Tara Olivo, Associate Editor01.06.21
Technology for products like baby diapers, feminine hygiene and adult incontinence products continue to become more flexible and efficient to respond to the different needs of manufacturers around the globe. Hygiene companies are looking to achieve more with their machinery investments and manufacturers have risen to the occasion with machines that provide the ability to offer a wider range of raw materials to make a more far reaching product line. Also, with market demand for face masks at an all-time high amid the Covid-19 pandemic, hygiene machinery manufacturers developed and delivered face mask machines to customers in record time. The following is a review of what some of the world’s largest suppliers of hygiene machinery are offering today.
Fameccanica
Fameccanica has always innovated to meet the needs of its customers and end users to find solutions that can improve their lives and that of the people around them. To meet these needs, in addition to production lines for baby care, adult care and feminine care, all equipped with the most advanced technologies and the highest levels of automation, Fameccanica’s portfolio has been further enriched with solutions for in-line transformation of materials, such as perforation and lamination of elastic films, with digital apps that allow customers to collect data and interpret them quickly and efficiently, with the aim of optimizing production processes, reducing energy consumption and allowing predictive maintenance.
For production lines, Fameccanica has developed a series of robotic solutions for the management of raw materials, such as AGV trolleys or robotic arms for the preparation of the splice, meeting the needs of the worker, avoiding routine work, which could invalidate his health. Fameccanica’s solutions affect the production lines at 360 degrees and deal with both the efficiency of the processes, the quality control of the products, and the well-being of the operators working on the line, removing all possible causes of inefficiency.
Before the pandemic, one of the main trends in the hygiene market was that pant products for children were growing fast. “It is a product that helps mothers when they put it on the child, because it is more practical and easier to put on, and helps them in the potty-training phase,” says Alessandro Bulfon, general manager, Fameccanica. “In addition, the use of increasingly soft materials, elastic films, breathable materials and thinner and thinner absorbing cores, make it more like a real panty day after day. This promotes the baby’s movements, fit and comfort.”
The tendency to make disposable hygienic products resemble real underwear is evident and growing rapidly also and, above all, in light incontinence products, for both men and women. “It is a trend that we have been observing for some time: big market players began to introduce small printed nonwoven patches that resembled underwear labels, or printing on the backsheet that mimicked the patterns found on real underwear,” he says. “Today more and more anatomical shapes and, even for these products, the use of breathable, organic, elasticized materials, increase the fit and comfort of the product as well as discretion, decreasing the gap between the disposable product and underwear.”
Sustainability is also a major focus for Fameccanica. “We are proud to state that Fameccanica is a Company with Zero Direct CO2 Emissions,” Bulfon states.
A continuous aim at sustainability pervades the company’s R&D activities and its efforts are focused on a decrease in energy consumption and CO2 emissions and the design of environment-friendly solutions. Furthermore, Fameccanica’s production lines can process a wide range of materials so that raw materials such cotton, bio-based or recycled-polymer-based materials can be used too, enhancing the circular economy pillars. “We developed in-line raw material transformation processes capable of laminating or perforating raw materials directly on the converting machine, thus allowing our customers to skip several supplier-manufacturer steps saving materials transportation, and then CO2 and plastic for reels packaging,” he explains.
Fameccanica has also developed an Energy Saving Digital App, to save energy during the whole production process and material sealing solutions to avoid the use of several glues in hygiene products, decreasing the use of petroleum derivatives. “Our efforts are focused on reducing polluting components directly or not directly related to our processes,” Bulfon says.
During the Covid-19 emergency, Fameccanica put its expertise at the service of those in need of help and started working hard to develop protective masks machines at high speed, up to 1000 pieces/minute. “That gave us also the opportunity to help our country to become independent for protective masks sourcing,” says Bulfon. “Those hygiene companies that had the same approach and looked at the crisis as an opportunity for growth and continuous improvement were the ones capable of keeping doing business, both converting their products from personal hygiene into surgical masks, and investing on new lines already equipped, for instance, with digital solutions supporting production and remote decision making processes.”
www.fameccanica.com
GDM
GDM’s complete converting and packaging product portfolio counts more than 50 solutions for baby open, baby pants, adult incontinence, lady and light incontinence segments and is designed to perfectly match a customer’s needs for performance, flexibility, scalability and innovation.
In recent years, disposable hygiene manufacturers have been increasingly conveying their focus to final products and their attributes, and this has become the compass driving GDM’s innovation commitment and value generation.
For the baby pants segment, GDM’s platform covers different production capabilities – 600 and 900 ppm – and it is designed for product quality and flexibility in terms of sizes, costs optimization and ease-of-use. The company’s solutions enable premium materials processing, delivering the highest quality with the best baby comfort fit.
Comfort is also among the drivers that have led GDM to develop its new Adult Protective Underwear Platform, including lines running at 300 ppm and 500 ppm. They are designed to be the most flexible machines in their category characterized by: easy size and product change thanks to the Expandable Welding Wheel (for which GDM has received the Index20 Award in Innovation in machinery), enabling the use of a wider range of materials, even the softest ones; ease of use and intuitive processes through the linear layout of the machine; optimized Total Cost of Ownership by virtue of the highest level of OEE and reduction of material waste; improved process control on key product features and relevant production steps for higher quality product; and a turn-key solution with the GDM SB60 packaging machine.
In GDM’s Packaging portfolio, its SB50 GO line with 100% made in Italy design and available as turnkey or stand-alone, combines user-friendliness and reliability at an advantageous investment level, making it the perfect machine for the quantum leap in the fully automatic era.
According to GDM, the disposable hygiene machinery market is a growing market overall. Even though the Covid-19 impacted the worldwide economy, hygiene companies are investing in new lines and updating the existing ones, with a different mix depending on the market.
