Tara Olivo, Associate Editor08.04.21
Since the novel coronavirus was declared a global pandemic 17 months ago, producers and converters of nonwoven materials quickly stepped up to increase capacity to meet global supply shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE). This included new investments in face mask machines, meltblown—the key layer in N95 face masks and other respirators and masks—as well as in spunmelt to help ease shortages for items like surgical gowns.
Today, as inoculations increase and the number of infections go down, demand is beginning to normalize.
Last year Medline, one of the largest privately-held manufacturers and distributors of medical supplies, was able to quickly scale up volume to meet the Covid-19 demand. The company offers a variety of nonwoven-based PPE, including gowns, face masks, headwear, footwear, coveralls and lab coats.
“Medline always has been very flexible and able to nimbly respond to customer needs. 2020 brought that to a new level,” says Jim Boyle, EVP, sales, Medline.
While the company generally keeps on hand more inventory than industry norms, it had to quickly add further in early 2020 as Covid began impacting supply chain. At the same time, Medline began expanding its own manufacturing to address needs like hand sanitizer, face masks and disposable isolation gowns.
“Probably the greatest achievement in 2020 was the new level of collaboration between providers and distributors,” Boyle comments. “Because we are privately-held, we are able to provide a great deal of transparency on a regular basis, and in 2020 we saw that grow to new levels. The acceleration of partnerships between providers and distributors, the regular communication of what was needed and what could be supplied, the insight into supply chain across both distribution and healthcare providers proved to make us all stronger.”
He adds that investing in healthcare will continue to be a priority as the company plans for the future, which will come on both the manufacturing and warehousing sides of supply chain. In fact, Medline recently began manufacturing face masks at its Lithia Springs, GA, manufacturing facility.
“Customers are seeing the value of on-shoring production,” he says. “More than 30 customers have committed to purchasing the face masks, including multi-hospital systems, physician office groups, managed care customers, home health, hospice and nursing home customers.
“The key is to think of supply chain as one, integrated connected piece of healthcare,” he continues. “This will take time and this is going to be more like a marathon, not a sprint. In many cases, we are now working as one in the distribution center, with customers using our space for dedicated supplies. We also are collocating in some of our providers’ space.”
Over the past three years Medline opened 14 new distribution centers and has plans to add more than 10 million square feet in warehouse space over the next four years. Medline also owns more than 20 manufacturing facilities in North America, which it expanded to respond to the pandemic.
“As the vaccines are rolling out and cases have begun to decrease, demand has been normalizing and, barring unforeseen incidents, we believe should continue into the next year,” Boyle says. “There are a few market segments that we believe will remain elevated, as the general population becomes more accustomed to PPE and masks in particular, but only time will tell what the reality is.”
When the coronavirus pandemic began in China at the beginning of 2020, Hartmann, another major player in the global healthcare market, very quickly set up its task force and initiated some important measures. This ranged from protecting employees and increasing production capacities to new solutions in logistics, purchasing and IT. In the purchasing markets for security products, the challenges remained as demand remained volatile depending on the global incidence of infection.
For this reason, Hartmann invested in two new production machines for surgical masks and an existing production line for the manufacture of community masks was converted. This is intended to ease the pressure on the market for surgical masks so that medical staff can be adequately supplied. Investments were also made to increase safety stocks and improve quality assurance. Hartmann’s supply chain has also been expanded to include additional suppliers to enable even more flexible handling, the company says.
Roll Goods Ramp Up
According to market research firm Smithers, the total global market for medical nonwovens was $2.49 billion in 2020 (projected), up from $2.09 billion in 2019. Smithers predicts future growth will push the global market to $2.95 billion in 2025 at constant prices.
Phil Mango, a consultant specializing in Nonwovens for Smithers, says the tightest supply and demand situation is for face masks and for medical apparel in general. Most other sub-segments in medical nonwovens had no supply and demand issues in 2020.
Smithers, which just completed an in-depth report—The Impact of Supply Chain Disruptions on Nonwovens Manufacturing—found that there were a few major weaknesses in the supply chain during the pandemic, including regional biases, transportation issues and inventory deficiencies.
According to the report, regional biases resulted in critical nonwovens and nonwoven converters being located in limited regions. For example, meltblown nonwoven production was concentrated in Asia, leading to insufficient supply in North America and Europe. “Even Asia had issues, since prior to Covid-19, face mask converting (especially N95, N99 types) was not equally concentrated in Asia,” Mango says. “Asia is also the primary or major supplier of key raw materials like polyester, rayon, and polypropylene.”
Throughout the pandemic companies responded by on-shoring, and producing less cost-effective, but more secure, inventory levels. “On-shoring is building critical operations and production capabilities in local regions,” he says. “Here, mainly North America and Europe have added meltblown nonwovens and face mask converting operations locally to offset total dependency on Asia.”
Some of these new meltblown investments include Berry Global in the U.K., Germany, France and Latin America; Don & Low in Scotland; Fitesa in Brazil, Italy, Germany and the U.S.; Lydall in the U.S. and France; and Sandler in Germany, among many others.
