Tara Olivo, Associate Editor10.11.21
Converting companies are an integral part of the nonwovens supply chain. For all of the advantages the industry’s products provide, a lot has to happen prior to their end use. Nonwovens need to be cut into a variety of shapes and sizes, scaled down to become a single-use product, as well as printed, packaged and more. Sometimes the process is simple, and sometimes more complex, with converting companies using the latest technology to add value to products and make them easier to use. The following is a compilation of capabilities and services of some the nonwovens industry’s leading converters.
Albaad USA
Albaad USA is a subsidiary of Albaad Massuot Yitzhak, LLC, a multinational corporation headquartered in Israel. Albaad has eight manufacturing sites: A spunlace plant that operates three spunlace lines; a wetlaid plant that manufactures HydroFine fabric; a tampon manufacturing facility and five wipe converting facilities in Germany, Poland, Spain, Israel and the U.S.
Albaad is vertically integrated, manufacturing fabric and blending liquids, which are the major sources of cost and quality. Albaad drives sales through the application of technology to each of its products. The company looks for breakthrough innovations to drive sales of its wipes to the end users.
Albaad USA provides product for private label programs at retail, institutional healthcare products, and contract manufacturing for brands. Albaad produces all forms of wet wipes for personal care, hygiene, household cleaning, automotive, FDA registered OTC’s and EPA registered disinfectants. The North Carolina facility is certified ISO 9001:2015 & ISO 22716, and the facility is FSC certified.
The Albaad corporate team has a fully staffed R&D department and an engineering team to support each of its facilities. The North Carolina site can operate turnkey programs developing products from concept to production, or it can operate as a tolling facility.
In response to the Coronavirus pandemic, Albaad increased the capacity of all of its converting facilities. The North Carolina facility upgraded and added new lines increasing the site capacity by 60%. With the upgrades, Albaad USA has the capability to produce single flow wraps with dispenser lids, three-pack bundles, bags, tray-packs, display cartons and pallet displays.
The liquid blending facilities at the North Carolina facility have also been expanded. The site’s liquid capabilities include aqueous liquids, gels, emulsions, patented rich lotions (high viscosity) and patented creams. The system is fed by an RO Water system for water purity and is cleaned by a sophisticated Clean-In-Place System.
Albaad USA operates a micro lab on site, and routinely tests water, incoming materials and environmental monitoring plates for micro activity. Each batch of product is tested for beginning and end of run for micro acceptability. Albaad also operates a wet chemistry lab on site. Materials and products are tested on FTIR, UV Vis, HPLC and various titration processes for acceptability. Verifying the acceptability of its components and its product versus specifications is the core of Albaad’s quality system.
www.albaad.com
American FlexPack
American FlexPack is located in Green Bay, WI. Since 2000, the company has contract packaged single-use packettes and towelettes for a variety of brand leaders and private labelers. Customers benefit its extensive expertise to bring the best in production, as well as total support. With 124,000 square feet housing more than 30 efficient horizontal form, fill and seal pouch machines, American FlexPack’s team of packaging experts are here to successfully launch its customers’ nonwoven towel programs.
www.americanflexpack.com
Athea Laboratories
Athea Laboratories continues capital investment in new machinery to further improve manufacturing capacities and capabilities. Over the last 18 months Athea has purchased numerous machine upgrades including an entirely new production line to further emphasize its capabilities as a full turnkey wet wipes and a liquid product manufacturer with the ability to handle all manufacturing in-house.
With over 50 years of experience, Athea Laboratories is the leader in specialty wipes, liquid and powder contract manufacturing and packaging. Its expertise and experience gives customers an extensive variety of product formats to serve numerous end-user markets with a private labeled product. As an EPA and FDA facility, Athea’s manufacturing capabilities include custom wipe converting, custom formula development, blending services, on-site chemists, formula-substrate compatibility testing, graphics and technical and regulatory support. Athea can offer customers a turnkey solution to their packaging needs at low minimums.
www.athea.com
Beckmann Converting
Beckmann Converting, Inc, a toll laminator serving customers who make textile products for diverse industries and applications, is delivering laminating services to its customers uninterrupted while continually improving its technical and commercial capabilities despite Covid-19 pandemic challenges.
