Tara Olivo, Associate Editor10.04.23
Converting companies are an integral part of the nonwovens supply chain. For all of the advantages the industry’s products provide, a lot has to happen prior to their end use. Nonwovens need to be cut into a variety of shapes and sizes, scaled down to become a single-use product, as well as printed, packaged and more. Sometimes the process is simple, and sometimes more complex, with converting companies using the latest technology to add value to products and make them easier to use. The following is a compilation of capabilities and services of some the nonwovens industry’s leading converters.
www.athea.com
The company has made a significant investment to upgrade its primary laminating machine with current ultrasonic technology. Results are already showing outcomes of increased consistency in finished laminate and improved efficiency. Plans are to migrate this new technology to other equipment moving forward.
Beckmann Converting is making additional upgrades to its new offline slitter/rewinder machine that can handle materials up to 80” wide. With ongoing supply chain disruptions, composite components may arrive that are all at different widths. On occasion it is best to slit/trim these materials down to the same width to facilitate the laminating process. Finished laminates impacted by the thermal energy of ultrasonics may need up to a few days to return to steady state dimensions before slitting. As an alternative to inline slitting, the company can slit using a secondary operation.
The U.S.-based company converts continuous, wide web, roll-to-roll customer owned technical materials into multiple layer high performance textile composites. Ultrasonic laminating lines process raw materials up to 126 inches wide with finished product incorporating two to seven layers of nonwovens, films, knits, wovens, meshes and other materials. Beckmann Converting operates on a fully registered ISO9001:2015 Quality Management Program.
Beckmann Converting continues to receive accolades for its contemporary website, launched in late summer 2021. A “Buyers Journey” section takes visitors from various functional roles through a curated initial journey through the website to key pieces of information important to their needs. The Virtual Swatchbook, supplemented by a hardcopy Laminating Sampler, enables the customer to learn details about options for their products in ultrasonic laminating process. www.beckmannconverting.com/resources/virtual-swatchbook/
www.beckmannconverting.com
CPI’s slitting capabilities include score, shear, razor, single knife and rotary, in widths ranging from 1⁄8 to 136 inches along with experience in a wide variety of flexible materials. CPI also offers a full-service Quality department performing on-site analysis, certifications and reports to meet a wide array of industry needs.
Recently CPI acquired an additional duplex center slitter rewinder and 17-position spool winder. Along with these assets, CPI teamed with Muse Food Safety Solutions to develop and implement an HAACP (Hazzard Analysis Critical Control Point) food packaging plan. Combining the additional line time with an HAACP food packaging plan allows for increased productivity and assurance that quality standards required for this market are met or exceeded.
“Today’s customers desire rapid turnaround and on-demand response time,” says CPI president and founder Chris Gorenc. “Investing in new equipment, maintaining a quality work force, and providing personal customer service prove to our partners that we are committed to meeting their needs. The additional equipment and our HAACP food packaging plan are great additions to our already robust list of services.”
Continuous improvement is a staple of CPI’s ever-evolving capabilities.
The new duplex center slitter features a 72” max width, a 32”max rewind OD, 54” max unwind OD, and differential rewinding. The 17-position spool winder includes an 18” spool width and 20” max OD, 40” max unwind. It is capable of sheer, razor and score cutting along with level and/or taper winding.
CPI is a fixture in the contract converting market and serves a wide array of industries both domestically and globally. CPI is ISO 9001:2015 certified and offers slitting/rewinding, hot melt laminating and spool winding.
www.convertedproducts.com
KTP’s core values of safety, quality and customer service ensure that it delivers the highest quality products for its customers each and every production run. This commitment to quality has allowed KTP to maintain long term customer relationships, some for more than 50 years. And to keep its customers coming back, KTP continues to invest in upgrading and automating manufacturing facilities, increasing production capacity and improving delivery and shipping logistics. Additionally, KTP recently upgraded its ERP system and it continually provides safety and technical training for its employees.
KTP’s continued focus on manufacturing high quality products to meet or exceed customer expectations has kept it at the forefront of contract manufacturing for 80 years. And its continued investment in its people and its facilities has positioned KTP for growth and business success for the future. KTP truly delivers on its corporate promise: ‘Your brands, in trusted hands.’
www.kleentest.com
Bill Lutz, vice president, Sales & Marketing for Premier Care states, “In 2022 the wet wipes industry experienced a slow down for surface disinfecting and sanitizing wet wipes, which were in such high demand during the battle with the Covid-19 pandemic. The industry and the consumer needed time to work through their inventories that had been accumulated in 2020 and 2021. The marketplace has normalized in 2023, with demand for wet wipe products returning to levels higher than what was realized prior to the pandemic in 2020. Additionally, there was a realignment in the market of wet wipe converters as a few were forced to shut down their operations due to financial decisions made during the pandemic. We believe Premier Care Industries is best positioned to service the needs of the marketplace in 2023 and beyond.”