Gaziantep, Turkey-based Mogul Nonwovens announced late last year it was adding two new meltblown lines to its operations. The lines are 160 cm wide and capable of making fabrics in the 15-100 gsm range, and will make electrostatic charged capabilities capable of making the N95 and higher efficiency masks as well as high efficiency filtration applications and other industrial applications. The first line has already started commercial production and the second line will be operational in the last quarter of this year, according to Serkan Gogus, CEO of Mogul.
During the pandemic Mogul’s Madaline microfilament fabric was also used for face masks for the general public. Gogus says it’s been successful, as two well-known global clothing fashion brands have used Madaline in their reusable masks.
Because of overstock and slowing demand for face masks and medical clothing, Mogul sees a decline in fabric demand. “We don’t expect a strong movement unless there’s a change with progress of the pandemic,” he says. “Next year will also depend on progress of the pandemic. If the pandemic gets under control and demand returns to normal due to overcapacity in meltblown, we don’t expect high demand.”
As the pandemic gets under control with vaccines being fully supplied around the globe, Taiwanese nonwovens producer KNH Enterprises expects to see a slight growth in demand for medical products in 2021, as compared to 2019, but not likely as much as these products were in demand in 2020.
“The global over-supply of material and capacity will make the products float in the marketplace and even in distributors, and the market will become largely over supplied,” says Allen Huang, KNH global ODEM sales EVP.
In order to meet the needs during the pandemic, KNH added meltblown production lines, invested in high-efficiency, lower-air-resistance meltblown and microfiber this year. The new capacity is estimated to be an addition of 8,000 tons per year.
KNH’s new HEPA grade meltblown nonwoven with high efficiency and high permeability is being supplied to the high-end filtration market. Compared with general meltblown nonwovens, KNH HEPA Meltblown nonwovens can meet the requirements of high-efficiency filtration H10-H14, with the lower air resistance and higher performance. The efficiency can be achieved up to 99.995% and the air resistance can be decreased around 30-40%. Therefore, KNH HEPA Meltblown nonwovens can also provide medical and personal protection filters with more breathable, comfortable and protective options, the company says.
Meanwhile, KNH’s new microfiber material will feature a super-thin fiber property and structure, applicable to PPE such as medical face masks, wipes, disposable medical gowns, protective apparel and scrubs suits. This material will be safer and more comfortable for consumers, Huang says.
In Europe Freudenberg Performance Materials increased meltblown production capacity. At its site in Kaiserslautern, Germany, the company invested in a state-of-the-art meltblown production line for nonwoven media used exclusively to manufacture certified face masks of the mouth-nose protection type pursuant to the EN14683 standard, as well as FFP1, 2 and 3 masks pursuant to the EN149 standard. The production on this line started in the first quarter of this year, and the media are specially developed for and sold to the medical technology processing industry.
In the U.S., Freudenberg’s site in Durham began mask production for the U.S. market in 2020 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. There the company provides FDA cleared surgical masks meeting the Level 3 standard of the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM). The ASTM Level 3 surgical mask is for use in conditions where there is a high risk of fluid and spray of aerosol transmission, such as operating procedures. Working closely with local partners, Freudenberg is also aiming to prevent future PPE supply shortages by establishing long-term face mask production for the U.S. market.
According to Frank Heislitz, CEO Freudenberg Performance Materials, the extreme Covid-19 related demand for nonwovens materials for face and medical masks slowed down with the increase in vaccinations. “Customers with governmental or federal state contracts as well as suppliers to the public health service are going to fulfill their contracts. However, there will be a general need for medical masks looking ahead,” he says.
Elsewhere in Europe, RadiciGroup successfully started up a new meltblown line at Tessiture Pietro Radici SpA in Bergamo, Italy, in January. The company’s Radimelt meltblown fabric used for manufacturing protective face masks and other PPE has excellent filtering capability even for particles of microscopic size, such as viruses, and ensures breathability and protection. The machinery can realize products with special technical characteristics, not only made of polypropylene, but also other polymers, such as polyester, polyamide and TPU with applications in the medical and filtration sectors.
Enrico Buriani, CEO of Tessiture Pietro Radici, the RadiciGroup company focusing on nonwovens production, says the lack of meltblown nonwoven became evident in the midst of the pandemic crisis, and the company kept receiving tons of requests from potential customers. “A very small quantity of meltblown material is produced in Europe, which is certainly not sufficient to meet demand in a health emergency,” Buriani says. “Given our extensive experience in the field of nonwovens, we swiftly began figuring out how to set up a chain for the production of PPE in Italy. And, as soon as the opportunity arose to take concrete action, we had no hesitation to jump on it.”
RadiciGroup, which has a strong link with its local communities, actively reacted to the emergency by creating brand new production chains where they did not exist before, like the production of surgical masks and gowns. “Joining forces with local and national family run businesses, it was possible to reconvert productions, granting workers’ occupation and salary along with growth perspectives for the after Covid-19 period,” he says. “After setting up the new production chains, the Group has quickly turned into a key partner to medical associations, hospitals and other healthcare organizations that need raw material or ready-to-wear PPE garments.”
From the group’s perspective, it understands that the demand of medical nonwovens is still high, at the final user level. “As far as the western countries are concerned, all of them reacted to the lack of PPE that they suffered, especially during the first Covid wave and, more or less in each country, several companies decided to invest in that application,” he explains.
