Karen McIntyre, Editor12.11.20
Today’s suppliers to the global hygiene market are facing challenges on all sides. In addition to lower unit growth, particularly in more mature markets, competition is rising and so are the needs for innovative and ever more sustainable products. Suppliers’ response to this varies. Some are working with other suppliers, either through partnerships or mergers, while others are looking at new raw materials or processes.
The hygiene market brings challenges for the article producers as well as their suppliers, according to adhesives supplier Bostik. “Producers are finding it tougher in a mature and over-capacity market and they face increasing competition globally. As a result, with the support from our parent company Arkema, we have to keep innovating in the ways already mentioned, including finding ways to reduce the cost of us producing and our customer’s using adhesives.”
All of this innovation is apparent on the consumer level as companies—ranging from large scale multinationals to entrepreneurial start ups—are offering products featuring new benefits. Procter & Gamble recently introduced an upgraded version of its Pampers Pure diapers featuring a plant-based liner enriched with shea butter to protect and care for baby’s skin. This product is also free from unwanted ingredients, made without bleaching, fragrance, parabens, natural rubber latex and the 26 allergens identified by the European Union as most likely to cause skin allergies. Like all Pampers diapers, the products also feature an absorbent core with three channels to help ensure even wetness distribution throughout as well as a wetness indicator strip on the exterior of the diaper to flag when full.
“Pampers Pure diapers contain ingredients parents are passionate about and are free from the ones they aren’t,” says Andre Schulten, P&G senior vice president, North America Baby Care. “This is why Pampers Pure diapers are now enriched with shea butter, providing our best in class protection and outstanding skin care and dryness.”
According to data from Euromonitor, products positioned as natural are growing in many categories including feminine hygiene, baby diapers and wipes. Within the feminine hygiene market, brands like Cora and Rael, which consider themselves lifestyle brands, have seen strong growth over the past three years to account for a combined 1% share of feminine care sales in 2019 (or combined over $31 million). “Add to these two all the other brands that have been expanding online and increasingly in stores—these brands have successfully turned to omnichannel strategies for wider consumer reach—and the natural segment is no longer a niche it used to be,” says Svetlana Uduslivaia, head of Home & Tech Americas at Euromonitor International.
To help customers face the challenges associated with using more natural materials, adhesives supplier H.B. Fuller has developed Full-Care 5885, a high wet-strength adhesive that allows manufacturers to confidently switch to natural substrates like 100% cotton and viscose without having to significantly increase coat weight. “This new eco certified adhesive solution enables hygiene producers to meet demands for a more sustainable world,” says Heather Walch, strategic marketing director, global hygiene. “It not only provides high-performance cotton bonding at low cost in use, but has an optimized viscosity profile, allowing application at lower temperatures, ease of use for application set up and optimal line efficiency.”
The trend to use more natural ingredients in feminine hygiene applications started with cotton blends in Europe and Asia and has evolved into the use of 100% cotton—and even 100% organic cotton—in products targeting Europe, Asia and North America. These products reflect the demands for consumers, particularly millennials and Gen Z—who are more sustainably conscious but also cotton being perceived as natural and therefore a skin-healthier option. Plus producers are seeing opportunities to differentiate and gain market positioning by offering innovative cotton or other natural based solutions.
Bostik addresses sustainability from several angles. For one the manufacturing process has to be responsible—reducing emissions, saving energy and minimizing waste—for another, it helps its customers better understand important topics such as substances of interest (SOIs), lifecycle analysis, and demonstrating how they can improve their own operations through adhesive add-on reduction and reducing waste.
However, the use of natural materials is not only driven by sustainability needs but also by greater demand for consumer comfort. “The consumer cares more and more about what’s in the product and with a tendency to use substrates that are at least partially manufactured with fibers from a renewable source, the use of cotton, bamboo and lyocell is increasing. The second reason is the obvious need for hygiene products with a greater level of comfort and softness. Hot melt is the only solution that will successfully bond these materials today. “
Ahesives supplier Henkel focuses on continuous innovation—both in terms of sustainability as well as smart solutions. New products include Technomelt Advance—a new generation of adhesives, ensuring excellent resource efficiency (mileage) and an outstanding purity—and EasyFlow—a new to the world adhesive form, being auto-feedable and air conveyable to eliminate manual handling and by that bringing a lot of benefits in occupational safety and line efficiency.