The clearest trend GDM is currently experiencing is the shift from open to pant products in every market segment (baby, adult and light inco), driven by the consumers’ needs of convenience and discreetness: GDM offers technological solutions that match different market needs and are guaranteed to optimize production costs.
Manufacturing costs minimization, high product quality standards and the focus on the Overall Equipment Effectiveness are the key parameters for its customers’ competitiveness. Furthermore, the raw materials industry is constantly introducing new materials opening to manufacturers a wide range of core formation solutions (from Extra Thin to Fluffless concept), to differentiate their disposable hygiene products.
Also, GDM constantly works to guarantee its customers the opportunity to exploit new possibilities for high-level flexibility of the line. In this perspective, GDM’s lines are set-up to manage both traditional and innovative processes for the absorbent core construction.
For its sustainability efforts, GDM has developed a machine “Green concept” that combines all GDM solutions to propel sustainability in every step of the manufacturing supply chain.
Regarding raw material usage, GDM’s Extra Thin Core allows savings of up to 40% on core materials, thanks to an optimized SAP/fluff mix and allocation featuring permanent channels construction, for an outstanding wetness distribution (compared to previous core formation processes).
Alternatives for the core and topsheet, including bamboo, eucalyptus, banana, cotton and bio-based materials are driving the raw materials global trend in sustainability. GDM’s converting and packaging solutions are set-up to handle fibers other than from softwoods, more sustainable and with a lower environmental impact: from paper to low density polyethylene solutions.
Meanwhile, GDM’s Option Zero is its cutting-edge program aimed at minimizing any sort of waste in the converting process and to maximize the savings. According to a customer’s needs, the focus is on: Zero Waste—enabling the elimination of trims, thanks to the “zero waste” product design, customers can save up to 30% on nonwovens material used in the Rear Wings process; Zero Defects: matching market needs for premium quality products, reducing costs from defects and boosting sales and profits; Zero Glue: reducing the total amount of construction glue up to 10% through ultrasonic bonding technology, also minimizing glue contamination in the final product; and Zero Time: size changeover time is cut by half, thanks to GDM’s patented Linear Motion technology, eliminating hardware replacement and set-up.
Further, GDM’s new Extra Thin Core formation process has been designed to minimize the use of air for fluff and SAP transport. The resizing of the suction fan of the forming wheel and the mill redesign have further contributed to the reduction of energy consumption up to 75% compared to the traditional version. Thanks to Extra Thin Core, diapers are thinner compared to those with a standard core formation, thus reducing the package size: saving 25% more space on the shelf and in stockrooms.
www.gdm-spa.com
Heng Chang Machinery
As a professional manufacturer of complete production lines for disposable hygiene products, Heng Chang Machinery Co., Ltd (HCH) has been deeply engaged in the industry for more than 30 years. HCH aims at providing customers with cost-effective machines, not only including the makers, but also by integrating with packing machines; a complete production line from production to packaging. There are various types of production lines for disposable hygiene products and different requirements for machines from customers, therefore, HCH sets a differentiation strategy for different target consumers—women, babies and adults.
HCH executives say the market demands are changing rapidly, and the requirements for product performance are getting higher and higher. Meanwhile, the factors such as declining demographic dividend and increasing material cost, etc., become the resistance to the development of disposable hygiene products manufacturers. For the above situations, on the basis of high speed and high efficiency machine design, HCH has launched a number of new technology applications, including Ultrasonic Bonding Technology, Unmanned Material Loading Technology and an Intelligent Management System for better product performance and lower cost.
HCH has been developing Unmanned Material Loading Technology since 2017, and it was finally launched after two years of R&D. The R-ML Robot Material Loading System, which was developed for high-speed machines, can start the loading process immediately after receiving the signal from the maker. The whole unmanned loading system can work accurately, efficiently and stably. Unmanned Material Loading Technology enables robots to do repeated jobs requiring high accuracy. In this way, employees can do more creative and higher value-added work with the assistance of robots, and human resources costs can be greatly saved for manufacturers. HCH believes that the Unmanned Material Loading Technology will be an unstoppable trend, and HCH is the pioneer of this technology in China.
On the sustainability side, HCH executives say energy conservation and environmental protection is not only related to the sustainable development of the natural environment, but also closely linked to the production cost of manufacturers. First, Vacuum Air Control is a very common way through optimizing the design for piping layout to reduce the air loss for energy savings. In addition to this, HCH has equipped more detection and control devices on machines to help the operators control the energy output reasonably. Additionally, HCH uses a frequency converter to control the output of high-power electrical equipment such as fans, hammer mills, etc., while ensuring the constant production efficiency of products; a lower frequency converter data setting can effectively reduce energy consumption. What’s more, the real-time energy monitoring instruments on machines can also provide data reference for operating management to make correct decisions.
aqhch.com.cn
Curt G. Joa
The market is demanding personal protective equipment and Curt G. Joa, Inc. is responding by leveraging its nearly 25-years’ experience to design face mask and respirator machines that operate at the industry’s top production speeds of up to 1000 pleated face masks per minute. Market demand led to Joa’s creation of a patent-pending face mask, designed for optimal production efficiency and produced on Joa’s internal R&D assets, adding critical supply quickly.
Within hygiene, Paula Inda, marketing manager, Curt G. Joa, Inc., says the adult incontinence segment is growing with some interesting market trends. A recent study from Euromonitor International indicates more awareness about incontinence in younger age groups and reveals their concerns about it. The curious will likely begin product experimentation earlier than previously seen and the online purchase options let them shop with the desired discretion. The market offering will continue to expand with thinner cores taking on fashion traits and many heavier cores in pad or open diaper formats. The product format can also be influenced by culture, however, as some are more confident using a high-fluff, thicker core in either pant or diaper format.