At the moment, besides the local manufacturing units, Buriani says they’re seeing that the traditional imports from the Far East are back, at very competitive prices, and that situation will very likely discourage European companies to keep on manufacturing such devices. “That is a pity, in our opinion,” he says. “We believe it is vital for Europe not to be caught unprepared in future health emergencies. Europe must have its own production of essential goods.”
In addition to meltblown, RadiciGroup produces Dylar spunbond nonwovens on three production lines. At the beginning of March 2020, the RadiciGroup Dylar spunbond, once laminated with a polyethylene film, was successfully tested according to the norm UNI EN 14126:2004. That certification allowed Radici to manufacture and directly sell to the market PPE based on the laminate. The PPE was mainly used by medics at work in the hospitals during the first wave of the pandemic. Today, the production of PPE is still a very important activity within the group, Buriani says.
Meanwhile, Graziano Ramina Industries Srl (GR Industries), a new producer of meltblown and spunbond nonwovens, was born in 2020 thanks to the 30-year experience of Ramina Srl, a leading manufacturer of industrial machinery and turnkey plants for the nonwovens industry. The company was launched last year with the ambition of accepting the challenges of the future and of meeting the requests of a market in constant and quick evolution, which increased especially after the pandemic broke out in the first months of 2020.
So far this year, GR Industries’ production continues to increase and the company is becoming one of the main producers of nonwoven fabrics in Europe, according to Elena Ramina, sales manager, GR Industries. The increased demand, together with a high qualified staff, is actively contributing to the growth of the company which today produces 400 tons of meltblown a month.
“The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has clearly had a strong impact on the Italian economic and entrepreneurial fabric, forcing a lot of companies to adapt to survive and to embrace new challenges,” says Ramina. “Nevertheless, our sector has witnessed an increase of requests for the production of nonwoven fabric for PPE, inextricably linked to the new challenges and needs born and developed within a pandemic situation which for now, unfortunately, hasn’t been eradicated.”
The challenge embraced by GR Industries was being able to meet increasingly pressing requests, while managing to keep high quality standards for its Made in Italy products. “The technological and highly innovative machine Leonardo 1.0, active in a continuous cycle in the production of filtrating nonwoven material which forms the internal filter of masks, gave GR Industries the opportunity to meet the increasing request, accelerating production time, answering the clear distribution difficulties at a national level caused by the pandemic with an extensive, more and more developed sale,” Ramina says.
Early on in the pandemic, nonwovens producer Ahlstrom-Munksjö went to great lengths of operational agility to increase capacity, restart dormant assets and re-staff existing assets. “We were also very successful in adapting our portfolio to meet the growing demand of face mask and surgical gowns by developing and validating new products,” says Lionel Bonte, VP of Medical Business, Ahlstrom-Munksjö.
These new products include a new line of face mask fabrics that offers environmentally friendly options. “We know face masks are critical for protection but have learned over the past year they have become harmful to the environment,” Bonte says.
Recent studies estimate that 129 billion face masks are used globally every month, equating to 3 million a minute. And, according to a report from the United Nations, it can be expected that around 75% of the used masks, as well as other pandemic-related waste, will end up in landfills, or floating in the seas. “These numbers are alarming and are what is driving the demand for sustainable and high-performance face mask fabrics,” Bonte explains.
Ahlstrom-Munksjö’s new TenderGuard face mask fabrics are sustainable, renewable and biocompatible. TenderGuard BioBased can be used as an inner or outer coverstock layer of a civil use face mask. The fabric is mainly comprised of a biopolymer made from sustainable and renewable sources. It is biodegradable and compostable under controlled conditions according to European Norm EN13432.
TenderGuard BioFilter is a sustainable, 100% bio-based filter media used as a filter layer in a barrier face coverings. The media is primarily designed for civil use and source control for infectious disease. It can be used as a single layer or combined as a double filtration layer for higher filtration performance.
Made with natural fibers, TenderGuard Natural wetlaid fabrics can be used as the inner or outer layer of a face mask. With both layers together, they achieve nearly 50% Bacterial Filtration Efficiency. TenderGuard Natural is environmentally friendly and its inner layer is hypoallergenic, so it is perfect for those with sensitive skin.
Finally, TenderGuard Smooth is a bicomponent spunbond fabric that is made with a proprietary technology to minimize raised fibers. This creates a smooth surface to help eliminate skin irritation. TenderGuard Smooth is hypoallergenic, so it is gentler on the skin, making it ideal to wear for long durations. It is strong and flexible, allowing for the opportunity of high-speed production.
Italian manufacturer Texol-Orma has also been in product development mode. The company recently developed a certified film-nonwoven laminate for protective garments; an elastic laminate for ear loops that solves elongation challenges of surgical masks; and a high-loft nonwoven for FFP2 filtering masks.
The new film-nonwoven laminate, known as Gowfense, for disposable gowns, caps, shoe covers and clean air suits, is used, for example, as medical devices for patients and clinical staff, or in situations in which the agents to which workers are exposed may not be known, like sewage work, waste treatment and emergency cleaning.
Gowfense is a 54 gsm coextruded laminate of film and nonwoven spunbond. It is currently in compliance with the international standards of protection against infectious agents and has distinctive properties such as anti-staticity, non glossy, liquid impermeability, glueless, odorless and softness.
