09.08.22
Dallas, TX
www.kimberly-clark.com
2021 Nonwovens Sales: $1.3 billion (estimated)
Key Personnel
Michael Hsu, chairman and chief executive officer, Kimberly-Clark; Russ Torres, president, North America Consumer Business, Kimberly-Clark; Ehab Abou-Oaf, president, Kimberly-Clark Professional; Lori Shaffer, vice president, Global Nonwovens
Global Nonwovens Manufacturing Facilities
Corinth, MS; Hendersonville, NC; LaGrange, GA
ISO Status
Corinth, MS; Hendersonville, NC; LaGrange, GA
Processes
Spunbond, meltblown, SMS, BCW, hydroentangled, film lamination, airlaid and Coform
Brands
Kimberly-Clark Professional: Protective Fabrics: Block-It, Dustop, Evolution and Noah; Filtration Media: Intrepid, Powerloft, Cyclean; Delivery Systems: Hydroknit
Kimberly-Clark Personal Care: Huggies, Depend, Kotex, Poise
Major Markets
Filtration, construction, acoustics, consumer hygiene, industrial, medical, packaging, protective, sorbents, textile linings and wet wipes
Proving its commitment to its Global Nonwovens business, Kimberly-Clark recently completed a $140 million investment in its nonwovens manufacturing facility in Corinth, MS. Reported to be the company’s largest-ever single nonwovens investment, the expansion added more than 150,000 square feet to the facility and expanded manufacturing of components for Huggies, Pull -Ups, Poise and Depend products.
“The investment has enabled the Corinth facility to add unique capabilities that focus on comfort and skin health as well as sustainability,” says Lori Shaffer, vice president, Global Nonwovens. “The new line is primarily for consumer hygiene products, but it’s flexible so we can make materials for Kimberly-Clark Professional as well.”
Additionally, the new equipment at the site is allowing Kimberly-Clark to work with some unique raw materials and is providing increased flexibility when it comes to inputs and processes.
Kimberly-Clark also manufactures nonwovens for the adult care, feminine care and baby and child care businesses at its Berkeley manufacturing facility in Hendersonville, NC, and its LaGrange manufacturing facility in LaGrange, GA. The Berkeley site was most recently expanded in 2018 with a $30 million investment.
Additionally, the company’s LaGrange site makes Kimtech N95 respirators. These non-surgical respirators were designed to help alleviate supply shortages within the industrial, cleanroom and laboratory segments during the Covid-19 pandemic. They leverage Kimberly-Clark’s proprietary nonwovens technology to provide industry-leading comfort and protection. The facility also makes substrates for industrial-grade apparel and wipes, supporting the Kimberly-Clark Professional business.
In recent years, Kimberly-Clark has zeroed in on becoming a more sustainable company through its 2030 sustainability strategy and goals that are aimed at improving the lives and well-being of one billion people in underserved communities around the world while reducing its environmental footprint by 50%.
“Kimberly-Clark’s purpose is to provide better care for a better world. That is our compass, and it guides everything we do,” Shaffer says. The Global Nonwovens team plays a leading role in this effort by developing innovative materials that improve product performance and sustainability.
In June, Kimberly-Clark announced significant progress toward its ambitious emissions reduction targets, which were outlined in the 2030 strategy. Compared to 2015, the company has achieved a 41% reduction in operational emissions (Scope 1 and 2) and a 6.3% reduction in Scope 3 emissions.
Additionally, the company is exploring more sustainable, commercially viable and scalable alternatives to fossil fuel-based plastics. In 2021, Kimberly-Clark doubled the percentage of recycled content in its plastic packaging, and it further increased the amount of packaging globally that is reusable, recyclable or compostable to nearly 84%, as it strives for 100% by 2025.
“In nonwovens, we are always asking how we can use less fossil fuel-based plastic without sacrificing performance. Anytime we develop a product, we think about its end life,” Shaffer says.
To help facilitate the use of more sustainable materials, Kimberly-Clark has forged partnerships with other companies, NGOs and academia. Its collaboration with RWDC Industries is focused on the development of sustainable solutions that address the environmental challenges of single-use plastics.
The partnership brings together Kimberly-Clark’s deep experience in nonwoven technologies and resin development with RWDC’s innovative and cost-effective biopolymer solutions. RWDC is providing its polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) source material, Solon, which the company will use to develop additional products that are marine degradable. The partnership with RWDC on PHA represents just one of the ways the company is exploring sustainable alternatives to plastic as it works to reduce its use of new, fossil fuel-based plastics by 50% by 2030.
Global Nonwovens is already prototyping alternative source materials, including rayon, viscose, cotton and lyocell, in products such as wet wipes and menstrual pads. By using and exploring these sustainably sourced materials, the company aims to design products for recovery and compatibility with existing and emerging organics processing and sanitation infrastructures.
The group also operates the Roswell Rapid Advanced Material Prototyping (RAMP) facility to test the production of new materials and validate consumer propositions. The process learning and consumer insights gained from the RAMP pilot line enable Global Nonwovens to deliver breakthrough materials that help Kimberly-Clark fulfill its purpose of better care for a better world, driving sustainable growth for the business.
