09.11.24
Kibutz Shamir, Israel
www.shalag.co.il
2023 Nonwovens Sales: $200 million
Key Personnel
Ilan Pickman, CEO
Plants
Israel, North Carolina, Italy (Texsus)
Processes
Air-through bonded, thermal bonded, stitchbonded, needlepunch
Major Markets
Baby diapers, feminine hygiene, adult incontinence, wipes
Shalag Nonwovens, a company that produces air-through bonded nonwovens with locations in Italy, North Carolina and Israel, reported revenue of approximately $200 million last year. This has remained stable for the past few years. The company is experiencing positive trends in the North American market, while facing high levels of competition in Europe and Israel, both from within their markets as well as the Far East, without any signs of significant growth. This has made price the main driving factor in customer purchasing decisions, behind performance, quality, customer service and reliability.
Despite these conditions, Shalag continues to pride itself on superior product performance with its air-through bonded carded nonwovens. CEO Ilan Pickman states, “Over the years, we have heavily invested in machinery technology and product design to produce premium and extremely soft materials, collecting a wealth of experience and a rich portfolio of high-quality, super-soft solutions. The recent trend that places softness as one of the most highly requested features has integrated perfectly with our preexisting philosophy, supporting our sales consequently.”
Shalag’s integration of Texsus, an Italian maker of films and air-through bonded nonwovens, which it acquired in 2019, has given the company a main hub for European production and machinery. Significant machinery and resource investment has been taking place to ensure each plant has a strong geographical presence to better meet the supply and delivery demands of clients in Europe, the Americas, and the Middle East. Additionally, each plant has the capability to back up the other plants, increasing global business redundancy.
According to executives, air-through bonding material continues to be a strategic technical nonwoven for the hygiene market, offering companies a premium material that provides both softness and visual appeal. In addition to acquisition and distribution layer (ADL) applications in hygiene items, Shalag is seeing increased demand for soft and visually appealing ATB materials for topsheet, outercovering, and frontal tape materials.
In addition to performance benefits, air-through bonding technology offers sustainability benefits including the absence of a binder or water in production; the use of recycled fibers as well as plant-based, biodegradable and natural fibers.
Additionally, following the ‘less is more’ principle, Shalag takes advantage of the naturally lofty and infinitely customizable nature of air-through-bonded nonwovens, achieving excellent liquid handling performance at lower basis weights than other technologies. Shalag’s Softy Air and Cudly Air brands are designed to deliver superior softness and a premium feel and are perfectly suited as topsheets and outercovers for clients seeking to design a product that delivers the softest and smoothest tactile experience. Additionally, the company can offer embossed and apertured material to enhance the functionality and visual aspects of the products.
www.shalag.co.il
2023 Nonwovens Sales: $200 million
Key Personnel
Ilan Pickman, CEO
Plants
Israel, North Carolina, Italy (Texsus)
Processes
Air-through bonded, thermal bonded, stitchbonded, needlepunch
Major Markets
Baby diapers, feminine hygiene, adult incontinence, wipes
Shalag Nonwovens, a company that produces air-through bonded nonwovens with locations in Italy, North Carolina and Israel, reported revenue of approximately $200 million last year. This has remained stable for the past few years. The company is experiencing positive trends in the North American market, while facing high levels of competition in Europe and Israel, both from within their markets as well as the Far East, without any signs of significant growth. This has made price the main driving factor in customer purchasing decisions, behind performance, quality, customer service and reliability.
Despite these conditions, Shalag continues to pride itself on superior product performance with its air-through bonded carded nonwovens. CEO Ilan Pickman states, “Over the years, we have heavily invested in machinery technology and product design to produce premium and extremely soft materials, collecting a wealth of experience and a rich portfolio of high-quality, super-soft solutions. The recent trend that places softness as one of the most highly requested features has integrated perfectly with our preexisting philosophy, supporting our sales consequently.”
Shalag’s integration of Texsus, an Italian maker of films and air-through bonded nonwovens, which it acquired in 2019, has given the company a main hub for European production and machinery. Significant machinery and resource investment has been taking place to ensure each plant has a strong geographical presence to better meet the supply and delivery demands of clients in Europe, the Americas, and the Middle East. Additionally, each plant has the capability to back up the other plants, increasing global business redundancy.
According to executives, air-through bonding material continues to be a strategic technical nonwoven for the hygiene market, offering companies a premium material that provides both softness and visual appeal. In addition to acquisition and distribution layer (ADL) applications in hygiene items, Shalag is seeing increased demand for soft and visually appealing ATB materials for topsheet, outercovering, and frontal tape materials.
In addition to performance benefits, air-through bonding technology offers sustainability benefits including the absence of a binder or water in production; the use of recycled fibers as well as plant-based, biodegradable and natural fibers.
Additionally, following the ‘less is more’ principle, Shalag takes advantage of the naturally lofty and infinitely customizable nature of air-through-bonded nonwovens, achieving excellent liquid handling performance at lower basis weights than other technologies. Shalag’s Softy Air and Cudly Air brands are designed to deliver superior softness and a premium feel and are perfectly suited as topsheets and outercovers for clients seeking to design a product that delivers the softest and smoothest tactile experience. Additionally, the company can offer embossed and apertured material to enhance the functionality and visual aspects of the products.