The U.S.-based company converts continuous, wide web, roll-to-roll customer owned technical materials into multiple layer high performance textile composites. Ultrasonic laminating lines process raw materials up to 126 inches wide with finished product incorporating two to seven layers of nonwovens, films, knits, wovens, meshes and other materials. Beckmann Converting operates on a fully registered ISO9001:2015 Quality Management Program.
A dramatic surge in new product development programs from both current and prospective customers is occurring. The number of laminating trials has risen sharply during 2021. Customers are working on highly accelerated timelines and moving to production stages more quickly.
Emerging from recent projects are new capabilities in laminating isolated “bonding lanes” in the machine direction. Customers working in medical, geotextile and filtration media markets are using this service for edge sealing layers of materials and “seaming” together narrower rolls to make wider webs.
Beckmann Converting launched a new website in August 2021 featuring innovative modules giving viewers direct access to critical information. “Buyer’s Journey” provides three specially curated paths through the website relevant for New Product Leaders, Manufacturing Capacity Leaders and Supply Chain Leaders. “Virtual Swatchbook” describes “roll patterns” available for ultrasonic laminating. Each roll pattern has a printable specification sheet accessible through the Swatchbook. A supplemental hard copy of textiles showing the bond patterns can be requested from the company.
www.beckmannconverting.com
Kleen Test Products
Kleen Test Products (KTP) is a family owned, financially strong business founded in 1943. KTP is one of five subsidiaries of Meridian Industries, Inc., and is headquartered in Port Washington, WI. With five manufacturing locations in Wisconsin and two in Ohio, KTP has become a trusted production partner to CPG companies both large and small. Known for innovation and strong relationships with suppliers and technology partners, KTP consistently delivers high quality products in the home health, personal care and home cleaning segments.
For the past 18 months, companies have been working through the changes and challenges throughout the industry. For Kleen Test Products, however, the pandemic has increased the focus on its core business and strengthened relationships with customers through the commitment to consistently deliver high quality products to meet expectations.
In order to deliver against the customer commitment, KTP has made significant investment in upgrading and automating manufacturing facilities, increasing production capacity and improving delivery and shipping logistics. Specifically at KTP’s Strasburg, OH, facility, the company has broken ground on the second expansion project in one year. The first expansion was completed in May and provides enhanced capability for bleach and peroxide products as well as adding truck docks to improve transportation logistics. The second expansion began in August and is expected to be completed in March 2022. Together, these expansions will almost triple the size of KTP’s manufacturing footprint in Strasburg and add a total of 12 new truck docks.
KTP’s continued focus on manufacturing high quality products to meet or exceed customer expectations and the long-term valued relationships with suppliers and technology partners have allowed KTP to not only survive the pandemic, but to strengthen core capabilities. As a result, the company is well positioned for growth and business success over the next several years and beyond.
www.kleentest.com
National Wiper Alliance
National Wiper Alliance, a business of Ecolab Inc., is recognized as the largest private-label contract converting operator in the United States. NWA’s expansive 500,000ft² production facility safely houses over 40 converting lines, including 10 new lines. Among these new lines, four are specific to perforated rolls used with canisters or buckets. NWA has built its reputation over the years through its customer-centric focus and unparalleled service. National Wiper Alliance remains an EPA registered facility, and has recently added FDA certification. NWA is registered to ISO 9001:2015 standards. Contact sales@nationalwiper.com for inquiries.
www.nationalwiper.com
Nonwovens of America
Operating a 5.4-meter airlay needlepunch line Nonwovens of America provides custom converting services utilizing a 99” wide rotary screen print line with 10-color digital print capabilities. Blanket lines, an inline calendar, slitting and re-rolling equipment operate alongside the impressive needlepunch line to accommodate polyester, polypropylene, rayon and tinsel materials.
Nonwovens of America’s key focus lies in automotive, retail, geotextile and the industrial industry. Emergency blankets are produced on site as well, with a substrate derived from recycled plastics. NOA provides customer service, product development, warehousing, logistics and distribution support in-house, yielding an excellent customer experience and a high-quality product.
Contact sales@nonwovensofamerica.com for inquiries.
OXCO
Established in 1994, OXCO supplies nonwoven fabrics, composites and contract converting to a variety of industries requiring reliable high-quality products and services. OXCO’s investment decisions are driven by collaboration with customers who desire to partner with OXCO to meet their goals and objectives.