Meanwhile the new elastic laminate for ear loops was developed by Texol as a solution to the “dumbo” effect—the uncomfortable feeling around the ear after several hours of wearing a mask due to the high force retraction of its elastic cords. Rather than an elastic cord, Texol provides an elastic band to avoid this uncomfortable feeling. Ela-mask is a laminated material intended to show high elongation with low force retraction. The material is available in a basis weight of 100 gsm and has been tested on the main mask high speed converter machine proving good runnability and good bonding properties.
Looking ahead, Fabrizio Coladonato, commercial director, Texol, says the key factors driving growth in the market are the features of the materials and the manufacturing process. “The breathable films market, for example, is expected to be the fastest-growing application during the forecast period, as green products will be important, together with spunlace technology for clean production processes.”
Indian roll goods producer Welspun has also been developing new products for the medical market. ViroShield is the latest nonwoven innovation from the company to serve medical markets for gowns, drapes and other PPE applications other than face masks.
ViroShield has been developed using advanced hydroentanglement technology. It offers a unique polymer barrier layer which can be tailored to be breathable or non-breathable for superior comfort. The nonwoven layer is designed to be delicate, absorbent and antimicrobial, and to provide the right level of comfort and protection to healthcare workers around the world. ViroShield qualifies ASTM F1670 & ASTM F1671 (resistance to bloodborne pathogens).
During the pandemic, Welspun earmarked some of its spunlace capacity for non-critical and critical PPE applications. This meant developing both a basic level PPE and also one conforming to certified level/class/certification. This was done for both roll goods and temporarily for converted PPE formats, says Cherian Thomas, president & CEO, Welspun Advanced Textiles. “Subsequently we tapered down the converted PPE format as supply side conditions improved, and we continue to meet roll good demand,” he adds.
In the meantime, Welspun is invested in developing new sustainable spunlace solutions to the market. New capacity that the company will be adding will allow it to allocate more capacity to develop more products made of natural fibers including cotton and will help meet the more sophisticated demand conditions of the healthcare sector, Thomas says.
Headquartered in Marlborough, MA, Web Industries provides precision converting and contract manufacturing services to the medical, personal & home care, aerospace and industrial sectors. Nonwovens Industry spoke to Courtney Robinson, business development manager – Industrial & Consumer, Web Industries, about the surge in demand for PPE amid the coronavirus pandemic, as well as solutions that boost manufacturing efficiency.
Nonwovens Industry (NWI): What are Web’s capabilities in the medical nonwovens/PPE market, and how has Web helped PPE manufacturers meet growing demand?
Courtney Robinson (CR): Web Industries offers precision slitting and large-format spooling capabilities to nonwovens manufacturers. As demand surged for face masks, medical gowns and personal protective equipment (PPE) early in the pandemic, Web quickly ramped up production. We were able to slit large quantities of spunbond and meltblown used for triple-layer face coverings as well as the elastic ear loops and ties for face masks. We supplied these components in both pad rolls and spooled form to OEMs for final assembly of the face masks. Meanwhile, Web’s large cutting tables were used to cut one-piece and multiple-piece medical gowns.
In many cases, nonwovens manufacturers either did not have the necessary on-site slitting capabilities or did not want to slow production to do slitting in house, so they outsourced this work to Web. With Web supplying precision-slit materials ready for production, the OEMs could focus on their core competencies and maximize throughput.
NWI: What is the current level of demand for medical nonwovens/PPE, and what demand do you expect for the second half of 2021
and early 2022?
CR: Although PPE demand continues to be strong, it’s not the robust demand we saw when the pandemic began. The supply chain situation then was dire, with insufficient domestic production and a drive by the U.S. government to boost on-shore production.
We would expect 2022 domestic demand to decline as the number of fully vaccinated people increases and there’s a corresponding decrease in mask usage and hospitalizations. Of course, with the myriad of new Covid variants, this could change if large sections of the population remain unvaccinated and are susceptible to these new variants.
NWI: In an environment where nonwovens manufacturers are looking to reduce costs, how does spooling figure in?
CR: Spooling is an underutilized advantage that can dramatically boost manufacturing efficiency. New-generation extra-large-format spools can dispense over 500,000 linear feet of material between roll changes. Installed at the front end of production lines, they allow the lines to run up to 40 times as long as pad rolls, an alternative dispensing method. The large spools carry material in widths ranging from 1 to 12 inches.
NWI: What other advantages are associated with larger spools?
CR: Larger spools require fewer changeovers, allowing manufacturers to make better use of their labor resources. Instead of scurrying around to change rolls every 20 minutes or so, machine operators and workers can focus on more productive tasks, such as monitoring quality or servicing multiple machines. The large spools can potentially run for an entire shift.
Fewer changeovers also mean fewer splices, reducing the risk of human error. Also, small amounts of material are usually lost at the splicing point, resulting in waste. The waste can quickly mount, especially when multiple splices are needed per hour. Web’s large-format spools, in contrast, allow for cleaner splices, minimizing or even eliminating waste at the
splicing point.
NWI: What do manufacturers need to do to accommodate larger spools of nonwoven materials?
CR: Installing large-format and extra-large-format spools usually has a higher initial cost and requires a larger footprint. But this is generally outweighed by savings related to fewer stoppages for roll changes, less material waste and better use of labor resources.
