01.01.02
Location: Bergamo, Italy
Sales: $61 million
Description: Key Personnel
Giovanni Moscheni, chief executive officer; Aldo Ghira, managing director; Mauro Moscheni, marketing and sales director; Gampiero Crotti, plant manager; Mimoun Saïm, general manager, Tenotex Nonwovens S.A.
Plants
Terno d’Isola, Italy; Bonate, Italy; Benejama, Spain
ISO Status
ISO 9001, September 2000
Processes
Carded thermal bonded, resin bonded, sunbonded, SMS, air through bonded, spunlaced
Major Markets
Hygiene, wipes
Reporting a slight 2.6% decrease in sales was Tenotex, Terno d’Isola, Spain— a company that recently entered the spunlace market with the addition of a new line in Benejama, Spain. “This entry confirms our intent to differentiate and build know-how in new processes as well as create our first important market diversification,” explained managing director Aldo Ghira. “Our spunlace target markets follow business models similar to hygiene. This should allow us to capitalize on existing structures and resources. Additionally, this new venture will become a solid new leg of our company business.”
Created by using a hybrid process configuration blending staple fiber carded webs and airlaid wood pulp, the company’s TenoLace spunlaced product can cost effectively incorporate hydro-jet aperturing, chemical treatments and heat-mechanical embossing. TenoLace mainly targets the wipes market, but other areas of interest include the medical and hygiene industries. The new line was completed in April 2002, and company executives expect to work on honing the product in terms of processing capabilities and marketing efforts for the rest of the year.
Mr. Ghira forecasted a continuing growth trend of spunlaced wipes in many markets—most of all personal care products for babies and adults—as well as in food contact and industrial applications. “Additionally, we are seeing increasing interest in performance upgrading of our wood pulp wipes, especially in North America. The hybrid spunlace solution should be an effective answer.”
While overcapacity continues to be an issue for spunlaced manufacturers, particularly in Europe, supply-and-demand ratios should even out through the continued growth of the wipes market, Mr. Ghira explained. “The less attractive profitability issues and market growth will moderate capacity increases and balance demand in the near future,” he predicted.
While the spunlaced segment is receiving a great deal of attention for Tenotex, quite a different story can be told for thermal bonding. In 2001, the company shut down three of its older thermal bonding lines in response to a general shift among hygiene manufacturers to replace their carded topsheets and backsheets with spunbonded nonwovens. “We did not find any alternative besides shutdowns and reconfigurations,” Mr. Ghira explained. “Despite the turnover loss, we see the benefits of reacting quickly to a new situation.”
To compensate for some of the capacity lost through the shutdowns, Tenotex added a third thermal bonding/air through bonding composite line in March 2002. The new line increased the company’s capacity for acquisition layers by 70% and is already running near full capacity, according to Mr. Ghira.
The company continues to produce approximately 13,000 tons of thermal bonded material per year on its two thermal bonded lines, one in Bonate, Italy and the other in Benejama, Spain. This material targets hygiene markets. The continued displacement of thermal bonded nonwovens by spunbonded material in topsheet and backsheet applications, is expected lead to additional shut downs in the thermal bond segment for Tenotex, Mr. Ghira predicted. However, some of this displacement should be offset by the development of more complex hygiene products using thermal bonded material.
Turning toward the remainder of Tenotex’s production. Its remaining 44,000 tons of capacity is split between thermal bonding, air through bonding (9000 tons), spunbonding/SMS (9500 tons), ultrasonic laminating (50 million meters) and its spunlace start-up (10,500 to 15,000 tons).
In addition to its roll goods manufacturing, Tenotex now operates a converting facility in Italy to supply rolls and spools to its hygiene customers, which came onstream in late 2001. This facility includes spooling units and an ultrasonic bonding lamination line. “The spooling units facilitate the growth of our highloft business because there is an increasing request for rolls containing much more material to reduce change frequency during converting,” Mr. Ghira said. “The ultrasonic bonding lamination line, which was instigated by the need of one of our top clients, should open new opportunities when nonwovens engineered solutions are required.”
With much of its efforts concentrating on its recent entry into the spunlaced area, Tenotex plans to take some time off from expanding its operations. In terms of improvements, the company is currently examining a few projects but no decisions have yet been made.
Looking ahead, the company will continue to focus much of its attention on Europe and the Mediterranean basin, which are ideal for Tenotex because of its location in southern Europe. While North America remains an interest for future expansion, current business conditions have hindered progress of Tenotex’s carded nonwovens in the U.S. hygiene market. “Social and economic factors that occurred last year, in addition to some changes in the supply chain structure of the hygiene market, show a less attractive scenario for expansion in North America at short. Nevertheless, this market still marks priority for our investment plans. In the meantime, we will continue to focus on dedicated marketing activity there, particularly for our spunlaced products through our North American arm, Cleaver Associates,” said Mr. Ghira.
Currently, 67% of Tenotex’s roll goods sales are achieved in Europe and 28% are conducted in the Americas. The remaining 5% of the company’s business exists in Asia and the Middle East. In the future, the company will continue to growth through new market penetration and diversification.
“We are suppliers of industrial products for the consumer goods industry,” Mr. Ghira said. “We intend to expand our products (and processes) as well as enter new markets. Europe and the Mediterranean basin are key for our activity followed by the Americas where we still look carefully for expansion opportunities.”