In 2019 OXCO relocated to a brand new 150,000 square foot building in Fort Mill, SC, as part of a long-range plan to add additional products and services. Since 2019, OXCO has added three new pieces of production and converting equipment to complement the already diverse capabilities. OXCO’s fiberized hotmelt coating and lamination line is capable of processing materials up to 144” wide with breathable coating weights from 1.5 GSM to over 20 GSM.
In May of this year OXCO installed a single-beam meltblown production line that is producing products for healthcare, acoustic, filtration, composites and proprietary applications. Most recently OXCO installed a new 130” slitter rewinder with robust tension control with precision slitting tolerances.
With diverse production and converting capabilities OXCO continues to respond to customer and market demands. OXCO’s full production and converting capabilities include:
Sevincler
Sevincler is one of the leading hygienic products manufacturers in Turkey. The company is manufacturing a wide variety of hygienic items including baby diapers, baby pants, adult diapers, adult pants, wet wipes, underpads and sanitary napkins. The company is mostly exporting its products to more than 80 countries around the world. Sevincler is supplying both own brands and private labels to big chains and companies.
This year was a turning point for Sevincler; the company made an investment of €30 million for the construction of new 70,000 sqm plant in Gaziantep, Turkey. The company also added new baby pant, open baby diaper and adult pant lines to its production. Especially in adult incontinence, the company became one of the biggest suppliers in the region. Now, Sevincler is one of the three adult pant manufacturers in Turkey. Additionally, the company is now adapting its new production plant to Industry 4.0 by implementing new automation and palletizing systems and making transfer of goods from production to warehouse automatically.
www.sevinclersaglik.com
Web Industries
Converting specialist Web Industries is uniquely equipped to serve the nonwovens sector with regional manufacturing capacity and capabilities throughout the U.S. and in Western Europe.
“To understand why, we need to turn the clock back to early 2020 when Covid-19 brought the aerospace industry to a virtual standstill,” says Kevin Young, vice president of Corporate Development for Web Industries. “At that time, aerospace constituted Web Industries’ largest business segment. The situation forced us to look in a different direction for fresh business, and that direction was in the nonwovens and medical segments. We made a strategic pivot and prepared our equipment to format, slit and print nonwoven materials.”
The pivot challenged Web’s engineering and administrative resources but was eased by the company already having a foothold in the nonwovens segment, where it produces backsheets for baby diapers and adult incontinence products, as well as components for PPE.
“At the time of our transition to offset the decline in aerospace, the global nonwovens market began facing a series of supply chain complexities, and here, too, Covid-19 was the primary culprit,” Young says. “The pandemic interrupted nonwovens production in lower-cost regions like Vietnam where brands now face labor shortages and transportation issues that hinder the timely supply of product to the U.S. Add to that a worldwide shortage of shipping containers and you have a perfect nonwovens supply chain storm. Lower cost labor markets are becoming more expensive, and transportation costs are going through the roof. The supply channel has become very complex and expensive.
“As a result, brands are increasingly looking to onshore, or regionalize, manufacturing to offset these challenges, and Web is fully equipped to help. We can satisfy nonwovens conversion needs for feminine care, wipes, masks, aprons or nearly any other personal care or medical product category.”
www.webindustries.com
Albaad USA
Albaad USA is a subsidiary of Albaad Massuot Yitzhak, LLC, a multinational corporation headquartered in Israel. Albaad has eight manufacturing sites: A spunlace plant that operates three spunlace lines; a wetlaid plant that manufactures HydroFine fabric; a tampon manufacturing facility and five wipe converting facilities in Germany, Poland, Spain, Israel and the U.S.
Albaad is vertically integrated, manufacturing fabric and blending liquids, which are the major sources of cost and quality. Albaad drives sales through the application of technology to each of its products. The company looks for breakthrough innovations to drive sales of its wipes to the end users.
Albaad USA provides product for private label programs at retail, institutional healthcare products, and contract manufacturing for brands. Albaad produces all forms of wet wipes for personal care, hygiene, household cleaning, automotive, FDA registered OTC’s and EPA registered disinfectants. The North Carolina facility is certified ISO 9001:2015 & ISO 22716, and the facility is FSC certified.
The Albaad corporate team has a fully staffed R&D department and an engineering team to support each of its facilities. The North Carolina site can operate turnkey programs developing products from concept to production, or it can operate as a tolling facility.