Web can install a working spool and unwind on a trial basis at customer facilities. This allows customers to learn more about the spooling process and assess its benefits compared with other methods.
Today, as inoculations increase and the number of infections go down, demand is beginning to normalize.
Last year Medline, one of the largest privately-held manufacturers and distributors of medical supplies, was able to quickly scale up volume to meet the Covid-19 demand. The company offers a variety of nonwoven-based PPE, including gowns, face masks, headwear, footwear, coveralls and lab coats.
“Medline always has been very flexible and able to nimbly respond to customer needs. 2020 brought that to a new level,” says Jim Boyle, EVP, sales, Medline.
While the company generally keeps on hand more inventory than industry norms, it had to quickly add further in early 2020 as Covid began impacting supply chain. At the same time, Medline began expanding its own manufacturing to address needs like hand sanitizer, face masks and disposable isolation gowns.
“Probably the greatest achievement in 2020 was the new level of collaboration between providers and distributors,” Boyle comments. “Because we are privately-held, we are able to provide a great deal of transparency on a regular basis, and in 2020 we saw that grow to new levels. The acceleration of partnerships between providers and distributors, the regular communication of what was needed and what could be supplied, the insight into supply chain across both distribution and healthcare providers proved to make us all stronger.”
He adds that investing in healthcare will continue to be a priority as the company plans for the future, which will come on both the manufacturing and warehousing sides of supply chain. In fact, Medline recently began manufacturing face masks at its Lithia Springs, GA, manufacturing facility.
“Customers are seeing the value of on-shoring production,” he says. “More than 30 customers have committed to purchasing the face masks, including multi-hospital systems, physician office groups, managed care customers, home health, hospice and nursing home customers.
“The key is to think of supply chain as one, integrated connected piece of healthcare,” he continues. “This will take time and this is going to be more like a marathon, not a sprint. In many cases, we are now working as one in the distribution center, with customers using our space for dedicated supplies. We also are collocating in some of our providers’ space.”
Over the past three years Medline opened 14 new distribution centers and has plans to add more than 10 million square feet in warehouse space over the next four years. Medline also owns more than 20 manufacturing facilities in North America, which it expanded to respond to the pandemic.
“As the vaccines are rolling out and cases have begun to decrease, demand has been normalizing and, barring unforeseen incidents, we believe should continue into the next year,” Boyle says. “There are a few market segments that we believe will remain elevated, as the general population becomes more accustomed to PPE and masks in particular, but only time will tell what the reality is.”
When the coronavirus pandemic began in China at the beginning of 2020, Hartmann, another major player in the global healthcare market, very quickly set up its task force and initiated some important measures. This ranged from protecting employees and increasing production capacities to new solutions in logistics, purchasing and IT. In the purchasing markets for security products, the challenges remained as demand remained volatile depending on the global incidence of infection.
For this reason, Hartmann invested in two new production machines for surgical masks and an existing production line for the manufacture of community masks was converted. This is intended to ease the pressure on the market for surgical masks so that medical staff can be adequately supplied. Investments were also made to increase safety stocks and improve quality assurance. Hartmann’s supply chain has also been expanded to include additional suppliers to enable even more flexible handling, the company says.
Roll Goods Ramp Up
According to market research firm Smithers, the total global market for medical nonwovens was $2.49 billion in 2020 (projected), up from $2.09 billion in 2019. Smithers predicts future growth will push the global market to $2.95 billion in 2025 at constant prices.
Phil Mango, a consultant specializing in Nonwovens for Smithers, says the tightest supply and demand situation is for face masks and for medical apparel in general. Most other sub-segments in medical nonwovens had no supply and demand issues in 2020.
Smithers, which just completed an in-depth report—The Impact of Supply Chain Disruptions on Nonwovens Manufacturing—found that there were a few major weaknesses in the supply chain during the pandemic, including regional biases, transportation issues and inventory deficiencies.
According to the report, regional biases resulted in critical nonwovens and nonwoven converters being located in limited regions. For example, meltblown nonwoven production was concentrated in Asia, leading to insufficient supply in North America and Europe. “Even Asia had issues, since prior to Covid-19, face mask converting (especially N95, N99 types) was not equally concentrated in Asia,” Mango says. “Asia is also the primary or major supplier of key raw materials like polyester, rayon, and polypropylene.”
Throughout the pandemic companies responded by on-shoring, and producing less cost-effective, but more secure, inventory levels. “On-shoring is building critical operations and production capabilities in local regions,” he says. “Here, mainly North America and Europe have added meltblown nonwovens and face mask converting operations locally to offset total dependency on Asia.”
Some of these new meltblown investments include Berry Global in the U.K., Germany, France and Latin America; Don & Low in Scotland; Fitesa in Brazil, Italy, Germany and the U.S.; Lydall in the U.S. and France; and Sandler in Germany, among many others.
Gaziantep, Turkey-based Mogul Nonwovens announced late last year it was adding two new meltblown lines to its operations. The lines are 160 cm wide and capable of making fabrics in the 15-100 gsm range, and will make electrostatic charged capabilities capable of making the N95 and higher efficiency masks as well as high efficiency filtration applications and other industrial applications. The first line has already started commercial production and the second line will be operational in the last quarter of this year, according to Serkan Gogus, CEO of Mogul.