“Continuous improvement goes beyond new product solutions,” says marketing specialist Daniela Tonn. “The market approach, your network and partnerships, the expertise you can offer is also part of the total value offering you bring as improvement to the market.”
She adds that Henkel continues to see a great deal of innovation and value within the hygiene market and throughout the supply chain. “Our absolute conviction is that value consist of many different parameters and the more holistic and complete value offering you bring, the stronger you are in your role in the market,” she adds. “We are very proud to offer an excellent value package to our customers and partners, be it by our break-through innovations, safety and purity expertise, holistic and comprehensive sustainability approach and last but not least – dedicated and experienced teams in all functions, serving our customers across the globe each and every day.”
The need for increased transparency around ingredients is another reason suppliers need to look for natural based substrates that they understand and feel safer to use.
Pending legislation in several U.S. states and in the EU could have impact on the feminine hygiene market. In August, the California Senate Health Committee passed The Menstrual Products Right to Know Act of 2020 (AB 1989) with a 7-0 vote in favor of the measure. Under this proposed California law, manufacturers would be required to provide additional information about product ingredients on packaging as well as making details available on their websites.
While California would become the second state to make product labeling requirements mandatory in the U.S., product information is often available online by many manufacturers and company brands, which provide ingredient details via their websites. BAHP, the Center for Baby and Adult Hygiene Products, continues to participate in the dialogue with law makers and other stakeholders to ensure a commonsense framework is used to provide consumers with information about these essential products.
Meanwhile, the Single Use Plastics Directive in the EU, as well as similar measures being considered in several U.S. states, will likely influence raw material choices in hygiene and other nonwovens-related products. Because these measures are intended to minimize the amount of plastic waste entering landfills, the hygiene market has been under intensified scrutiny.
“Nearly all of our key customers are asking for sustainable and environmentally friendly products,” says Derek Jones, business director for global hygiene at closure specialist Avery Dennison. “Sustainability is a value we live by every day and is core to Avery Dennison’s business philosophy. We see sustainability not only as a responsibility but also as an opportunity—to lead and to invent. By developing environmentally responsible closure solutions, we can contribute to a greener world.”
Avery Dennison offers its customers Greenprint, a product life cycle assessment tool that helps both Avery Dennison and its customers understand the environmental consequences of closure tape selections. It is also making closure tapes thinner and with less carrier and adhesives materials. And to further reduce its footprint, Avery Dennison is looking at responsibly sourced materials, opportunities for recycling and the potential for compostability.
Joining Forces
Fitesa, one of the world’s largest nonwovens producers, continues to expand its scope in the realm of films and tapes. In August, the Brazilian based company entered an agreement to acquired Tredegar Corporation’s Personal Care Films business including manufacturing sites located in Terre Haute, IN, Kerkrade, The Netherlands; Rétság, Hungary; Diadema, Brazil and Pune, India.
“The world of films and elastics for the hygiene segment is not new for Fitesa,” says Fernanda Gastal, VP of Procurement and Marketing. “We added those technologies when we bought Pantex in 2017. This movement expanded our product portfolio giving us the opportunity of better serve our customers in both market segments, hygiene and healthcare. The acquisition of Tredegar Personal Care marks now the geographical expansion of this strategy.”
The integration of Tredegar, like Pantex, enhances Fitesa’s portfolio of products, expanding in quantity and quality the possibilities available to its customers. Additionally, this will provide Fitesa with some opportunities to better explore the combination of nonwovens and films, elastic or not, to propose different and innovative solutions.