Sales: $61 million
Description: Key Personnel
Giovanni Moscheni, chief executive officer; Aldo Ghira, managing director; Mauro Moscheni, marketing and sales director; Gampiero Crotti, plant manager; Mimoun Saïm, general manager, Tenotex Nonwovens S.A.
Plants
Terno d’Isola, Italy; Bonate, Italy; Benejama, Spain
ISO Status
ISO 9001, September 2000
Processes
Carded thermal bonded, resin bonded, sunbonded, SMS, air through bonded, spunlaced
Major Markets
Hygiene, wipes
Reporting a slight 2.6% decrease in sales was Tenotex, Terno d’Isola, Spain— a company that recently entered the spunlace market with the addition of a new line in Benejama, Spain. “This entry confirms our intent to differentiate and build know-how in new processes as well as create our first important market diversification,” explained managing director Aldo Ghira. “Our spunlace target markets follow business models similar to hygiene. This should allow us to capitalize on existing structures and resources. Additionally, this new venture will become a solid new leg of our company business.”
Created by using a hybrid process configuration blending staple fiber carded webs and airlaid wood pulp, the company’s TenoLace spunlaced product can cost effectively incorporate hydro-jet aperturing, chemical treatments and heat-mechanical embossing. TenoLace mainly targets the wipes market, but other areas of interest include the medical and hygiene industries. The new line was completed in April 2002, and company executives expect to work on honing the product in terms of processing capabilities and marketing efforts for the rest of the year.
Mr. Ghira forecasted a continuing growth trend of spunlaced wipes in many markets—most of all personal care products for babies and adults—as well as in food contact and industrial applications. “Additionally, we are seeing increasing interest in performance upgrading of our wood pulp wipes, especially in North America. The hybrid spunlace solution should be an effective answer.”
While overcapacity continues to be an issue for spunlaced manufacturers, particularly in Europe, supply-and-demand ratios should even out through the continued growth of the wipes market, Mr. Ghira explained. “The less attractive profitability issues and market growth will moderate capacity increases and balance demand in the near future,” he predicted.
While the spunlaced segment is receiving a great deal of attention for Tenotex, quite a different story can be told for thermal bonding. In 2001, the company shut down three of its older thermal bonding lines in response to a general shift among hygiene manufacturers to replace their carded topsheets and backsheets with spunbonded nonwovens. “We did not find any alternative besides shutdowns and reconfigurations,” Mr. Ghira explained. “Despite the turnover loss, we see the benefits of reacting quickly to a new situation.”
To compensate for some of the capacity lost through the shutdowns, Tenotex added a third thermal bonding/air through bonding composite line in March 2002. The new line increased the company’s capacity for acquisition layers by 70% and is already running near full capacity, according to Mr. Ghira.
The company continues to produce approximately 13,000 tons of thermal bonded material per year on its two thermal bonded lines, one in Bonate, Italy and the other in Benejama, Spain. This material targets hygiene markets. The continued displacement of thermal bonded nonwovens by spunbonded material in topsheet and backsheet applications, is expected lead to additional shut downs in the thermal bond segment for Tenotex, Mr. Ghira predicted. However, some of this displacement should be offset by the development of more complex hygiene products using thermal bonded material.
Turning toward the remainder of Tenotex’s production. Its remaining 44,000 tons of capacity is split between thermal bonding, air through bonding (9000 tons), spunbonding/SMS (9500 tons), ultrasonic laminating (50 million meters) and its spunlace start-up (10,500 to 15,000 tons).
In addition to its roll goods manufacturing, Tenotex now operates a converting facility in Italy to supply rolls and spools to its hygiene customers, which came onstream in late 2001. This facility includes spooling units and an ultrasonic bonding lamination line. “The spooling units facilitate the growth of our highloft business because there is an increasing request for rolls containing much more material to reduce change frequency during converting,” Mr. Ghira said. “The ultrasonic bonding lamination line, which was instigated by the need of one of our top clients, should open new opportunities when nonwovens engineered solutions are required.”
With much of its efforts concentrating on its recent entry into the spunlaced area, Tenotex plans to take some time off from expanding its operations. In terms of improvements, the company is currently examining a few projects but no decisions have yet been made.
Looking ahead, the company will continue to focus much of its attention on Europe and the Mediterranean basin, which are ideal for Tenotex because of its location in southern Europe. While North America remains an interest for future expansion, current business conditions have hindered progress of Tenotex’s carded nonwovens in the U.S. hygiene market. “Social and economic factors that occurred last year, in addition to some changes in the supply chain structure of the hygiene market, show a less attractive scenario for expansion in North America at short. Nevertheless, this market still marks priority for our investment plans. In the meantime, we will continue to focus on dedicated marketing activity there, particularly for our spunlaced products through our North American arm, Cleaver Associates,” said Mr. Ghira.
Currently, 67% of Tenotex’s roll goods sales are achieved in Europe and 28% are conducted in the Americas. The remaining 5% of the company’s business exists in Asia and the Middle East. In the future, the company will continue to growth through new market penetration and diversification.
“We are suppliers of industrial products for the consumer goods industry,” Mr. Ghira said. “We intend to expand our products (and processes) as well as enter new markets. Europe and the Mediterranean basin are key for our activity followed by the Americas where we still look carefully for expansion opportunities.”