For the growing adult pant market, Joa offers the J8T-AP and J7I-AP, with production speeds of 500 ppm and 300 ppm, respectively. The J7I-AP has a compact machine size and is available in full metric. The patented Hurricane Folder is available as an option for both machine platforms and creates consistently compact products, reducing package sizes and further reducing the environmental impact by allowing more product cases per truckload. The platform options also include stretch film lamination, with the flexibility to switch between stretch film and strands in minutes.
Meanwhile, Joa’s adult brief platform, the J8T-AB, has a production speed of 450 ppm and includes the patented Gentle Touch Folder, which prevents cores from cracking while increasing the maximum machine speed. The tandem folding process results in bi-, tri- and quad-folded brief products.
For light incontinence, Joa offers the J20S-LI and DEDE330, with production speeds of 1500 ppm and 800 ppm, respectively. A variety of production capabilities are available for cores, materials, and ADLs. In addition, the platform includes multiple processes for different fold and wrap options, including quickwrap, overwrap or pouch. The Flexographic Printing Unit can be included as well for either production solution. The patented Expandable Core Wrap permits the absorbent core and core wrap to expand in unison, maintaining the overall integrity of the product and improving the performance of high-SAP core products.
For baby pants, the J7I-BP, has production speeds of 1000 ppm and features efficient technologies, including turret unwinds that automatically splice raw materials at-speed during production, and an insert attachment process that applies adhesive up to the cut edge, eliminating the need for a cover strip. The addition of the patented Single Anvil In-Line (SAIL) side seam bonding unit breaks the correlation between machine speed and bonding strength, enabling higher production speeds and increased bond quality.
“A review of market data indicates baby pant continues growing but at a slower rate, depending on country. The change in birth rates and delayed pregnancy in some countries impact the rate of the market adoption,” Inda explains.
Joa’s baby diaper platform, the J8T-B, has a production speed of 1200 ppm and includes the No Scrap Ear (NoSE) System. The patented NoSE process nests ergonomically or symmetrically shaped ears together from a continuous web with no waste. It cuts a variety of product shapes, including symmetric or asymmetric trapezoids and radiused cuts, and allows for different leading and trailing angles and shaped cuts to achieve the ear design that meets the design, strength, and functionality requirements.
For feminine care, multiple core forming options are available, including single, dual, continuous or discreet. Pouch-wrap products are available in nonwoven or poly, with multiple wrapping options. Colors and patterns can be applied to the ADL or topsheet with the in-line multi-color flexographic printer.
Both the J20S-PL and J20S-FN, with production speeds of 3000 ppm and 2600 ppm, respectively, have the Turn and Pitch (TAP) Unit for rotating individual inserts in the machine process, increasing efficiency and speed. As the unit rotates, individual inserts are picked up and turned 90 degrees for transfer and repitch. For higher production speeds, two product streams can feed into two separate packaging machines with the Double Pad Turner.
Joa’s feminine care platform also includes the DEDE300 with production speeds of 1500 ppm for panty liners and 1000 ppm for sanitary napkins. The Universal Foam Applicator eliminates size changes by stretching foam strips and applying them at specific distances. Joa’s DEDE400 offers a unique cross machine production process. Products are manufactured at 90 degrees to production direction, providing production speeds of 1500 ppm for both panty liners and sanitary napkins, and 500 ppm for winged napkins.
www.joa.com
Guangzhou Xingshi Equipments
Guangzhou Xingshi Equipments Co., Ltd., a national high-tech enterprise, was established in 1999. It is a professional manufacturer of disposable sanitary products in South China integrating R&D, production sale and service. Xingshi provides customers with the world’s leading level baby diaper machines, sanitary napkin machines, adult incontinence machines, mask machines and machine accessories. Xingshi can customize machines according to the needs of customers.
In 2020, Xingshi joined the anti epidemic team and took advantage of its R&D and manufacturing advantages to carry out technical transformation in time to develop a high-speed mask production machine to contribute to the resumption and production of enterprises in Guangzhou and help the country fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
www.xingshi.com.cn
Zuiko
Japanese machinery supplier Zuiko has been focusing on developing processes that use materials in diaper and sanitary napkin production more efficiently and effectively. In part to help reduce waste and power consumption, but also to help manufacturers lower their running costs.
“Today’s diaper and sanitary napkin machines are much faster and performant compared to machines 10 years ago,” says Curtis Woo of Zuiko Corporation’s marketing division. “Incremental improvements to converting techniques have improved production speed, reliability and consistency. Customers are more confident with high speed production thanks to the ability of advanced vision and sensors systems, and the progress in both the hardware and software has made size-change-less production a reality.”
Zuiko continues to receive a lot of interest for pants type diaper machines. The pants diaper trend for babies began more than 20 years ago and now dominates the Japanese, Indonesian, and Indian markets, Woo explains. “It is predicted to overtake tape diaper sales in Southeast Asia and China, and is currently growing in the U.S., Brazil, and countries in Europe.”
Its growth can be attributed to how it improves the user experience. An incorrectly changed tape diaper can suddenly fall off the baby, or cause leaks and blowouts. “This doesn’t happen with pants diapers,” he explains. “Pants diapers hug the body securely and comfortably, and they can be pulled on and off quickly, even when the baby is laying down or when they are standing up. Parents who don’t consider using pants diapers with their babies are missing out on a real convenience item.”