In response to the Coronavirus pandemic, Albaad increased the capacity of all of its converting facilities. The North Carolina facility upgraded and added new lines increasing the site capacity by 60%. With the upgrades, Albaad USA has the capability to produce single flow wraps with dispenser lids, three-pack bundles, bags, tray-packs, display cartons and pallet displays.
The liquid blending facilities at the North Carolina facility have also been expanded. The site’s liquid capabilities include aqueous liquids, gels, emulsions, patented rich lotions (high viscosity) and patented creams. The system is fed by an RO Water system for water purity and is cleaned by a sophisticated Clean-In-Place System.
Albaad USA operates a micro lab on site, and routinely tests water, incoming materials and environmental monitoring plates for micro activity. Each batch of product is tested for beginning and end of run for micro acceptability. Albaad also operates a wet chemistry lab on site. Materials and products are tested on FTIR, UV Vis, HPLC and various titration processes for acceptability. Verifying the acceptability of its components and its product versus specifications is the core of Albaad’s quality system.
www.albaad.com
American FlexPack
American FlexPack is located in Green Bay, WI. Since 2000, the company has contract packaged single-use packettes and towelettes for a variety of brand leaders and private labelers. Customers benefit its extensive expertise to bring the best in production, as well as total support. With 124,000 square feet housing more than 30 efficient horizontal form, fill and seal pouch machines, American FlexPack’s team of packaging experts are here to successfully launch its customers’ nonwoven towel programs.
www.americanflexpack.com
Athea Laboratories
Athea Laboratories continues capital investment in new machinery to further improve manufacturing capacities and capabilities. Over the last 18 months Athea has purchased numerous machine upgrades including an entirely new production line to further emphasize its capabilities as a full turnkey wet wipes and a liquid product manufacturer with the ability to handle all manufacturing in-house.
With over 50 years of experience, Athea Laboratories is the leader in specialty wipes, liquid and powder contract manufacturing and packaging. Its expertise and experience gives customers an extensive variety of product formats to serve numerous end-user markets with a private labeled product. As an EPA and FDA facility, Athea’s manufacturing capabilities include custom wipe converting, custom formula development, blending services, on-site chemists, formula-substrate compatibility testing, graphics and technical and regulatory support. Athea can offer customers a turnkey solution to their packaging needs at low minimums.
www.athea.com
Beckmann Converting
Beckmann Converting, Inc, a toll laminator serving customers who make textile products for diverse industries and applications, is delivering laminating services to its customers uninterrupted while continually improving its technical and commercial capabilities despite Covid-19 pandemic challenges.
The U.S.-based company converts continuous, wide web, roll-to-roll customer owned technical materials into multiple layer high performance textile composites. Ultrasonic laminating lines process raw materials up to 126 inches wide with finished product incorporating two to seven layers of nonwovens, films, knits, wovens, meshes and other materials. Beckmann Converting operates on a fully registered ISO9001:2015 Quality Management Program.
A dramatic surge in new product development programs from both current and prospective customers is occurring. The number of laminating trials has risen sharply during 2021. Customers are working on highly accelerated timelines and moving to production stages more quickly.
Emerging from recent projects are new capabilities in laminating isolated “bonding lanes” in the machine direction. Customers working in medical, geotextile and filtration media markets are using this service for edge sealing layers of materials and “seaming” together narrower rolls to make wider webs.
Beckmann Converting launched a new website in August 2021 featuring innovative modules giving viewers direct access to critical information. “Buyer’s Journey” provides three specially curated paths through the website relevant for New Product Leaders, Manufacturing Capacity Leaders and Supply Chain Leaders. “Virtual Swatchbook” describes “roll patterns” available for ultrasonic laminating. Each roll pattern has a printable specification sheet accessible through the Swatchbook. A supplemental hard copy of textiles showing the bond patterns can be requested from the company.
www.beckmannconverting.com
Kleen Test Products
Kleen Test Products (KTP) is a family owned, financially strong business founded in 1943. KTP is one of five subsidiaries of Meridian Industries, Inc., and is headquartered in Port Washington, WI. With five manufacturing locations in Wisconsin and two in Ohio, KTP has become a trusted production partner to CPG companies both large and small. Known for innovation and strong relationships with suppliers and technology partners, KTP consistently delivers high quality products in the home health, personal care and home cleaning segments.
