highlights of the event were:

@ A very imformative paper by MD of Cosmopolitan Paul Bamber on getting ahead in the automotive industry.

Bolstered by its alliance with Troy Industries in the USA and a 50% annual growth rate, Cosmopolitan Textiles, of Winsford, UK, plans to invest in new state-of-the-art carding and lapping technology, and is also investigating the hydroentanglement processing route.

Other measures being considered by the company include more strategic partnerships, the integration of fibre and fabrics suppliers, the opening of global production centres closer to the operations of OEMs, and the possible forward integration into moulding and sub-assembly.

@ A paper by Peter Maddern of Kimberly-Clark on the ten core technologies now at the disposal of the organisation.

@ An overview of the European polypropylene by Richard Pearson of Drake Fibres.

@ Stephen Russell of the Nonwovens Research Group at the University of Leeds, outlined work carried out on modifying the surface structure of a fabric by the water jet bonding process called hydroentanglement.

@ Francis Woodruff, of Web Processing described the different routes for coating nonwovens and applications for these materials.

@ A paper by Andrew McVey of the BTTG in Hyde outlined the development of antimicrobial fibres and their increasing market availability and usage. The results of an antibacterial assessment of six un-named fibres was presented.

@ Dr Robert Mather of Heriot-Watt University described work in which factorial experimental design has identified the processing parameters which significantly affect the structure and properties of ‘as-spun’ PP.

The next seminar, which is scheduled for June this year, will, in the words of Network chairman Andrew leather "seek to really get under the skin of the nonwovens industry in terms of innovation."

Suggestions for papers are being invited and should be submitted to Christine Wilkinson at the BTTG. Tel: + 44 113 259 1999. e-mail: info@bttg.co.uk.