During the pandemic Mogul’s Madaline microfilament fabric was also used for face masks for the general public. Gogus says it’s been successful, as two well-known global clothing fashion brands have used Madaline in their reusable masks.
Because of overstock and slowing demand for face masks and medical clothing, Mogul sees a decline in fabric demand. “We don’t expect a strong movement unless there’s a change with progress of the pandemic,” he says. “Next year will also depend on progress of the pandemic. If the pandemic gets under control and demand returns to normal due to overcapacity in meltblown, we don’t expect high demand.”
As the pandemic gets under control with vaccines being fully supplied around the globe, Taiwanese nonwovens producer KNH Enterprises expects to see a slight growth in demand for medical products in 2021, as compared to 2019, but not likely as much as these products were in demand in 2020.
“The global over-supply of material and capacity will make the products float in the marketplace and even in distributors, and the market will become largely over supplied,” says Allen Huang, KNH global ODEM sales EVP.
In order to meet the needs during the pandemic, KNH added meltblown production lines, invested in high-efficiency, lower-air-resistance meltblown and microfiber this year. The new capacity is estimated to be an addition of 8,000 tons per year.
KNH’s new HEPA grade meltblown nonwoven with high efficiency and high permeability is being supplied to the high-end filtration market. Compared with general meltblown nonwovens, KNH HEPA Meltblown nonwovens can meet the requirements of high-efficiency filtration H10-H14, with the lower air resistance and higher performance. The efficiency can be achieved up to 99.995% and the air resistance can be decreased around 30-40%. Therefore, KNH HEPA Meltblown nonwovens can also provide medical and personal protection filters with more breathable, comfortable and protective options, the company says.
Meanwhile, KNH’s new microfiber material will feature a super-thin fiber property and structure, applicable to PPE such as medical face masks, wipes, disposable medical gowns, protective apparel and scrubs suits. This material will be safer and more comfortable for consumers, Huang says.
In Europe Freudenberg Performance Materials increased meltblown production capacity. At its site in Kaiserslautern, Germany, the company invested in a state-of-the-art meltblown production line for nonwoven media used exclusively to manufacture certified face masks of the mouth-nose protection type pursuant to the EN14683 standard, as well as FFP1, 2 and 3 masks pursuant to the EN149 standard. The production on this line started in the first quarter of this year, and the media are specially developed for and sold to the medical technology processing industry.
In the U.S., Freudenberg’s site in Durham began mask production for the U.S. market in 2020 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. There the company provides FDA cleared surgical masks meeting the Level 3 standard of the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM). The ASTM Level 3 surgical mask is for use in conditions where there is a high risk of fluid and spray of aerosol transmission, such as operating procedures. Working closely with local partners, Freudenberg is also aiming to prevent future PPE supply shortages by establishing long-term face mask production for the U.S. market.
According to Frank Heislitz, CEO Freudenberg Performance Materials, the extreme Covid-19 related demand for nonwovens materials for face and medical masks slowed down with the increase in vaccinations. “Customers with governmental or federal state contracts as well as suppliers to the public health service are going to fulfill their contracts. However, there will be a general need for medical masks looking ahead,” he says.
Elsewhere in Europe, RadiciGroup successfully started up a new meltblown line at Tessiture Pietro Radici SpA in Bergamo, Italy, in January. The company’s Radimelt meltblown fabric used for manufacturing protective face masks and other PPE has excellent filtering capability even for particles of microscopic size, such as viruses, and ensures breathability and protection. The machinery can realize products with special technical characteristics, not only made of polypropylene, but also other polymers, such as polyester, polyamide and TPU with applications in the medical and filtration sectors.
Enrico Buriani, CEO of Tessiture Pietro Radici, the RadiciGroup company focusing on nonwovens production, says the lack of meltblown nonwoven became evident in the midst of the pandemic crisis, and the company kept receiving tons of requests from potential customers. “A very small quantity of meltblown material is produced in Europe, which is certainly not sufficient to meet demand in a health emergency,” Buriani says. “Given our extensive experience in the field of nonwovens, we swiftly began figuring out how to set up a chain for the production of PPE in Italy. And, as soon as the opportunity arose to take concrete action, we had no hesitation to jump on it.”
RadiciGroup, which has a strong link with its local communities, actively reacted to the emergency by creating brand new production chains where they did not exist before, like the production of surgical masks and gowns. “Joining forces with local and national family run businesses, it was possible to reconvert productions, granting workers’ occupation and salary along with growth perspectives for the after Covid-19 period,” he says. “After setting up the new production chains, the Group has quickly turned into a key partner to medical associations, hospitals and other healthcare organizations that need raw material or ready-to-wear PPE garments.”
From the group’s perspective, it understands that the demand of medical nonwovens is still high, at the final user level. “As far as the western countries are concerned, all of them reacted to the lack of PPE that they suffered, especially during the first Covid wave and, more or less in each country, several companies decided to invest in that application,” he explains.
At the moment, besides the local manufacturing units, Buriani says they’re seeing that the traditional imports from the Far East are back, at very competitive prices, and that situation will very likely discourage European companies to keep on manufacturing such devices. “That is a pity, in our opinion,” he says. “We believe it is vital for Europe not to be caught unprepared in future health emergencies. Europe must have its own production of essential goods.”
