09.11.19
Emsdetten, Germany
www.twe-group.com
2019 Nonwovens Sales: $475 million
Key Personnel
Jörg Ortmeier, CEO; Ralf Berens, CCO; Alexander Wansel, COO
Plants
Germany, France, Belgium, Sweden, China
Processes
Air through bonded, chemical bonded, needlepunched, hydroentangled, airlaid
Major Markets
Hygiene, automotives, building, living, filtration, healthcare, cleaning
New investment as well as new product launches helped to keep TWE Group’s 2019 sales steady at $475 million. Strong hygiene sales, increases in the construction market, automotives strength in the U.S. and Europe were able to offset softer mattress sales globally.
Representing about one-third of the company’s sales, TWE’s largest market continues to be hygiene, where the company has been able to successfully launch a number of new products.
These products have in part been made possible with the addition of a new air through bonding line that came onstream in Meulebeke, Belgium, in late 2019 and is described as the most efficient and flexible air through bonding line on the market.
“It offers us the opportunity to produce the whole range of mono and multiayer products, pancakes and spools, at the same time in a better and faster way than any other machinery,” CEO Ralf Berens says. “We can simply serve growing markets in a most efficient way to offer innovative products paired with strong cost competitiveness.”
In recent years, TWE has developed new products for the hygiene market that represent advances in core concepts featuring less material and higher performance. One of these products, Amphibia, is a three-layer material combining an ADL with an absorbing all-in-one core, allowing the diaper to be extremely thin while offering super performance in absorbency, rewetting and distribution of the liquid. It does not require additional adhesive, cutting or another layer.
“With Amphibia, we are providing a solution to clients to achieve goals for all concepts available from traditional fluff to laminates,” Berens says. “With a sophisticated dosing system, an even and most efficient distribution of SAP in an ADL can be achieved. There are many promising projects currently taking place.”
Other new products include the Dry²Skin range of enhanced products, offering tailor-made ADLs for various core concepts, and Velo, a whole product range of superior materials for soft cover applications (topsheet, backsheet and waistbands) which have been successfully introduced to the market.
“Consumer requirements and expectations to performance are constantly growing,” Berens says. “The performance of our products have been continuously improved accordingly. At the same time ‘feel and touch’ are more in focus which we can provide with our extra lofty and soft materials.”
TWE’s second largest business, automotives, has benefitted from a new needlepunch line at one of its three U.S. sites, which were acquired in 2015. The line not only adds capacity but also offers opportunities for new product developments featuring lighter weights which has been a key market demand in automotives, particularly in exterior applications thanks to its ability to make competitive, high quality products. However, Berens expects that the negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the automotives market to be long lasting.
“The month of April, in which all OEMs had to close their production plants, was far below expectations. It is questionable whether the purchase incentives created by the governments are sufficient to create a short-term trend reversal to the originally planned production volumes. The TWE Group assumes that the third and fourth quarter will stabilize compared to the second quarter,” he says. “However, according to some analysts, a return to ‘normalcy’ will only be realistic in two to three years.”
Beyond hygiene and automotives, TWE is present in markets like filtration, cleaning, medical and construction and has seen particularly nice growth in the building market where its acoustics products are performing well. In many of these markets, TWE is responding to a need for more sustainable products. In 2019, the company introduced a full range of sustainable products featuring alternative raw materials like hemp, kenaf and cotton.
www.twe-group.com
2019 Nonwovens Sales: $475 million
Key Personnel
Jörg Ortmeier, CEO; Ralf Berens, CCO; Alexander Wansel, COO
Plants
Germany, France, Belgium, Sweden, China
Processes
Air through bonded, chemical bonded, needlepunched, hydroentangled, airlaid
Major Markets
Hygiene, automotives, building, living, filtration, healthcare, cleaning
New investment as well as new product launches helped to keep TWE Group’s 2019 sales steady at $475 million. Strong hygiene sales, increases in the construction market, automotives strength in the U.S. and Europe were able to offset softer mattress sales globally.
Representing about one-third of the company’s sales, TWE’s largest market continues to be hygiene, where the company has been able to successfully launch a number of new products.
These products have in part been made possible with the addition of a new air through bonding line that came onstream in Meulebeke, Belgium, in late 2019 and is described as the most efficient and flexible air through bonding line on the market.
“It offers us the opportunity to produce the whole range of mono and multiayer products, pancakes and spools, at the same time in a better and faster way than any other machinery,” CEO Ralf Berens says. “We can simply serve growing markets in a most efficient way to offer innovative products paired with strong cost competitiveness.”
In recent years, TWE has developed new products for the hygiene market that represent advances in core concepts featuring less material and higher performance. One of these products, Amphibia, is a three-layer material combining an ADL with an absorbing all-in-one core, allowing the diaper to be extremely thin while offering super performance in absorbency, rewetting and distribution of the liquid. It does not require additional adhesive, cutting or another layer.
“With Amphibia, we are providing a solution to clients to achieve goals for all concepts available from traditional fluff to laminates,” Berens says. “With a sophisticated dosing system, an even and most efficient distribution of SAP in an ADL can be achieved. There are many promising projects currently taking place.”
Other new products include the Dry²Skin range of enhanced products, offering tailor-made ADLs for various core concepts, and Velo, a whole product range of superior materials for soft cover applications (topsheet, backsheet and waistbands) which have been successfully introduced to the market.
“Consumer requirements and expectations to performance are constantly growing,” Berens says. “The performance of our products have been continuously improved accordingly. At the same time ‘feel and touch’ are more in focus which we can provide with our extra lofty and soft materials.”
TWE’s second largest business, automotives, has benefitted from a new needlepunch line at one of its three U.S. sites, which were acquired in 2015. The line not only adds capacity but also offers opportunities for new product developments featuring lighter weights which has been a key market demand in automotives, particularly in exterior applications thanks to its ability to make competitive, high quality products. However, Berens expects that the negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the automotives market to be long lasting.
“The month of April, in which all OEMs had to close their production plants, was far below expectations. It is questionable whether the purchase incentives created by the governments are sufficient to create a short-term trend reversal to the originally planned production volumes. The TWE Group assumes that the third and fourth quarter will stabilize compared to the second quarter,” he says. “However, according to some analysts, a return to ‘normalcy’ will only be realistic in two to three years.”
Beyond hygiene and automotives, TWE is present in markets like filtration, cleaning, medical and construction and has seen particularly nice growth in the building market where its acoustics products are performing well. In many of these markets, TWE is responding to a need for more sustainable products. In 2019, the company introduced a full range of sustainable products featuring alternative raw materials like hemp, kenaf and cotton.