“Customers in the hygiene market are very educated in regards to nonwovens, films and elastics, and are usually aware of the latest industry and technology developments,” Gastal says. “As a result, their expectation about our quality and innovation capabilities is constantly increasing. In recent years, they have been also more open for collaboration in earlier stages of their product development process, that is, besides coming with specific requests, they are looking for suppliers that can support their exploratory process. All of which makes us happy for our past strategic choices of investing in innovation centers, adding pilot lines and implementing industry 4.0 projects that are very much in line with this scenario.”
Like Fitesa, Berry Global is involved in both nonwovens and films. Not only does it have its heritage Berry films business—which acquired the nonwovens operation in 2016—it also purchased Clopay, a maker of breathable films in 2018. While the company has remained mum on specific product developments combining plans films and nonwovens, it has touted the synergies between these businesses on the customer front.
“Having our films and nonwoven experts collaborating as one team has increased the innovation and development of new products and accelerated speed to market,” says Robert Weilminster, EVP & GM, US and Canada for Hygiene. “Providing our customers the ability to procure films and nonwovens from one global supplier, who supports the quality and performance attributes of the films and nonwovens from one product portfolio has simplified the supply chain for our customers. Customers having access to the same portfolio solutions in multiple sites across all regions allows for shorter supply chains and business continuity assurance.”
In early 2020, Berry proved its commitment to its films business through a $20 million investment in its Sof-Flex technology. This investment addresses both extrusion and printing capabilities, in support of growing breathable film and sustainable product market demands in the North American region. The investment will include added capacity for Berry’s proprietary Sof-Flex technology and the addition of the newest flexographic printing equipment. The Sof-Flex technology allows for the sustainable, down-weighting of breathable films while maintaining best-in-class performance.
“We actively collaborate with our customers to develop products focused on consumer trends, including performance, comfort, discretion, and skin wellness,” Weilminster adds. “Advancing innovation through the design and performance of our materials to provide enhanced features on fit, breathability, and discretion (quiet) are all key attributes in the focus of our product offering. We also help our customers afford new features by finding lower cost solutions that enable the trade up of new or improved features.
Berry announced its sustainability strategy, Impact 2025, last year. In alignment with this strategy, the company will focus on three key sustainable product improvement areas in hygiene—light-weighting, sustainable materials, and designing products that are easily recyclable, reusable, or compostable. The expansion of Berry’s down-weighted, breathable films supports this strategy by reducing unnecessary materials as well as facilitating the use of sustainable raw materials without compromising product performance. These efforts have already impacted Berry’s product offerings.
“We are collaborating with the leading global raw material manufactures on the development and use of sustainable materials, including bio-based and advanced recycled options,” Weilminster says. “We have developed and commercialized products with these sustainable raw materials. We continue to develop lower basis weight products without sacrificing performance, requiring less virgin material as a key sustainable effort. Our operations teams also continually improve the sustainable footprint of our manufacturing processes.”
In August 2019, Shalag Industries signed agreement to acquire 100% of the shares of Texsus S.P.A, a leading manufacturer of air-through bonded nonwovens and laminated products primarily for the hygiene market. The acquisition will make Shalag Group a large, global producer of air-through bonded nonwovens with three production sites in Israel, North Carolina and Italy. Its production capacity will be close to 60,000 tons per annum.
Texsus now operates as a subsidiary of Shalag Industries Ltd. and retained its management.
Shalag Group now produces various types of nonwovens and films products with a state-of-the-art lamination line, which uses several lamination capabilities such as calendering, embossing, hot melt and aperturing. The composite materials are produced for medical applications (such as face masks, protective gowns and suits) and have had a key role in efforts to fight the Covid-19 epidemic.
“We closely monitor the market trends to provide our valuable customers the most innovative solutions. One of the main market trends today is softness, which is typically driven by the softness levels found in the Asian markets,” says sales and marketing director Gabi Gal. “Following the emerging demand for these silky and soft materials, we have developed and commercialized our ‘Supersoft materials’ line. This material presents the highest level of softness at a minimal basis weight and competitive prices.”
This consolidation on the supplier side of the market mirrors consolidation within the hygiene market itself. Probably the largest acquisition in recent months is Kimberly-Clark’s $1.2 billion purchase of Softex Indonesia, a leader in the fast-growing Indonesian personal care market.