In addition to meltblown, RadiciGroup produces Dylar spunbond nonwovens on three production lines. At the beginning of March 2020, the RadiciGroup Dylar spunbond, once laminated with a polyethylene film, was successfully tested according to the norm UNI EN 14126:2004. That certification allowed Radici to manufacture and directly sell to the market PPE based on the laminate. The PPE was mainly used by medics at work in the hospitals during the first wave of the pandemic. Today, the production of PPE is still a very important activity within the group, Buriani says.
Meanwhile, Graziano Ramina Industries Srl (GR Industries), a new producer of meltblown and spunbond nonwovens, was born in 2020 thanks to the 30-year experience of Ramina Srl, a leading manufacturer of industrial machinery and turnkey plants for the nonwovens industry. The company was launched last year with the ambition of accepting the challenges of the future and of meeting the requests of a market in constant and quick evolution, which increased especially after the pandemic broke out in the first months of 2020.
So far this year, GR Industries’ production continues to increase and the company is becoming one of the main producers of nonwoven fabrics in Europe, according to Elena Ramina, sales manager, GR Industries. The increased demand, together with a high qualified staff, is actively contributing to the growth of the company which today produces 400 tons of meltblown a month.
“The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has clearly had a strong impact on the Italian economic and entrepreneurial fabric, forcing a lot of companies to adapt to survive and to embrace new challenges,” says Ramina. “Nevertheless, our sector has witnessed an increase of requests for the production of nonwoven fabric for PPE, inextricably linked to the new challenges and needs born and developed within a pandemic situation which for now, unfortunately, hasn’t been eradicated.”
The challenge embraced by GR Industries was being able to meet increasingly pressing requests, while managing to keep high quality standards for its Made in Italy products. “The technological and highly innovative machine Leonardo 1.0, active in a continuous cycle in the production of filtrating nonwoven material which forms the internal filter of masks, gave GR Industries the opportunity to meet the increasing request, accelerating production time, answering the clear distribution difficulties at a national level caused by the pandemic with an extensive, more and more developed sale,” Ramina says.
Early on in the pandemic, nonwovens producer Ahlstrom-Munksjö went to great lengths of operational agility to increase capacity, restart dormant assets and re-staff existing assets. “We were also very successful in adapting our portfolio to meet the growing demand of face mask and surgical gowns by developing and validating new products,” says Lionel Bonte, VP of Medical Business, Ahlstrom-Munksjö.
These new products include a new line of face mask fabrics that offers environmentally friendly options. “We know face masks are critical for protection but have learned over the past year they have become harmful to the environment,” Bonte says.
Recent studies estimate that 129 billion face masks are used globally every month, equating to 3 million a minute. And, according to a report from the United Nations, it can be expected that around 75% of the used masks, as well as other pandemic-related waste, will end up in landfills, or floating in the seas. “These numbers are alarming and are what is driving the demand for sustainable and high-performance face mask fabrics,” Bonte explains.
Ahlstrom-Munksjö’s new TenderGuard face mask fabrics are sustainable, renewable and biocompatible. TenderGuard BioBased can be used as an inner or outer coverstock layer of a civil use face mask. The fabric is mainly comprised of a biopolymer made from sustainable and renewable sources. It is biodegradable and compostable under controlled conditions according to European Norm EN13432.
TenderGuard BioFilter is a sustainable, 100% bio-based filter media used as a filter layer in a barrier face coverings. The media is primarily designed for civil use and source control for infectious disease. It can be used as a single layer or combined as a double filtration layer for higher filtration performance.
Made with natural fibers, TenderGuard Natural wetlaid fabrics can be used as the inner or outer layer of a face mask. With both layers together, they achieve nearly 50% Bacterial Filtration Efficiency. TenderGuard Natural is environmentally friendly and its inner layer is hypoallergenic, so it is perfect for those with sensitive skin.
Finally, TenderGuard Smooth is a bicomponent spunbond fabric that is made with a proprietary technology to minimize raised fibers. This creates a smooth surface to help eliminate skin irritation. TenderGuard Smooth is hypoallergenic, so it is gentler on the skin, making it ideal to wear for long durations. It is strong and flexible, allowing for the opportunity of high-speed production.
Italian manufacturer Texol-Orma has also been in product development mode. The company recently developed a certified film-nonwoven laminate for protective garments; an elastic laminate for ear loops that solves elongation challenges of surgical masks; and a high-loft nonwoven for FFP2 filtering masks.
The new film-nonwoven laminate, known as Gowfense, for disposable gowns, caps, shoe covers and clean air suits, is used, for example, as medical devices for patients and clinical staff, or in situations in which the agents to which workers are exposed may not be known, like sewage work, waste treatment and emergency cleaning.
Gowfense is a 54 gsm coextruded laminate of film and nonwoven spunbond. It is currently in compliance with the international standards of protection against infectious agents and has distinctive properties such as anti-staticity, non glossy, liquid impermeability, glueless, odorless and softness.