Pants diapers are convenient for adults too. Pants diapers allow incontinent adults, many of whom are still active and physically capable, to be self-reliant and continue their lives unabashed. “As a machine manufacturer, we have implemented converting technologies that help make adult pants diapers thinner, more comfortable, and underwear-like, yet remain highly absorbent and functional,” he says.
In 2020, Zuiko acknowledged the importance of environmental, social, and governance issues by defining and implementing its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In 2021, the company’s plan is to continue and meet those goals by designing power and production efficient machines. For example, it is introducing glue-free processes for the construction of more components in disposable hygiene products. Other examples include its SAP distribution control technology, which helps improve absorption efficiency of the entire core, and automated processes that improve production stability and operator safety. Many new concepts, designs, and innovations in development will be introduced in the near future.
According to Woo, the pre-Covid-19 market for surgical masks was vastly different from what it is today, and global production capacity of surgical masks at the time could not satisfy demand when Covid-19 began spreading in early 2020. Based on its capabilities and experience manufacturing high speed converting machines, Zuiko immediately began developing a high-speed machine to produce masks. “After an intense development and testing schedule, the 600 ppm mask machine was completed and delivered to our customer in early spring,” he says. “We have since developed variations on the product ear hook design and have already supplied several machines to domestic customers.”
www.zuiko.co.jp
Andritz Diatec
Andritz Diatec designs and manufactures a wide range of machines and technology solutions for the production of baby diapers, baby pants, adult incontinence products, sanitary napkins, panty shields and underpads. The latest technology solutions with customization options help customers find the right machine configuration to save time and money.
In order to cover all of the final product and production requirements, Andritz Diatec’s machine portfolio covers market-entry to high capacities, precisely designed to meet varying needs. The machines are built with a modular frame that allows customized configuration. Moreover, the compact layout ensures a smooth start-up and simple machine maintenance. Machines and retrofits can be installed easily according to customers’ requirements. The full servo-technology simplifies everyday operations and adaptation of the raw materials to the environmental conditions.
Andritz Diatec offers two kinds of machines for the baby care industry—the baby diaper and the baby pants converting machines—with capabilities that cover low, medium and high production levels. In both machines, components can be freely combined and configured for the specific product requirement.
In both baby and adult markets, pant diapers are a must, according to Fabrice Ferretti, head of sales, Andritz Diatec. Products are also softer, with a better anatomic fit, and able to breathe. “They allow cost optimization thanks to the fluffless technology, and a thin core makes the products thinner, with a better fit,” he says.
New trends in the baby diaper market are the use of channels that enhance the absorption of liquids and their acquisition time. “Wetness and the weight of the liquid is distributed throughout the core,” Ferretti explains.
Market demands require a product that is more comfortable, soft and eco-friendly, therefore Andritz Diatec developed new technologies to process raw materials made of natural fibers and introduced the use of specific glues that cause less pollution. Also, new processes promote products with better fit and wearability by adding the lycra entrapment technology to reduce waste.
The company is making machines more environmentally attractive through reductions in waste and in energy consumption (use of low-temperature hot melts, glue reduction and ultrasonic applications for cuffs), optimization of raw materials (ultrasonic bonding for the leg cuffs, glueless lycra entrapment and the short backsheet lamination), and by offering solutions using recyclable raw materials, such as cellulose, tissue, PLA for the backsheet, nonwovens made of bamboo, and eco-friendly packaging solutions in cardboard boxes and biodegradable bags.
Meanwhile, amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Andritz Diatec turned towards new technologies to face the changing needs of the market. “New market opportunities appeared—for instance, we developed a fully automatic, high-speed face mask converting line for the production of disposable face masks within a very short time,” Ferretti says.
www.andritz.com/diatec
W+D-Bicma
W+D-Bicma offers the full range of converting machinery starting from baby diapers (pant and open), femcare products such as sanitary napkins and panty liners, as well as adult incontinence products (open diaper, pant, pads). W+D-Bicma makes machines for underpads, and only recently for surgical masks. It also offers customer-specific solutions for upgrades of existing equipment.
According to Marc Wolpers, W+D-Bicma’s new vice president Sales & Market Development Hygiene Solutions, the market changed during the last year towards more diversified offerings by its clients, resulting in smaller jobs. “You can clearly see that on retail shelves as well as on e-commerce platforms,” he says. “With this in mind we need to make sure that our machines work with minimized format change parts and low change times. With our patented Size to Size ‘S2S’ modules and our rapid forming drum change W+D-Bicma is certainly well positioned in the market. “
While there’s only been a moderate shift towards pants in the baby diaper markets of Europe and North America, W+D-Bicma is seeing baby pants gain more and more market share in other regions like India. “The reason for this shift is certainly the ease of use by putting on a pant instead of an open diaper,” he adds.
In the adult diaper segment this is completely different. Here the company sees a strong growth rate of pants since they are similar to underwear, easier to put on and give more comfort in wearing. “Of course, modern incontinence pants also have to be much more discreet than they used to in order to meet customers´ demands,” Wolpers says. “Our machines at W+D-Bicma have the best prerequisites to fulfill all those demands provided that the appropriate materials are used for production.”
Sustainability is another ongoing trend. The use of natural raw materials like cotton, bamboo, etc., as well as the developments in bio-based spunbond materials are being closely monitored by the company to make sure it can offer the right equipment for its machines to convert these new sustainable materials.
W+D-Bicma also focuses on improving the energy efficiency of its machines and reducing the number of exchange parts for size changes. For example, it has achieved a significant reduction of the vacuum consumption by using special surface coatings on its transport drums.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, W+D-Bicma developed from scratch its first surgical masks converting line in record time: the new AUXILIUM FM. This mask machine may produce up to 1 million face masks per day.