“This acquisition represents a compelling strategic fit and demonstrates our commitment to accelerate growth in developing and emerging markets,” says Mike Hsu, chairman and CEO, Kimberly-Clark. “Moreover, adding Softex Indonesia and its brands to Kimberly-Clark will enhance our company’s underlying growth prospects and help us create even more long-term shareholder value.”
Since 1976, Softex Indonesia has built a successful personal care business with strong market positions and has consistently delivered double-digit growth. The company generated net sales of approximately $420 million in 2019.
“Softex Indonesia has a strong, growing and profitable business with a portfolio of brands loved by Indonesian consumers,” says Aaron Powell, president of Kimberly-Clark’s Asia-Pacific consumer business. “This acquisition provides an opportunity for Kimberly-Clark to accelerate our growth in Southeast Asia, and we look forward to combining our strengths in innovation and brand building to expand on Softex Indonesia’s continued success.”
According to Walch of H.B. Fuller, consolidation happens when producers look to gain a position in a target market or geography and/or when they want to leverage economies of scale. “The end result remains the same – best total cost in use and continued innovation become even more important,” she adds. “The global hygiene market is driven by consumer needs. In mature markets, consumers tend to value product differentiation and reliable performance at the best total value. While in emerging markets, the right balance between affordability and quality is key but also dynamic distribution channels plus successful brand awareness to maximize market penetration potential.”
According to Jones at Avery Dennison, local suppliers are entering the Asian market where consolidation of manufacturers is underway. “Customers are getting larger,” he says. “This makes our global footprint and partnering capabilities even more important. The global hygiene market remains competitive and margins are constantly under pressure.”
However, the Covid-19 pandemic has influenced supply and demand within nonwovens and films as demand for materials used in personal protection equipment and disinfectant wipes has helped offset global maturity in hygiene applications and even contributed to shortages in some areas.
“The Covid-19 global pandemic has created a current challenge of tightened global supply affecting supply to the hygiene market,” Berry’s Weilminster says. “The questionable outlook for global birth rates in most regions of the world, which have historically been declining, and the undetermined impact of the Covid-19 global pandemic will continue to challenge the hygiene market.”
Nippon Shokubai and LiveDo Corporation, both headquartered in Osaka, Japan, and Total Care System, headquartered in Fukuoka, Japan, are jointly developing a variety of technologies to promote the growth of systems that recycle disposable diapers, the use of which continues to increase. The three companies have recently developed a new technology for recycling superabsorbent polymers (SAPs) in used diapers. The technology can be applied to a wide variety of SAPs distributed worldwide.
On March 31, 2020, the Ministry of the Environment released the Guidelines for Recycling Used Disposable Diapers. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) is also aiming to establish a guideline for the acceptance of used disposable diapers into the sewage system based on the New Sewerage Vision Acceleration Strategy. Recycling of used disposable diapers, the amount of which continues to increase, is thus expected to be promoted.
Total Care System was the first in Japan to build a recycling system for used disposable diapers, one of the few in the world, and it has been in the business for 15 years. Disposable diapers are mainly composed of pulp, plastic, and SAPs. Recycled pulp has been effectively used as a raw material for building materials (e.g., exterior and interior wall materials), and plastic has been thermally recovered as solid fuel. Currently, research and development of material recycling are underway.
Nippon Shokubai, which has the world’s largest SAP market share (based on production volume), joined the initiative in November 2018 to explore recycling technologies for SAPs, which had remained a challenge, and succeeded in developing new recycling technologies through joint research with the two partners: major disposable diaper manufacturer LiveDo and Total Care System.
The recycling process for used disposable diapers used to face the challenge that SAPs, which would swell from absorbing urine, reduced the recovery rate of paper pulp, or even if SAPs were recovered, they were difficult to reuse because of the significant decrease in performance.
The three companies jointly developed the following technologies to overcome this challenge.
In addition to raising these technologies to a practical level, the three companies, which are a raw material manufacturer, a disposable diaper manufacturer, and a recycling business, plan to work together to develop and commercialize materials and products that are easy to recycle and new recycling technology for used disposable diapers.
