A family-owned Italian company, SICAM was founded in 1950s to serve the traditional textile fields and expanded, after few years, into the technical textile and nonwoven fields, which quickly became its main focus. Luca Zanardi, is a third generation member of Sicam's team, and currently serves as the company’s sales manager.
NWI: Please discuss Sicam's machinery offerings to the Nonwovens Industry?
LZ: Thanks to decades of experience, Sicam currently has a wide range of technologies and relevant machinery in its portfolio and together with strong relationships with technological partners can supply full solutions and is able to answer almost all the demands of the nonwovens market.
Sicam manufactures machinery and complete plants for not only the textile and nonwovens industries but also composite materials like glass fiber, using its more than half a century experience in this field, according to the most advanced technological solutions and recent innovations.
Sicam’s core business in nonwovens started in heat processes with ovens for thermobonding, thermosetting, chemical bonding and drying, but the company also offers complete turnkey solutions for production of recycled fiber felt and wadding, spunbond and spunlace production, stenter frames, calendering, abrasive wadding, multi layer ovens, textile dryers, glass yarn and glass fabric dyers and glass fiber chopped strand mat plants, water entangling units combined with wetlaid technologies and wide range of end of line technologies.
NWI: How has this offering changed or evolved in recent years?
LZ: The driving force of Sicam’s organization was always related to the market requirements, and the affordable return of the investment for our customers is our mission.
The market is nowadays asking for smart and efficient solutions which allow both newcomers and established companies to afford new investments with reasonable profitability even in this difficult period concerning prices of utilities and raw materials. As an example in recent years, we have proudly developed and supplied custom-fit solutions for spunlaced materials, pulp based fabric forming machinery (wetlaid) and rolls good handling (end lines).
NWI: How are you able to be so proficient in so many areas of nonwovens technology?
LZ: Proven skills and engineering capabilities make Sicam a very dynamic organization.
Our philosophy has always been driven by the combination of machinery supply and process solutions for our customers’ production improving all our technological and production process competencies. We have applied all of our experiences to many different fields, and our skilled personnel are our key strength.
As we are focused to propose best process practices, thanking to very wide connections of my father, the engineer Stefano Zanardi, a huge network of technological consultants specialized in each different nonwoven field are involved in our different projects. This is really important in helping us in not only supporting our customers during commissioning but also offering period of training and products set up.
Moreover, we have established strong cooperation with recognized engineers and partners in order to develop and offer new products in our technology portfolio answering to the real needs of our customers.
NWI: In which areas are you seeing the most growth?
LZ: The strongest demand of our customers is now focused on technology and the development of solutions to manufacture plastic-free disposable products based on natural and manmade fiber and recycling plants for industrial applications. Huge demand is coming from all parts of the world as a strong signal that the nonwovens industry is really sensitive and responsive to environmental issues.
Another field in high demand is our machinery related to recycling technologies, in order to produce recycled thermobonded felt for various final uses from automotive to insulation and more others.
NWI: How are the needs of your customers changing in the nonwovens industry?
LZ: During my grandfather’s time, the customer purchased a single machine from us and another machine from a different supplier, whereas today, we are aligned to our customers’ needs to be a main contractor for the full technology of the production line
In fact our production range is following our strategy, so for the items not in Sicam’s production range we have cooperated with trusted partners for integration of machinery complementary to ours. As we said, basically the requirement are strong return of investments, environmental friendly products and tailor made solutions.
NWI: How are you responding?
LZ: Our drivers are the customers’ real needs and anticipating the next market steps with strong research and development and engineering capabilities
NWI: What is driving these changes?
LZ: With the Europe’s Single Use Plastics Directive, which seeks to significantly reduce the amount of single use plastics (SUPs) going into European landfills and oceans, in force since 2021, the biodegradability or natural fibers composition has become an area of concern for the nonwovens industry. Companies across the spunlace supply chain, from raw materials to end products, are examining how the EU Plastic Strategy and the limitations it sets for single-use plastic products will challenge businesses and influence consumer markets moving forward.
In response to the ruling, spunlace producers are anticipating growing demand for bio-based materials in the coming years, and they have been working diligently to offer more plastic-free solutions for wipes manufacturers.
For this reason, new wetlaid-spunlace lines can be considered the future. The special sustainable feature of a wetlaid technology is that, for instance, the adult and baby wet wipes it produces are completely plastic-free, flushable and biodegradable, a characteristic that conventional wet wipes do not have.
Another driver impacting in a different field is the high focus in the materials recycling.
The traditional recycled fiber felt is now made by many different kind of fibers and became main actor for building industry. In fact with the new regulations in energy level of buildings, insulation panels demand is increasing making our houses more efficient and ecofriendly.
NWI: Does Sicam have any new products or technologies?
LZ: This SICAM pulp wetlaid headbox, in tandem with SICAM hydroentanglement, allow out customers to obtain the entire range of CP and CPC products, that, not only in my opinion, will be a real trend for the future in nonwovens in parallel to the traditional spun lace.
Approaching these wet forming technologies, SICAM developed also another different headbox suitable to process long fibers. With this machine our customers can produce an incredible wide range of different wetlaid nonwovens made by natural or man made fibers.
In addition taking care of fiber bonding and now wetlaid, SICAM was always involved in light web nonwovens. Increasing our product range, SICAM answered also the customer need to complete the production line with high speed winders and slitter rewinders, integrating best practices on the market, with packaging system.
Thanking also to our continuous improvement, SICAM defined new patents in dryers and thermobonding ovens in the direction of energy efficiency and heat recovery.