Lutz adds, “Premier Care is excited about its growth prospects over the next 10 years with its manufacturing expertise based on its core values and the highest in manufacturing standards. We will continue to expand our capabilities with investments in people, product development, cutting-edge technologies, and added capacities to better service our portfolio of customers and the ever-growing demand in the marketplace.”
www.precare.com
“During the pandemic, worldwide logistical interruptions forced U.S. and EU-based companies to consider onshoring significant portions of their supply chain as a hedge against future problems,” says Ed Martins, vice president of Web’s Industrial & Consumer business unit. “As the aftershocks of Covid continue to rock the industry, these companies are seeing the importance of having reliable regional partners that can keep market channels stocked regardless of global conditions.”
After securing onshored supply chains, the next challenge for these companies is finding offshore-like cost-efficiencies from domestic suppliers. That’s where Web Industries’ unmatched converting scale, innovative slitting/spooling formats, and wide-width multi-color flexographic printing options can provide real business advantages.
“Web has some of the largest converting lines in the world, and we’ve developed highly-automated solutions for producing large format and extra-large-format spooled output,” Martins continues. “Spooled slit materials offer significant runtime advantages versus traditional slit pads, and Web’s largest spools provide nearly twice the capacity of regular spools.”
Backed by years of expertise, Web’s proprietary spooling design optimizes tension control to convert thinner, extensible and high-loft nonwovens with precision while maintaining material integrity.
For brands looking to secure their manufacturing base through onshoring, Web’s co-located converting and printing operations simplify the process of rationalizing a regionalized supply chain.
www.webindustries.com/markets/personal-home-care/
Athea Laboratories
With over 55 years of experience, Athea Laboratories is a leader in private label wet wipe and liquid manufacturing and packaging. Athea’s expertise and experience give customers an extensive variety of product formulas to serve numerous end user markets with a private labeled product. As an EPA and FDA facility, Athea’s manufacturing capabilities include custom wipe converting, custom formula development, blending services, on-site chemists, formula-substrate compatibility testing, graphics and technical support. Athea can offer customers a turnkey solution to their private label needs at low minimums.www.athea.com
Beckmann Converting
Beckmann Converting, Inc, a toll converter serving customers who make textile products for diverse industries and applications, is delivering ultrasonic laminating services to its customers while continually improving its technical capabilities. Through a process of continuous improvement, the company regularly invests in important machine control systems, software and processes. This strategy ensures the company grows to meet ever increasing requirements for new products their customers are designing, including higher performing niche products needed to compete in growing markets.The company has made a significant investment to upgrade its primary laminating machine with current ultrasonic technology. Results are already showing outcomes of increased consistency in finished laminate and improved efficiency. Plans are to migrate this new technology to other equipment moving forward.
Beckmann Converting is making additional upgrades to its new offline slitter/rewinder machine that can handle materials up to 80” wide. With ongoing supply chain disruptions, composite components may arrive that are all at different widths. On occasion it is best to slit/trim these materials down to the same width to facilitate the laminating process. Finished laminates impacted by the thermal energy of ultrasonics may need up to a few days to return to steady state dimensions before slitting. As an alternative to inline slitting, the company can slit using a secondary operation.
The U.S.-based company converts continuous, wide web, roll-to-roll customer owned technical materials into multiple layer high performance textile composites. Ultrasonic laminating lines process raw materials up to 126 inches wide with finished product incorporating two to seven layers of nonwovens, films, knits, wovens, meshes and other materials. Beckmann Converting operates on a fully registered ISO9001:2015 Quality Management Program.
Beckmann Converting continues to receive accolades for its contemporary website, launched in late summer 2021. A “Buyers Journey” section takes visitors from various functional roles through a curated initial journey through the website to key pieces of information important to their needs. The Virtual Swatchbook, supplemented by a hardcopy Laminating Sampler, enables the customer to learn details about options for their products in ultrasonic laminating process. www.beckmannconverting.com/resources/virtual-swatchbook/
www.beckmannconverting.com
Converted Products
Converted Products, Incorporated (CPI) is currently celebrating 30 years in the contract converting industry. CPI’s services include wide width, high speed slitting, hot melt laminating, traverse (spool) winding, rotary and flatbed die cutting, warehousing/logistics and product/process development. Certified in ISO 9001:2015, Converted Products’ 160,000 square foot facility is located on the northwest side of Milwaukee, WI.CPI’s slitting capabilities include score, shear, razor, single knife and rotary, in widths ranging from 1⁄8 to 136 inches along with experience in a wide variety of flexible materials. CPI also offers a full-service Quality department performing on-site analysis, certifications and reports to meet a wide array of industry needs.
Recently CPI acquired an additional duplex center slitter rewinder and 17-position spool winder. Along with these assets, CPI teamed with Muse Food Safety Solutions to develop and implement an HAACP (Hazzard Analysis Critical Control Point) food packaging plan. Combining the additional line time with an HAACP food packaging plan allows for increased productivity and assurance that quality standards required for this market are met or exceeded.