The hygiene market brings challenges for the article producers as well as their suppliers, according to adhesives supplier Bostik. “Producers are finding it tougher in a mature and over-capacity market and they face increasing competition globally. As a result, with the support from our parent company Arkema, we have to keep innovating in the ways already mentioned, including finding ways to reduce the cost of us producing and our customer’s using adhesives.”
All of this innovation is apparent on the consumer level as companies—ranging from large scale multinationals to entrepreneurial start ups—are offering products featuring new benefits. Procter & Gamble recently introduced an upgraded version of its Pampers Pure diapers featuring a plant-based liner enriched with shea butter to protect and care for baby’s skin. This product is also free from unwanted ingredients, made without bleaching, fragrance, parabens, natural rubber latex and the 26 allergens identified by the European Union as most likely to cause skin allergies. Like all Pampers diapers, the products also feature an absorbent core with three channels to help ensure even wetness distribution throughout as well as a wetness indicator strip on the exterior of the diaper to flag when full.
“Pampers Pure diapers contain ingredients parents are passionate about and are free from the ones they aren’t,” says Andre Schulten, P&G senior vice president, North America Baby Care. “This is why Pampers Pure diapers are now enriched with shea butter, providing our best in class protection and outstanding skin care and dryness.”
According to data from Euromonitor, products positioned as natural are growing in many categories including feminine hygiene, baby diapers and wipes. Within the feminine hygiene market, brands like Cora and Rael, which consider themselves lifestyle brands, have seen strong growth over the past three years to account for a combined 1% share of feminine care sales in 2019 (or combined over $31 million). “Add to these two all the other brands that have been expanding online and increasingly in stores—these brands have successfully turned to omnichannel strategies for wider consumer reach—and the natural segment is no longer a niche it used to be,” says Svetlana Uduslivaia, head of Home & Tech Americas at Euromonitor International.
To help customers face the challenges associated with using more natural materials, adhesives supplier H.B. Fuller has developed Full-Care 5885, a high wet-strength adhesive that allows manufacturers to confidently switch to natural substrates like 100% cotton and viscose without having to significantly increase coat weight. “This new eco certified adhesive solution enables hygiene producers to meet demands for a more sustainable world,” says Heather Walch, strategic marketing director, global hygiene. “It not only provides high-performance cotton bonding at low cost in use, but has an optimized viscosity profile, allowing application at lower temperatures, ease of use for application set up and optimal line efficiency.”
The trend to use more natural ingredients in feminine hygiene applications started with cotton blends in Europe and Asia and has evolved into the use of 100% cotton—and even 100% organic cotton—in products targeting Europe, Asia and North America. These products reflect the demands for consumers, particularly millennials and Gen Z—who are more sustainably conscious but also cotton being perceived as natural and therefore a skin-healthier option. Plus producers are seeing opportunities to differentiate and gain market positioning by offering innovative cotton or other natural based solutions.
Bostik addresses sustainability from several angles. For one the manufacturing process has to be responsible—reducing emissions, saving energy and minimizing waste—for another, it helps its customers better understand important topics such as substances of interest (SOIs), lifecycle analysis, and demonstrating how they can improve their own operations through adhesive add-on reduction and reducing waste.
However, the use of natural materials is not only driven by sustainability needs but also by greater demand for consumer comfort. “The consumer cares more and more about what’s in the product and with a tendency to use substrates that are at least partially manufactured with fibers from a renewable source, the use of cotton, bamboo and lyocell is increasing. The second reason is the obvious need for hygiene products with a greater level of comfort and softness. Hot melt is the only solution that will successfully bond these materials today. “
Ahesives supplier Henkel focuses on continuous innovation—both in terms of sustainability as well as smart solutions. New products include Technomelt Advance—a new generation of adhesives, ensuring excellent resource efficiency (mileage) and an outstanding purity—and EasyFlow—a new to the world adhesive form, being auto-feedable and air conveyable to eliminate manual handling and by that bringing a lot of benefits in occupational safety and line efficiency.