* pictured, the second and third generations of Sicam, Stefano (right) and Luca (left) Zanardi.
NWI: Please discuss Sicam's machinery offerings to the Nonwovens Industry?
LZ: Thanks to decades of experience, Sicam currently has a wide range of technologies and relevant machinery in its portfolio and together with strong relationships with technological partners can supply full solutions and is able to answer almost all the demands of the nonwovens market.
Sicam manufactures machinery and complete plants for not only the textile and nonwovens industries but also composite materials like glass fiber, using its more than half a century experience in this field, according to the most advanced technological solutions and recent innovations.
Sicam’s core business in nonwovens started in heat processes with ovens for thermobonding, thermosetting, chemical bonding and drying, but the company also offers complete turnkey solutions for production of recycled fiber felt and wadding, spunbond and spunlace production, stenter frames, calendering, abrasive wadding, multi layer ovens, textile dryers, glass yarn and glass fabric dyers and glass fiber chopped strand mat plants, water entangling units combined with wetlaid technologies and wide range of end of line technologies.
NWI: How has this offering changed or evolved in recent years?
LZ: The driving force of Sicam’s organization was always related to the market requirements, and the affordable return of the investment for our customers is our mission.
The market is nowadays asking for smart and efficient solutions which allow both newcomers and established companies to afford new investments with reasonable profitability even in this difficult period concerning prices of utilities and raw materials. As an example in recent years, we have proudly developed and supplied custom-fit solutions for spunlaced materials, pulp based fabric forming machinery (wetlaid) and rolls good handling (end lines).
NWI: How are you able to be so proficient in so many areas of nonwovens technology?
LZ: Proven skills and engineering capabilities make Sicam a very dynamic organization.
Our philosophy has always been driven by the combination of machinery supply and process solutions for our customers’ production improving all our technological and production process competencies. We have applied all of our experiences to many different fields, and our skilled personnel are our key strength.
As we are focused to propose best process practices, thanking to very wide connections of my father, the engineer Stefano Zanardi, a huge network of technological consultants specialized in each different nonwoven field are involved in our different projects. This is really important in helping us in not only supporting our customers during commissioning but also offering period of training and products set up.
Moreover, we have established strong cooperation with recognized engineers and partners in order to develop and offer new products in our technology portfolio answering to the real needs of our customers.
NWI: In which areas are you seeing the most growth?
LZ: The strongest demand of our customers is now focused on technology and the development of solutions to manufacture plastic-free disposable products based on natural and manmade fiber and recycling plants for industrial applications. Huge demand is coming from all parts of the world as a strong signal that the nonwovens industry is really sensitive and responsive to environmental issues.
Another field in high demand is our machinery related to recycling technologies, in order to produce recycled thermobonded felt for various final uses from automotive to insulation and more others.
NWI: How are the needs of your customers changing in the nonwovens industry?
LZ: During my grandfather’s time, the customer purchased a single machine from us and another machine from a different supplier, whereas today, we are aligned to our customers’ needs to be a main contractor for the full technology of the production line
In fact our production range is following our strategy, so for the items not in Sicam’s production range we have cooperated with trusted partners for integration of machinery complementary to ours. As we said, basically the requirement are strong return of investments, environmental friendly products and tailor made solutions.
NWI: How are you responding?
LZ: Our drivers are the customers’ real needs and anticipating the next market steps with strong research and development and engineering capabilities
NWI: What is driving these changes?
LZ: With the Europe’s Single Use Plastics Directive, which seeks to significantly reduce the amount of single use plastics (SUPs) going into European landfills and oceans, in force since 2021, the biodegradability or natural fibers composition has become an area of concern for the nonwovens industry. Companies across the spunlace supply chain, from raw materials to end products, are examining how the EU Plastic Strategy and the limitations it sets for single-use plastic products will challenge businesses and influence consumer markets moving forward.
In response to the ruling, spunlace producers are anticipating growing demand for bio-based materials in the coming years, and they have been working diligently to offer more plastic-free solutions for wipes manufacturers.
For this reason, new wetlaid-spunlace lines can be considered the future. The special sustainable feature of a wetlaid technology is that, for instance, the adult and baby wet wipes it produces are completely plastic-free, flushable and biodegradable, a characteristic that conventional wet wipes do not have.
Another driver impacting in a different field is the high focus in the materials recycling.
The traditional recycled fiber felt is now made by many different kind of fibers and became main actor for building industry. In fact with the new regulations in energy level of buildings, insulation panels demand is increasing making our houses more efficient and ecofriendly.
NWI: Does Sicam have any new products or technologies?
LZ: This SICAM pulp wetlaid headbox, in tandem with SICAM hydroentanglement, allow out customers to obtain the entire range of CP and CPC products, that, not only in my opinion, will be a real trend for the future in nonwovens in parallel to the traditional spun lace.
Approaching these wet forming technologies, SICAM developed also another different headbox suitable to process long fibers. With this machine our customers can produce an incredible wide range of different wetlaid nonwovens made by natural or man made fibers.
In addition taking care of fiber bonding and now wetlaid, SICAM was always involved in light web nonwovens. Increasing our product range, SICAM answered also the customer need to complete the production line with high speed winders and slitter rewinders, integrating best practices on the market, with packaging system.
Thanking also to our continuous improvement, SICAM defined new patents in dryers and thermobonding ovens in the direction of energy efficiency and heat recovery.
* pictured, the second and third generations of Sicam, Stefano (right) and Luca (left) Zanardi.