“Today’s customers desire rapid turnaround and on-demand response time,” says CPI president and founder Chris Gorenc. “Investing in new equipment, maintaining a quality work force, and providing personal customer service prove to our partners that we are committed to meeting their needs. The additional equipment and our HAACP food packaging plan are great additions to our already robust list of services.”
Continuous improvement is a staple of CPI’s ever-evolving capabilities.
The new duplex center slitter features a 72” max width, a 32”max rewind OD, 54” max unwind OD, and differential rewinding. The 17-position spool winder includes an 18” spool width and 20” max OD, 40” max unwind. It is capable of sheer, razor and score cutting along with level and/or taper winding.
CPI is a fixture in the contract converting market and serves a wide array of industries both domestically and globally. CPI is ISO 9001:2015 certified and offers slitting/rewinding, hot melt laminating and spool winding.
www.convertedproducts.com
Kleen Test Products
Kleen Test Products is a family owned, financially strong business founded in 1944. KTP is one of five subsidiaries of Meridian Industries, Inc. and is headquartered in Port Washington, WI. With five manufacturing locations in Wisconsin and two in Ohio, KTP has become a trusted production partner to Consumer-Packaged Goods companies both large and small. Known for innovation and strong relationships with suppliers and technology partners, KTP consistently delivers high quality products in the Home Health, Personal Care and Home Cleaning segments.KTP’s core values of safety, quality and customer service ensure that it delivers the highest quality products for its customers each and every production run. This commitment to quality has allowed KTP to maintain long term customer relationships, some for more than 50 years. And to keep its customers coming back, KTP continues to invest in upgrading and automating manufacturing facilities, increasing production capacity and improving delivery and shipping logistics. Additionally, KTP recently upgraded its ERP system and it continually provides safety and technical training for its employees.
KTP’s continued focus on manufacturing high quality products to meet or exceed customer expectations has kept it at the forefront of contract manufacturing for 80 years. And its continued investment in its people and its facilities has positioned KTP for growth and business success for the future. KTP truly delivers on its corporate promise: ‘Your brands, in trusted hands.’
www.kleentest.com
Premier Care Industries
Family-owned company Premier Care Industries, Hauppauge, NY, continues to lead the industry in quality, service and innovation through its state-of-the-art manufacturing operations. Premier Care Industries has continued to adapt to the ever-changing needs of the marketplace and offers the market every capability in wet wipes to reliably meet its customers’ needs.Bill Lutz, vice president, Sales & Marketing for Premier Care states, “In 2022 the wet wipes industry experienced a slow down for surface disinfecting and sanitizing wet wipes, which were in such high demand during the battle with the Covid-19 pandemic. The industry and the consumer needed time to work through their inventories that had been accumulated in 2020 and 2021. The marketplace has normalized in 2023, with demand for wet wipe products returning to levels higher than what was realized prior to the pandemic in 2020. Additionally, there was a realignment in the market of wet wipe converters as a few were forced to shut down their operations due to financial decisions made during the pandemic. We believe Premier Care Industries is best positioned to service the needs of the marketplace in 2023 and beyond.”
Lutz adds, “Premier Care is excited about its growth prospects over the next 10 years with its manufacturing expertise based on its core values and the highest in manufacturing standards. We will continue to expand our capabilities with investments in people, product development, cutting-edge technologies, and added capacities to better service our portfolio of customers and the ever-growing demand in the marketplace.”
www.precare.com
Web Industries
As the global nonwovens market works toward a post-Covid recovery, Web Industries offers Personal and Home Care (P&HC) product companies unique capabilities and capacities that ease end-product manufacturing challenges and reduce business uncertainties.“During the pandemic, worldwide logistical interruptions forced U.S. and EU-based companies to consider onshoring significant portions of their supply chain as a hedge against future problems,” says Ed Martins, vice president of Web’s Industrial & Consumer business unit. “As the aftershocks of Covid continue to rock the industry, these companies are seeing the importance of having reliable regional partners that can keep market channels stocked regardless of global conditions.”
After securing onshored supply chains, the next challenge for these companies is finding offshore-like cost-efficiencies from domestic suppliers. That’s where Web Industries’ unmatched converting scale, innovative slitting/spooling formats, and wide-width multi-color flexographic printing options can provide real business advantages.
“Web has some of the largest converting lines in the world, and we’ve developed highly-automated solutions for producing large format and extra-large-format spooled output,” Martins continues. “Spooled slit materials offer significant runtime advantages versus traditional slit pads, and Web’s largest spools provide nearly twice the capacity of regular spools.”
Backed by years of expertise, Web’s proprietary spooling design optimizes tension control to convert thinner, extensible and high-loft nonwovens with precision while maintaining material integrity.
For brands looking to secure their manufacturing base through onshoring, Web’s co-located converting and printing operations simplify the process of rationalizing a regionalized supply chain.
www.webindustries.com/markets/personal-home-care/