“Continuous improvement goes beyond new product solutions,” says marketing specialist Daniela Tonn. “The market approach, your network and partnerships, the expertise you can offer is also part of the total value offering you bring as improvement to the market.”
She adds that Henkel continues to see a great deal of innovation and value within the hygiene market and throughout the supply chain. “Our absolute conviction is that value consist of many different parameters and the more holistic and complete value offering you bring, the stronger you are in your role in the market,” she adds. “We are very proud to offer an excellent value package to our customers and partners, be it by our break-through innovations, safety and purity expertise, holistic and comprehensive sustainability approach and last but not least – dedicated and experienced teams in all functions, serving our customers across the globe each and every day.”
The need for increased transparency around ingredients is another reason suppliers need to look for natural based substrates that they understand and feel safer to use.
Pending legislation in several U.S. states and in the EU could have impact on the feminine hygiene market. In August, the California Senate Health Committee passed The Menstrual Products Right to Know Act of 2020 (AB 1989) with a 7-0 vote in favor of the measure. Under this proposed California law, manufacturers would be required to provide additional information about product ingredients on packaging as well as making details available on their websites.
While California would become the second state to make product labeling requirements mandatory in the U.S., product information is often available online by many manufacturers and company brands, which provide ingredient details via their websites. BAHP, the Center for Baby and Adult Hygiene Products, continues to participate in the dialogue with law makers and other stakeholders to ensure a commonsense framework is used to provide consumers with information about these essential products.
Meanwhile, the Single Use Plastics Directive in the EU, as well as similar measures being considered in several U.S. states, will likely influence raw material choices in hygiene and other nonwovens-related products. Because these measures are intended to minimize the amount of plastic waste entering landfills, the hygiene market has been under intensified scrutiny.
“Nearly all of our key customers are asking for sustainable and environmentally friendly products,” says Derek Jones, business director for global hygiene at closure specialist Avery Dennison. “Sustainability is a value we live by every day and is core to Avery Dennison’s business philosophy. We see sustainability not only as a responsibility but also as an opportunity—to lead and to invent. By developing environmentally responsible closure solutions, we can contribute to a greener world.”
Avery Dennison offers its customers Greenprint, a product life cycle assessment tool that helps both Avery Dennison and its customers understand the environmental consequences of closure tape selections. It is also making closure tapes thinner and with less carrier and adhesives materials. And to further reduce its footprint, Avery Dennison is looking at responsibly sourced materials, opportunities for recycling and the potential for compostability.
Joining Forces
Fitesa, one of the world’s largest nonwovens producers, continues to expand its scope in the realm of films and tapes. In August, the Brazilian based company entered an agreement to acquired Tredegar Corporation’s Personal Care Films business including manufacturing sites located in Terre Haute, IN, Kerkrade, The Netherlands; Rétság, Hungary; Diadema, Brazil and Pune, India.
“The world of films and elastics for the hygiene segment is not new for Fitesa,” says Fernanda Gastal, VP of Procurement and Marketing. “We added those technologies when we bought Pantex in 2017. This movement expanded our product portfolio giving us the opportunity of better serve our customers in both market segments, hygiene and healthcare. The acquisition of Tredegar Personal Care marks now the geographical expansion of this strategy.”
The integration of Tredegar, like Pantex, enhances Fitesa’s portfolio of products, expanding in quantity and quality the possibilities available to its customers. Additionally, this will provide Fitesa with some opportunities to better explore the combination of nonwovens and films, elastic or not, to propose different and innovative solutions.
“Customers in the hygiene market are very educated in regards to nonwovens, films and elastics, and are usually aware of the latest industry and technology developments,” Gastal says. “As a result, their expectation about our quality and innovation capabilities is constantly increasing. In recent years, they have been also more open for collaboration in earlier stages of their product development process, that is, besides coming with specific requests, they are looking for suppliers that can support their exploratory process. All of which makes us happy for our past strategic choices of investing in innovation centers, adding pilot lines and implementing industry 4.0 projects that are very much in line with this scenario.”