“The AUXILIUM FM is a very successful new offering in our product portfolio which we realized in five months from the first hand sketch to the first running machine in our workshop,” Wolpers says. “It was certainly a type of machine nobody had thought of in Europe before Covid-19. Now we evaluate those experiences to reduce time to market for our future developments.”
The company has already installed several machines in Europe and is currently working on more.
www.bicma.com
Fameccanica
Fameccanica has always innovated to meet the needs of its customers and end users to find solutions that can improve their lives and that of the people around them. To meet these needs, in addition to production lines for baby care, adult care and feminine care, all equipped with the most advanced technologies and the highest levels of automation, Fameccanica’s portfolio has been further enriched with solutions for in-line transformation of materials, such as perforation and lamination of elastic films, with digital apps that allow customers to collect data and interpret them quickly and efficiently, with the aim of optimizing production processes, reducing energy consumption and allowing predictive maintenance.
For production lines, Fameccanica has developed a series of robotic solutions for the management of raw materials, such as AGV trolleys or robotic arms for the preparation of the splice, meeting the needs of the worker, avoiding routine work, which could invalidate his health. Fameccanica’s solutions affect the production lines at 360 degrees and deal with both the efficiency of the processes, the quality control of the products, and the well-being of the operators working on the line, removing all possible causes of inefficiency.
Before the pandemic, one of the main trends in the hygiene market was that pant products for children were growing fast. “It is a product that helps mothers when they put it on the child, because it is more practical and easier to put on, and helps them in the potty-training phase,” says Alessandro Bulfon, general manager, Fameccanica. “In addition, the use of increasingly soft materials, elastic films, breathable materials and thinner and thinner absorbing cores, make it more like a real panty day after day. This promotes the baby’s movements, fit and comfort.”
The tendency to make disposable hygienic products resemble real underwear is evident and growing rapidly also and, above all, in light incontinence products, for both men and women. “It is a trend that we have been observing for some time: big market players began to introduce small printed nonwoven patches that resembled underwear labels, or printing on the backsheet that mimicked the patterns found on real underwear,” he says. “Today more and more anatomical shapes and, even for these products, the use of breathable, organic, elasticized materials, increase the fit and comfort of the product as well as discretion, decreasing the gap between the disposable product and underwear.”
Sustainability is also a major focus for Fameccanica. “We are proud to state that Fameccanica is a Company with Zero Direct CO2 Emissions,” Bulfon states.
A continuous aim at sustainability pervades the company’s R&D activities and its efforts are focused on a decrease in energy consumption and CO2 emissions and the design of environment-friendly solutions. Furthermore, Fameccanica’s production lines can process a wide range of materials so that raw materials such cotton, bio-based or recycled-polymer-based materials can be used too, enhancing the circular economy pillars. “We developed in-line raw material transformation processes capable of laminating or perforating raw materials directly on the converting machine, thus allowing our customers to skip several supplier-manufacturer steps saving materials transportation, and then CO2 and plastic for reels packaging,” he explains.
Fameccanica has also developed an Energy Saving Digital App, to save energy during the whole production process and material sealing solutions to avoid the use of several glues in hygiene products, decreasing the use of petroleum derivatives. “Our efforts are focused on reducing polluting components directly or not directly related to our processes,” Bulfon says.
During the Covid-19 emergency, Fameccanica put its expertise at the service of those in need of help and started working hard to develop protective masks machines at high speed, up to 1000 pieces/minute. “That gave us also the opportunity to help our country to become independent for protective masks sourcing,” says Bulfon. “Those hygiene companies that had the same approach and looked at the crisis as an opportunity for growth and continuous improvement were the ones capable of keeping doing business, both converting their products from personal hygiene into surgical masks, and investing on new lines already equipped, for instance, with digital solutions supporting production and remote decision making processes.”
www.fameccanica.com
GDM
GDM’s complete converting and packaging product portfolio counts more than 50 solutions for baby open, baby pants, adult incontinence, lady and light incontinence segments and is designed to perfectly match a customer’s needs for performance, flexibility, scalability and innovation.
In recent years, disposable hygiene manufacturers have been increasingly conveying their focus to final products and their attributes, and this has become the compass driving GDM’s innovation commitment and value generation.
For the baby pants segment, GDM’s platform covers different production capabilities – 600 and 900 ppm – and it is designed for product quality and flexibility in terms of sizes, costs optimization and ease-of-use. The company’s solutions enable premium materials processing, delivering the highest quality with the best baby comfort fit.
Comfort is also among the drivers that have led GDM to develop its new Adult Protective Underwear Platform, including lines running at 300 ppm and 500 ppm. They are designed to be the most flexible machines in their category characterized by: easy size and product change thanks to the Expandable Welding Wheel (for which GDM has received the Index20 Award in Innovation in machinery), enabling the use of a wider range of materials, even the softest ones; ease of use and intuitive processes through the linear layout of the machine; optimized Total Cost of Ownership by virtue of the highest level of OEE and reduction of material waste; improved process control on key product features and relevant production steps for higher quality product; and a turn-key solution with the GDM SB60 packaging machine.
In GDM’s Packaging portfolio, its SB50 GO line with 100% made in Italy design and available as turnkey or stand-alone, combines user-friendliness and reliability at an advantageous investment level, making it the perfect machine for the quantum leap in the fully automatic era.
According to GDM, the disposable hygiene machinery market is a growing market overall. Even though the Covid-19 impacted the worldwide economy, hygiene companies are investing in new lines and updating the existing ones, with a different mix depending on the market.
The clearest trend GDM is currently experiencing is the shift from open to pant products in every market segment (baby, adult and light inco), driven by the consumers’ needs of convenience and discreetness: GDM offers technological solutions that match different market needs and are guaranteed to optimize production costs.