To see Kimberly-Clark's 2020 top company profile, click here.
www.kimberly-clark.com
2021 Nonwovens Sales: $1.3 billion (estimated)
Key Personnel
Michael Hsu, chairman and chief executive officer, Kimberly-Clark; Russ Torres, president, North America Consumer Business, Kimberly-Clark; Ehab Abou-Oaf, president, Kimberly-Clark Professional; Lori Shaffer, vice president, Global Nonwovens
Global Nonwovens Manufacturing Facilities
Corinth, MS; Hendersonville, NC; LaGrange, GA
ISO Status
Corinth, MS; Hendersonville, NC; LaGrange, GA
Processes
Spunbond, meltblown, SMS, BCW, hydroentangled, film lamination, airlaid and Coform
Brands
Kimberly-Clark Professional: Protective Fabrics: Block-It, Dustop, Evolution and Noah; Filtration Media: Intrepid, Powerloft, Cyclean; Delivery Systems: Hydroknit
Kimberly-Clark Personal Care: Huggies, Depend, Kotex, Poise
Major Markets
Filtration, construction, acoustics, consumer hygiene, industrial, medical, packaging, protective, sorbents, textile linings and wet wipes
Proving its commitment to its Global Nonwovens business, Kimberly-Clark recently completed a $140 million investment in its nonwovens manufacturing facility in Corinth, MS. Reported to be the company’s largest-ever single nonwovens investment, the expansion added more than 150,000 square feet to the facility and expanded manufacturing of components for Huggies, Pull -Ups, Poise and Depend products.
“The investment has enabled the Corinth facility to add unique capabilities that focus on comfort and skin health as well as sustainability,” says Lori Shaffer, vice president, Global Nonwovens. “The new line is primarily for consumer hygiene products, but it’s flexible so we can make materials for Kimberly-Clark Professional as well.”
Additionally, the new equipment at the site is allowing Kimberly-Clark to work with some unique raw materials and is providing increased flexibility when it comes to inputs and processes.
Kimberly-Clark also manufactures nonwovens for the adult care, feminine care and baby and child care businesses at its Berkeley manufacturing facility in Hendersonville, NC, and its LaGrange manufacturing facility in LaGrange, GA. The Berkeley site was most recently expanded in 2018 with a $30 million investment.
Additionally, the company’s LaGrange site makes Kimtech N95 respirators. These non-surgical respirators were designed to help alleviate supply shortages within the industrial, cleanroom and laboratory segments during the Covid-19 pandemic. They leverage Kimberly-Clark’s proprietary nonwovens technology to provide industry-leading comfort and protection. The facility also makes substrates for industrial-grade apparel and wipes, supporting the Kimberly-Clark Professional business.
In recent years, Kimberly-Clark has zeroed in on becoming a more sustainable company through its 2030 sustainability strategy and goals that are aimed at improving the lives and well-being of one billion people in underserved communities around the world while reducing its environmental footprint by 50%.
“Kimberly-Clark’s purpose is to provide better care for a better world. That is our compass, and it guides everything we do,” Shaffer says. The Global Nonwovens team plays a leading role in this effort by developing innovative materials that improve product performance and sustainability.
In June, Kimberly-Clark announced significant progress toward its ambitious emissions reduction targets, which were outlined in the 2030 strategy. Compared to 2015, the company has achieved a 41% reduction in operational emissions (Scope 1 and 2) and a 6.3% reduction in Scope 3 emissions.
Additionally, the company is exploring more sustainable, commercially viable and scalable alternatives to fossil fuel-based plastics. In 2021, Kimberly-Clark doubled the percentage of recycled content in its plastic packaging, and it further increased the amount of packaging globally that is reusable, recyclable or compostable to nearly 84%, as it strives for 100% by 2025.
“In nonwovens, we are always asking how we can use less fossil fuel-based plastic without sacrificing performance. Anytime we develop a product, we think about its end life,” Shaffer says.
To help facilitate the use of more sustainable materials, Kimberly-Clark has forged partnerships with other companies, NGOs and academia. Its collaboration with RWDC Industries is focused on the development of sustainable solutions that address the environmental challenges of single-use plastics.
The partnership brings together Kimberly-Clark’s deep experience in nonwoven technologies and resin development with RWDC’s innovative and cost-effective biopolymer solutions. RWDC is providing its polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) source material, Solon, which the company will use to develop additional products that are marine degradable. The partnership with RWDC on PHA represents just one of the ways the company is exploring sustainable alternatives to plastic as it works to reduce its use of new, fossil fuel-based plastics by 50% by 2030.
Global Nonwovens is already prototyping alternative source materials, including rayon, viscose, cotton and lyocell, in products such as wet wipes and menstrual pads. By using and exploring these sustainably sourced materials, the company aims to design products for recovery and compatibility with existing and emerging organics processing and sanitation infrastructures.
The group also operates the Roswell Rapid Advanced Material Prototyping (RAMP) facility to test the production of new materials and validate consumer propositions. The process learning and consumer insights gained from the RAMP pilot line enable Global Nonwovens to deliver breakthrough materials that help Kimberly-Clark fulfill its purpose of better care for a better world, driving sustainable growth for the business.
To see Kimberly-Clark's 2020 top company profile, click here.