Like Fitesa, Berry Global is involved in both nonwovens and films. Not only does it have its heritage Berry films business—which acquired the nonwovens operation in 2016—it also purchased Clopay, a maker of breathable films in 2018. While the company has remained mum on specific product developments combining plans films and nonwovens, it has touted the synergies between these businesses on the customer front.
“Having our films and nonwoven experts collaborating as one team has increased the innovation and development of new products and accelerated speed to market,” says Robert Weilminster, EVP & GM, US and Canada for Hygiene. “Providing our customers the ability to procure films and nonwovens from one global supplier, who supports the quality and performance attributes of the films and nonwovens from one product portfolio has simplified the supply chain for our customers. Customers having access to the same portfolio solutions in multiple sites across all regions allows for shorter supply chains and business continuity assurance.”
In early 2020, Berry proved its commitment to its films business through a $20 million investment in its Sof-Flex technology. This investment addresses both extrusion and printing capabilities, in support of growing breathable film and sustainable product market demands in the North American region. The investment will include added capacity for Berry’s proprietary Sof-Flex technology and the addition of the newest flexographic printing equipment. The Sof-Flex technology allows for the sustainable, down-weighting of breathable films while maintaining best-in-class performance.
“We actively collaborate with our customers to develop products focused on consumer trends, including performance, comfort, discretion, and skin wellness,” Weilminster adds. “Advancing innovation through the design and performance of our materials to provide enhanced features on fit, breathability, and discretion (quiet) are all key attributes in the focus of our product offering. We also help our customers afford new features by finding lower cost solutions that enable the trade up of new or improved features.
Berry announced its sustainability strategy, Impact 2025, last year. In alignment with this strategy, the company will focus on three key sustainable product improvement areas in hygiene—light-weighting, sustainable materials, and designing products that are easily recyclable, reusable, or compostable. The expansion of Berry’s down-weighted, breathable films supports this strategy by reducing unnecessary materials as well as facilitating the use of sustainable raw materials without compromising product performance. These efforts have already impacted Berry’s product offerings.
“We are collaborating with the leading global raw material manufactures on the development and use of sustainable materials, including bio-based and advanced recycled options,” Weilminster says. “We have developed and commercialized products with these sustainable raw materials. We continue to develop lower basis weight products without sacrificing performance, requiring less virgin material as a key sustainable effort. Our operations teams also continually improve the sustainable footprint of our manufacturing processes.”
In August 2019, Shalag Industries signed agreement to acquire 100% of the shares of Texsus S.P.A, a leading manufacturer of air-through bonded nonwovens and laminated products primarily for the hygiene market. The acquisition will make Shalag Group a large, global producer of air-through bonded nonwovens with three production sites in Israel, North Carolina and Italy. Its production capacity will be close to 60,000 tons per annum.
Texsus now operates as a subsidiary of Shalag Industries Ltd. and retained its management.
Shalag Group now produces various types of nonwovens and films products with a state-of-the-art lamination line, which uses several lamination capabilities such as calendering, embossing, hot melt and aperturing. The composite materials are produced for medical applications (such as face masks, protective gowns and suits) and have had a key role in efforts to fight the Covid-19 epidemic.
“We closely monitor the market trends to provide our valuable customers the most innovative solutions. One of the main market trends today is softness, which is typically driven by the softness levels found in the Asian markets,” says sales and marketing director Gabi Gal. “Following the emerging demand for these silky and soft materials, we have developed and commercialized our ‘Supersoft materials’ line. This material presents the highest level of softness at a minimal basis weight and competitive prices.”
This consolidation on the supplier side of the market mirrors consolidation within the hygiene market itself. Probably the largest acquisition in recent months is Kimberly-Clark’s $1.2 billion purchase of Softex Indonesia, a leader in the fast-growing Indonesian personal care market.
“This acquisition represents a compelling strategic fit and demonstrates our commitment to accelerate growth in developing and emerging markets,” says Mike Hsu, chairman and CEO, Kimberly-Clark. “Moreover, adding Softex Indonesia and its brands to Kimberly-Clark will enhance our company’s underlying growth prospects and help us create even more long-term shareholder value.”