Manufacturing costs minimization, high product quality standards and the focus on the Overall Equipment Effectiveness are the key parameters for its customers’ competitiveness. Furthermore, the raw materials industry is constantly introducing new materials opening to manufacturers a wide range of core formation solutions (from Extra Thin to Fluffless concept), to differentiate their disposable hygiene products.
Also, GDM constantly works to guarantee its customers the opportunity to exploit new possibilities for high-level flexibility of the line. In this perspective, GDM’s lines are set-up to manage both traditional and innovative processes for the absorbent core construction.
For its sustainability efforts, GDM has developed a machine “Green concept” that combines all GDM solutions to propel sustainability in every step of the manufacturing supply chain.
Regarding raw material usage, GDM’s Extra Thin Core allows savings of up to 40% on core materials, thanks to an optimized SAP/fluff mix and allocation featuring permanent channels construction, for an outstanding wetness distribution (compared to previous core formation processes).
Alternatives for the core and topsheet, including bamboo, eucalyptus, banana, cotton and bio-based materials are driving the raw materials global trend in sustainability. GDM’s converting and packaging solutions are set-up to handle fibers other than from softwoods, more sustainable and with a lower environmental impact: from paper to low density polyethylene solutions.
Meanwhile, GDM’s Option Zero is its cutting-edge program aimed at minimizing any sort of waste in the converting process and to maximize the savings. According to a customer’s needs, the focus is on: Zero Waste—enabling the elimination of trims, thanks to the “zero waste” product design, customers can save up to 30% on nonwovens material used in the Rear Wings process; Zero Defects: matching market needs for premium quality products, reducing costs from defects and boosting sales and profits; Zero Glue: reducing the total amount of construction glue up to 10% through ultrasonic bonding technology, also minimizing glue contamination in the final product; and Zero Time: size changeover time is cut by half, thanks to GDM’s patented Linear Motion technology, eliminating hardware replacement and set-up.
Further, GDM’s new Extra Thin Core formation process has been designed to minimize the use of air for fluff and SAP transport. The resizing of the suction fan of the forming wheel and the mill redesign have further contributed to the reduction of energy consumption up to 75% compared to the traditional version. Thanks to Extra Thin Core, diapers are thinner compared to those with a standard core formation, thus reducing the package size: saving 25% more space on the shelf and in stockrooms.
www.gdm-spa.com
Heng Chang Machinery
As a professional manufacturer of complete production lines for disposable hygiene products, Heng Chang Machinery Co., Ltd (HCH) has been deeply engaged in the industry for more than 30 years. HCH aims at providing customers with cost-effective machines, not only including the makers, but also by integrating with packing machines; a complete production line from production to packaging. There are various types of production lines for disposable hygiene products and different requirements for machines from customers, therefore, HCH sets a differentiation strategy for different target consumers—women, babies and adults.
HCH executives say the market demands are changing rapidly, and the requirements for product performance are getting higher and higher. Meanwhile, the factors such as declining demographic dividend and increasing material cost, etc., become the resistance to the development of disposable hygiene products manufacturers. For the above situations, on the basis of high speed and high efficiency machine design, HCH has launched a number of new technology applications, including Ultrasonic Bonding Technology, Unmanned Material Loading Technology and an Intelligent Management System for better product performance and lower cost.
HCH has been developing Unmanned Material Loading Technology since 2017, and it was finally launched after two years of R&D. The R-ML Robot Material Loading System, which was developed for high-speed machines, can start the loading process immediately after receiving the signal from the maker. The whole unmanned loading system can work accurately, efficiently and stably. Unmanned Material Loading Technology enables robots to do repeated jobs requiring high accuracy. In this way, employees can do more creative and higher value-added work with the assistance of robots, and human resources costs can be greatly saved for manufacturers. HCH believes that the Unmanned Material Loading Technology will be an unstoppable trend, and HCH is the pioneer of this technology in China.
On the sustainability side, HCH executives say energy conservation and environmental protection is not only related to the sustainable development of the natural environment, but also closely linked to the production cost of manufacturers. First, Vacuum Air Control is a very common way through optimizing the design for piping layout to reduce the air loss for energy savings. In addition to this, HCH has equipped more detection and control devices on machines to help the operators control the energy output reasonably. Additionally, HCH uses a frequency converter to control the output of high-power electrical equipment such as fans, hammer mills, etc., while ensuring the constant production efficiency of products; a lower frequency converter data setting can effectively reduce energy consumption. What’s more, the real-time energy monitoring instruments on machines can also provide data reference for operating management to make correct decisions.
aqhch.com.cn
Curt G. Joa
The market is demanding personal protective equipment and Curt G. Joa, Inc. is responding by leveraging its nearly 25-years’ experience to design face mask and respirator machines that operate at the industry’s top production speeds of up to 1000 pleated face masks per minute. Market demand led to Joa’s creation of a patent-pending face mask, designed for optimal production efficiency and produced on Joa’s internal R&D assets, adding critical supply quickly.
Within hygiene, Paula Inda, marketing manager, Curt G. Joa, Inc., says the adult incontinence segment is growing with some interesting market trends. A recent study from Euromonitor International indicates more awareness about incontinence in younger age groups and reveals their concerns about it. The curious will likely begin product experimentation earlier than previously seen and the online purchase options let them shop with the desired discretion. The market offering will continue to expand with thinner cores taking on fashion traits and many heavier cores in pad or open diaper formats. The product format can also be influenced by culture, however, as some are more confident using a high-fluff, thicker core in either pant or diaper format.