Meanwhile the new elastic laminate for ear loops was developed by Texol as a solution to the “dumbo” effect—the uncomfortable feeling around the ear after several hours of wearing a mask due to the high force retraction of its elastic cords. Rather than an elastic cord, Texol provides an elastic band to avoid this uncomfortable feeling. Ela-mask is a laminated material intended to show high elongation with low force retraction. The material is available in a basis weight of 100 gsm and has been tested on the main mask high speed converter machine proving good runnability and good bonding properties.
Looking ahead, Fabrizio Coladonato, commercial director, Texol, says the key factors driving growth in the market are the features of the materials and the manufacturing process. “The breathable films market, for example, is expected to be the fastest-growing application during the forecast period, as green products will be important, together with spunlace technology for clean production processes.”
Indian roll goods producer Welspun has also been developing new products for the medical market. ViroShield is the latest nonwoven innovation from the company to serve medical markets for gowns, drapes and other PPE applications other than face masks.
ViroShield has been developed using advanced hydroentanglement technology. It offers a unique polymer barrier layer which can be tailored to be breathable or non-breathable for superior comfort. The nonwoven layer is designed to be delicate, absorbent and antimicrobial, and to provide the right level of comfort and protection to healthcare workers around the world. ViroShield qualifies ASTM F1670 & ASTM F1671 (resistance to bloodborne pathogens).
During the pandemic, Welspun earmarked some of its spunlace capacity for non-critical and critical PPE applications. This meant developing both a basic level PPE and also one conforming to certified level/class/certification. This was done for both roll goods and temporarily for converted PPE formats, says Cherian Thomas, president & CEO, Welspun Advanced Textiles. “Subsequently we tapered down the converted PPE format as supply side conditions improved, and we continue to meet roll good demand,” he adds.
In the meantime, Welspun is invested in developing new sustainable spunlace solutions to the market. New capacity that the company will be adding will allow it to allocate more capacity to develop more products made of natural fibers including cotton and will help meet the more sophisticated demand conditions of the healthcare sector, Thomas says.
Headquartered in Marlborough, MA, Web Industries provides precision converting and contract manufacturing services to the medical, personal & home care, aerospace and industrial sectors. Nonwovens Industry spoke to Courtney Robinson, business development manager – Industrial & Consumer, Web Industries, about the surge in demand for PPE amid the coronavirus pandemic, as well as solutions that boost manufacturing efficiency.
Nonwovens Industry (NWI): What are Web’s capabilities in the medical nonwovens/PPE market, and how has Web helped PPE manufacturers meet growing demand?
Courtney Robinson (CR): Web Industries offers precision slitting and large-format spooling capabilities to nonwovens manufacturers. As demand surged for face masks, medical gowns and personal protective equipment (PPE) early in the pandemic, Web quickly ramped up production. We were able to slit large quantities of spunbond and meltblown used for triple-layer face coverings as well as the elastic ear loops and ties for face masks. We supplied these components in both pad rolls and spooled form to OEMs for final assembly of the face masks. Meanwhile, Web’s large cutting tables were used to cut one-piece and multiple-piece medical gowns.
In many cases, nonwovens manufacturers either did not have the necessary on-site slitting capabilities or did not want to slow production to do slitting in house, so they outsourced this work to Web. With Web supplying precision-slit materials ready for production, the OEMs could focus on their core competencies and maximize throughput.
NWI: What is the current level of demand for medical nonwovens/PPE, and what demand do you expect for the second half of 2021
and early 2022?
CR: Although PPE demand continues to be strong, it’s not the robust demand we saw when the pandemic began. The supply chain situation then was dire, with insufficient domestic production and a drive by the U.S. government to boost on-shore production.
We would expect 2022 domestic demand to decline as the number of fully vaccinated people increases and there’s a corresponding decrease in mask usage and hospitalizations. Of course, with the myriad of new Covid variants, this could change if large sections of the population remain unvaccinated and are susceptible to these new variants.
NWI: In an environment where nonwovens manufacturers are looking to reduce costs, how does spooling figure in?
CR: Spooling is an underutilized advantage that can dramatically boost manufacturing efficiency. New-generation extra-large-format spools can dispense over 500,000 linear feet of material between roll changes. Installed at the front end of production lines, they allow the lines to run up to 40 times as long as pad rolls, an alternative dispensing method. The large spools carry material in widths ranging from 1 to 12 inches.
NWI: What other advantages are associated with larger spools?
CR: Larger spools require fewer changeovers, allowing manufacturers to make better use of their labor resources. Instead of scurrying around to change rolls every 20 minutes or so, machine operators and workers can focus on more productive tasks, such as monitoring quality or servicing multiple machines. The large spools can potentially run for an entire shift.
Fewer changeovers also mean fewer splices, reducing the risk of human error. Also, small amounts of material are usually lost at the splicing point, resulting in waste. The waste can quickly mount, especially when multiple splices are needed per hour. Web’s large-format spools, in contrast, allow for cleaner splices, minimizing or even eliminating waste at the
splicing point.
NWI: What do manufacturers need to do to accommodate larger spools of nonwoven materials?
CR: Installing large-format and extra-large-format spools usually has a higher initial cost and requires a larger footprint. But this is generally outweighed by savings related to fewer stoppages for roll changes, less material waste and better use of labor resources.
Web can install a working spool and unwind on a trial basis at customer facilities. This allows customers to learn more about the spooling process and assess its benefits compared with other methods.