Since 1976, Softex Indonesia has built a successful personal care business with strong market positions and has consistently delivered double-digit growth. The company generated net sales of approximately $420 million in 2019.
“Softex Indonesia has a strong, growing and profitable business with a portfolio of brands loved by Indonesian consumers,” says Aaron Powell, president of Kimberly-Clark’s Asia-Pacific consumer business. “This acquisition provides an opportunity for Kimberly-Clark to accelerate our growth in Southeast Asia, and we look forward to combining our strengths in innovation and brand building to expand on Softex Indonesia’s continued success.”
According to Walch of H.B. Fuller, consolidation happens when producers look to gain a position in a target market or geography and/or when they want to leverage economies of scale. “The end result remains the same – best total cost in use and continued innovation become even more important,” she adds. “The global hygiene market is driven by consumer needs. In mature markets, consumers tend to value product differentiation and reliable performance at the best total value. While in emerging markets, the right balance between affordability and quality is key but also dynamic distribution channels plus successful brand awareness to maximize market penetration potential.”
According to Jones at Avery Dennison, local suppliers are entering the Asian market where consolidation of manufacturers is underway. “Customers are getting larger,” he says. “This makes our global footprint and partnering capabilities even more important. The global hygiene market remains competitive and margins are constantly under pressure.”
However, the Covid-19 pandemic has influenced supply and demand within nonwovens and films as demand for materials used in personal protection equipment and disinfectant wipes has helped offset global maturity in hygiene applications and even contributed to shortages in some areas.
“The Covid-19 global pandemic has created a current challenge of tightened global supply affecting supply to the hygiene market,” Berry’s Weilminster says. “The questionable outlook for global birth rates in most regions of the world, which have historically been declining, and the undetermined impact of the Covid-19 global pandemic will continue to challenge the hygiene market.”
Nippon Shokubai and LiveDo Corporation, both headquartered in Osaka, Japan, and Total Care System, headquartered in Fukuoka, Japan, are jointly developing a variety of technologies to promote the growth of systems that recycle disposable diapers, the use of which continues to increase. The three companies have recently developed a new technology for recycling superabsorbent polymers (SAPs) in used diapers. The technology can be applied to a wide variety of SAPs distributed worldwide.
On March 31, 2020, the Ministry of the Environment released the Guidelines for Recycling Used Disposable Diapers. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) is also aiming to establish a guideline for the acceptance of used disposable diapers into the sewage system based on the New Sewerage Vision Acceleration Strategy. Recycling of used disposable diapers, the amount of which continues to increase, is thus expected to be promoted.
Total Care System was the first in Japan to build a recycling system for used disposable diapers, one of the few in the world, and it has been in the business for 15 years. Disposable diapers are mainly composed of pulp, plastic, and SAPs. Recycled pulp has been effectively used as a raw material for building materials (e.g., exterior and interior wall materials), and plastic has been thermally recovered as solid fuel. Currently, research and development of material recycling are underway.
Nippon Shokubai, which has the world’s largest SAP market share (based on production volume), joined the initiative in November 2018 to explore recycling technologies for SAPs, which had remained a challenge, and succeeded in developing new recycling technologies through joint research with the two partners: major disposable diaper manufacturer LiveDo and Total Care System.
The recycling process for used disposable diapers used to face the challenge that SAPs, which would swell from absorbing urine, reduced the recovery rate of paper pulp, or even if SAPs were recovered, they were difficult to reuse because of the significant decrease in performance.
The three companies jointly developed the following technologies to overcome this challenge.
- Technology to increase the recovery rate of paper pulp by processing SAPs, which swell from absorbing urine, and to improve the separation from paper pulp
- Recovery technology that minimizes SAP performance degradation
In addition to raising these technologies to a practical level, the three companies, which are a raw material manufacturer, a disposable diaper manufacturer, and a recycling business, plan to work together to develop and commercialize materials and products that are easy to recycle and new recycling technology for used disposable diapers.