For the growing adult pant market, Joa offers the J8T-AP and J7I-AP, with production speeds of 500 ppm and 300 ppm, respectively. The J7I-AP has a compact machine size and is available in full metric. The patented Hurricane Folder is available as an option for both machine platforms and creates consistently compact products, reducing package sizes and further reducing the environmental impact by allowing more product cases per truckload. The platform options also include stretch film lamination, with the flexibility to switch between stretch film and strands in minutes.
Meanwhile, Joa’s adult brief platform, the J8T-AB, has a production speed of 450 ppm and includes the patented Gentle Touch Folder, which prevents cores from cracking while increasing the maximum machine speed. The tandem folding process results in bi-, tri- and quad-folded brief products.
For light incontinence, Joa offers the J20S-LI and DEDE330, with production speeds of 1500 ppm and 800 ppm, respectively. A variety of production capabilities are available for cores, materials, and ADLs. In addition, the platform includes multiple processes for different fold and wrap options, including quickwrap, overwrap or pouch. The Flexographic Printing Unit can be included as well for either production solution. The patented Expandable Core Wrap permits the absorbent core and core wrap to expand in unison, maintaining the overall integrity of the product and improving the performance of high-SAP core products.
For baby pants, the J7I-BP, has production speeds of 1000 ppm and features efficient technologies, including turret unwinds that automatically splice raw materials at-speed during production, and an insert attachment process that applies adhesive up to the cut edge, eliminating the need for a cover strip. The addition of the patented Single Anvil In-Line (SAIL) side seam bonding unit breaks the correlation between machine speed and bonding strength, enabling higher production speeds and increased bond quality.
“A review of market data indicates baby pant continues growing but at a slower rate, depending on country. The change in birth rates and delayed pregnancy in some countries impact the rate of the market adoption,” Inda explains.
Joa’s baby diaper platform, the J8T-B, has a production speed of 1200 ppm and includes the No Scrap Ear (NoSE) System. The patented NoSE process nests ergonomically or symmetrically shaped ears together from a continuous web with no waste. It cuts a variety of product shapes, including symmetric or asymmetric trapezoids and radiused cuts, and allows for different leading and trailing angles and shaped cuts to achieve the ear design that meets the design, strength, and functionality requirements.
For feminine care, multiple core forming options are available, including single, dual, continuous or discreet. Pouch-wrap products are available in nonwoven or poly, with multiple wrapping options. Colors and patterns can be applied to the ADL or topsheet with the in-line multi-color flexographic printer.
Both the J20S-PL and J20S-FN, with production speeds of 3000 ppm and 2600 ppm, respectively, have the Turn and Pitch (TAP) Unit for rotating individual inserts in the machine process, increasing efficiency and speed. As the unit rotates, individual inserts are picked up and turned 90 degrees for transfer and repitch. For higher production speeds, two product streams can feed into two separate packaging machines with the Double Pad Turner.
Joa’s feminine care platform also includes the DEDE300 with production speeds of 1500 ppm for panty liners and 1000 ppm for sanitary napkins. The Universal Foam Applicator eliminates size changes by stretching foam strips and applying them at specific distances. Joa’s DEDE400 offers a unique cross machine production process. Products are manufactured at 90 degrees to production direction, providing production speeds of 1500 ppm for both panty liners and sanitary napkins, and 500 ppm for winged napkins.
www.joa.com
Guangzhou Xingshi Equipments
Guangzhou Xingshi Equipments Co., Ltd., a national high-tech enterprise, was established in 1999. It is a professional manufacturer of disposable sanitary products in South China integrating R&D, production sale and service. Xingshi provides customers with the world’s leading level baby diaper machines, sanitary napkin machines, adult incontinence machines, mask machines and machine accessories. Xingshi can customize machines according to the needs of customers.
In 2020, Xingshi joined the anti epidemic team and took advantage of its R&D and manufacturing advantages to carry out technical transformation in time to develop a high-speed mask production machine to contribute to the resumption and production of enterprises in Guangzhou and help the country fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
www.xingshi.com.cn
Zuiko
Japanese machinery supplier Zuiko has been focusing on developing processes that use materials in diaper and sanitary napkin production more efficiently and effectively. In part to help reduce waste and power consumption, but also to help manufacturers lower their running costs.
“Today’s diaper and sanitary napkin machines are much faster and performant compared to machines 10 years ago,” says Curtis Woo of Zuiko Corporation’s marketing division. “Incremental improvements to converting techniques have improved production speed, reliability and consistency. Customers are more confident with high speed production thanks to the ability of advanced vision and sensors systems, and the progress in both the hardware and software has made size-change-less production a reality.”
Zuiko continues to receive a lot of interest for pants type diaper machines. The pants diaper trend for babies began more than 20 years ago and now dominates the Japanese, Indonesian, and Indian markets, Woo explains. “It is predicted to overtake tape diaper sales in Southeast Asia and China, and is currently growing in the U.S., Brazil, and countries in Europe.”
Its growth can be attributed to how it improves the user experience. An incorrectly changed tape diaper can suddenly fall off the baby, or cause leaks and blowouts. “This doesn’t happen with pants diapers,” he explains. “Pants diapers hug the body securely and comfortably, and they can be pulled on and off quickly, even when the baby is laying down or when they are standing up. Parents who don’t consider using pants diapers with their babies are missing out on a real convenience item.”
Pants diapers are convenient for adults too. Pants diapers allow incontinent adults, many of whom are still active and physically capable, to be self-reliant and continue their lives unabashed. “As a machine manufacturer, we have implemented converting technologies that help make adult pants diapers thinner, more comfortable, and underwear-like, yet remain highly absorbent and functional,” he says.
