Fibertex Personal Care is expanding its nonwovens printing operation in the U.S. The Denmark-based nonwovens producer has invested $10 million in a new facility in Asheboro, NC which will be dedicated to direct printing on nonwovens. Fibertex already owns the unique printing technology through its German subsidiary Innowo Print, which has operations in Germany and Malaysia.

"The large global producers of diapers, sanitary napkins and incontinence products are increasingly demanding printing directly on nonwoven materials," Fibertex CEO Mikael Staal Axelsen. "Today, the majority of products have a design print on a thin film. However, a growing number of our customers have realized the many possibilities in having their design printed directly on the nonwoven materials. For instance, our print technology gives them the opportunity to enhance the visual expression, which facilitates a range of differentiation possibilities."

Fibertex Personal Care co-founded Innowo Print in 2008 and assumed full ownership of the subsidiary in 2014. It currently operates three printing lines in Germany and one in Malaysia, where the company also manufactures spunmelt nonwovens for hygiene applications.

"It is the idea that the print production in Germany and Malaysia is to cover the European and the Asian markets, respectively, while the coming factory in the U.S. is to cover the markets in North and South America. We expect strong growth rates within this niche in the coming years, and therefore, the American factory has to be operational by the end of 2018, Axelsen continues.

An important part of the business concept is that Fibertex Personal Care prints both on its own nonwovens, and on nonwovens produced by other companies too. North Carolina was chosen as location for the new print production facility because of the high level of nonwovens production in the area.