In 2020, Zuiko acknowledged the importance of environmental, social, and governance issues by defining and implementing its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In 2021, the company’s plan is to continue and meet those goals by designing power and production efficient machines. For example, it is introducing glue-free processes for the construction of more components in disposable hygiene products. Other examples include its SAP distribution control technology, which helps improve absorption efficiency of the entire core, and automated processes that improve production stability and operator safety. Many new concepts, designs, and innovations in development will be introduced in the near future.
According to Woo, the pre-Covid-19 market for surgical masks was vastly different from what it is today, and global production capacity of surgical masks at the time could not satisfy demand when Covid-19 began spreading in early 2020. Based on its capabilities and experience manufacturing high speed converting machines, Zuiko immediately began developing a high-speed machine to produce masks. “After an intense development and testing schedule, the 600 ppm mask machine was completed and delivered to our customer in early spring,” he says. “We have since developed variations on the product ear hook design and have already supplied several machines to domestic customers.”
www.zuiko.co.jp
Andritz Diatec
Andritz Diatec designs and manufactures a wide range of machines and technology solutions for the production of baby diapers, baby pants, adult incontinence products, sanitary napkins, panty shields and underpads. The latest technology solutions with customization options help customers find the right machine configuration to save time and money.
In order to cover all of the final product and production requirements, Andritz Diatec’s machine portfolio covers market-entry to high capacities, precisely designed to meet varying needs. The machines are built with a modular frame that allows customized configuration. Moreover, the compact layout ensures a smooth start-up and simple machine maintenance. Machines and retrofits can be installed easily according to customers’ requirements. The full servo-technology simplifies everyday operations and adaptation of the raw materials to the environmental conditions.
Andritz Diatec offers two kinds of machines for the baby care industry—the baby diaper and the baby pants converting machines—with capabilities that cover low, medium and high production levels. In both machines, components can be freely combined and configured for the specific product requirement.
In both baby and adult markets, pant diapers are a must, according to Fabrice Ferretti, head of sales, Andritz Diatec. Products are also softer, with a better anatomic fit, and able to breathe. “They allow cost optimization thanks to the fluffless technology, and a thin core makes the products thinner, with a better fit,” he says.
New trends in the baby diaper market are the use of channels that enhance the absorption of liquids and their acquisition time. “Wetness and the weight of the liquid is distributed throughout the core,” Ferretti explains.
Market demands require a product that is more comfortable, soft and eco-friendly, therefore Andritz Diatec developed new technologies to process raw materials made of natural fibers and introduced the use of specific glues that cause less pollution. Also, new processes promote products with better fit and wearability by adding the lycra entrapment technology to reduce waste.
The company is making machines more environmentally attractive through reductions in waste and in energy consumption (use of low-temperature hot melts, glue reduction and ultrasonic applications for cuffs), optimization of raw materials (ultrasonic bonding for the leg cuffs, glueless lycra entrapment and the short backsheet lamination), and by offering solutions using recyclable raw materials, such as cellulose, tissue, PLA for the backsheet, nonwovens made of bamboo, and eco-friendly packaging solutions in cardboard boxes and biodegradable bags.
Meanwhile, amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Andritz Diatec turned towards new technologies to face the changing needs of the market. “New market opportunities appeared—for instance, we developed a fully automatic, high-speed face mask converting line for the production of disposable face masks within a very short time,” Ferretti says.
www.andritz.com/diatec
W+D-Bicma
W+D-Bicma offers the full range of converting machinery starting from baby diapers (pant and open), femcare products such as sanitary napkins and panty liners, as well as adult incontinence products (open diaper, pant, pads). W+D-Bicma makes machines for underpads, and only recently for surgical masks. It also offers customer-specific solutions for upgrades of existing equipment.
According to Marc Wolpers, W+D-Bicma’s new vice president Sales & Market Development Hygiene Solutions, the market changed during the last year towards more diversified offerings by its clients, resulting in smaller jobs. “You can clearly see that on retail shelves as well as on e-commerce platforms,” he says. “With this in mind we need to make sure that our machines work with minimized format change parts and low change times. With our patented Size to Size ‘S2S’ modules and our rapid forming drum change W+D-Bicma is certainly well positioned in the market. “
While there’s only been a moderate shift towards pants in the baby diaper markets of Europe and North America, W+D-Bicma is seeing baby pants gain more and more market share in other regions like India. “The reason for this shift is certainly the ease of use by putting on a pant instead of an open diaper,” he adds.
In the adult diaper segment this is completely different. Here the company sees a strong growth rate of pants since they are similar to underwear, easier to put on and give more comfort in wearing. “Of course, modern incontinence pants also have to be much more discreet than they used to in order to meet customers´ demands,” Wolpers says. “Our machines at W+D-Bicma have the best prerequisites to fulfill all those demands provided that the appropriate materials are used for production.”
Sustainability is another ongoing trend. The use of natural raw materials like cotton, bamboo, etc., as well as the developments in bio-based spunbond materials are being closely monitored by the company to make sure it can offer the right equipment for its machines to convert these new sustainable materials.
W+D-Bicma also focuses on improving the energy efficiency of its machines and reducing the number of exchange parts for size changes. For example, it has achieved a significant reduction of the vacuum consumption by using special surface coatings on its transport drums.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, W+D-Bicma developed from scratch its first surgical masks converting line in record time: the new AUXILIUM FM. This mask machine may produce up to 1 million face masks per day.
“The AUXILIUM FM is a very successful new offering in our product portfolio which we realized in five months from the first hand sketch to the first running machine in our workshop,” Wolpers says. “It was certainly a type of machine nobody had thought of in Europe before Covid-19. Now we evaluate those experiences to reduce time to market for our future developments.”
The company has already installed several machines in Europe and is currently working on more.
www.bicma.com