For the past 18 months, companies have been working through the changes and challenges throughout the industry. For Kleen Test Products, however, the pandemic has increased the focus on its core business and strengthened relationships with customers through the commitment to consistently deliver high quality products to meet expectations.
In order to deliver against the customer commitment, KTP has made significant investment in upgrading and automating manufacturing facilities, increasing production capacity and improving delivery and shipping logistics. Specifically at KTP’s Strasburg, OH, facility, the company has broken ground on the second expansion project in one year. The first expansion was completed in May and provides enhanced capability for bleach and peroxide products as well as adding truck docks to improve transportation logistics. The second expansion began in August and is expected to be completed in March 2022. Together, these expansions will almost triple the size of KTP’s manufacturing footprint in Strasburg and add a total of 12 new truck docks.
KTP’s continued focus on manufacturing high quality products to meet or exceed customer expectations and the long-term valued relationships with suppliers and technology partners have allowed KTP to not only survive the pandemic, but to strengthen core capabilities. As a result, the company is well positioned for growth and business success over the next several years and beyond.
www.kleentest.com
National Wiper Alliance
National Wiper Alliance, a business of Ecolab Inc., is recognized as the largest private-label contract converting operator in the United States. NWA’s expansive 500,000ft² production facility safely houses over 40 converting lines, including 10 new lines. Among these new lines, four are specific to perforated rolls used with canisters or buckets. NWA has built its reputation over the years through its customer-centric focus and unparalleled service. National Wiper Alliance remains an EPA registered facility, and has recently added FDA certification. NWA is registered to ISO 9001:2015 standards. Contact sales@nationalwiper.com for inquiries.
www.nationalwiper.com
Nonwovens of America
Operating a 5.4-meter airlay needlepunch line Nonwovens of America provides custom converting services utilizing a 99” wide rotary screen print line with 10-color digital print capabilities. Blanket lines, an inline calendar, slitting and re-rolling equipment operate alongside the impressive needlepunch line to accommodate polyester, polypropylene, rayon and tinsel materials.
Nonwovens of America’s key focus lies in automotive, retail, geotextile and the industrial industry. Emergency blankets are produced on site as well, with a substrate derived from recycled plastics. NOA provides customer service, product development, warehousing, logistics and distribution support in-house, yielding an excellent customer experience and a high-quality product.
Contact sales@nonwovensofamerica.com for inquiries.
OXCO
Established in 1994, OXCO supplies nonwoven fabrics, composites and contract converting to a variety of industries requiring reliable high-quality products and services. OXCO’s investment decisions are driven by collaboration with customers who desire to partner with OXCO to meet their goals and objectives.
In 2019 OXCO relocated to a brand new 150,000 square foot building in Fort Mill, SC, as part of a long-range plan to add additional products and services. Since 2019, OXCO has added three new pieces of production and converting equipment to complement the already diverse capabilities. OXCO’s fiberized hotmelt coating and lamination line is capable of processing materials up to 144” wide with breathable coating weights from 1.5 GSM to over 20 GSM.
In May of this year OXCO installed a single-beam meltblown production line that is producing products for healthcare, acoustic, filtration, composites and proprietary applications. Most recently OXCO installed a new 130” slitter rewinder with robust tension control with precision slitting tolerances.
With diverse production and converting capabilities OXCO continues to respond to customer and market demands. OXCO’s full production and converting capabilities include:
- Slitting and Rewinding - max 150”, min .5”
- Small Roll Slitting and Rewinding
- Coreless Rewinding
- Perforating - minimum perf length of 6”
- Sheeting
- Baloney Slicing
- Roll Folding- max 120”
- Continuous Sewing
- Flexographic Printing - max width of 122”
- Coating and Laminating - max 144”, min 72”
- Meltblown Nonwoven - 64”
Sevincler
Sevincler is one of the leading hygienic products manufacturers in Turkey. The company is manufacturing a wide variety of hygienic items including baby diapers, baby pants, adult diapers, adult pants, wet wipes, underpads and sanitary napkins. The company is mostly exporting its products to more than 80 countries around the world. Sevincler is supplying both own brands and private labels to big chains and companies.
This year was a turning point for Sevincler; the company made an investment of €30 million for the construction of new 70,000 sqm plant in Gaziantep, Turkey. The company also added new baby pant, open baby diaper and adult pant lines to its production. Especially in adult incontinence, the company became one of the biggest suppliers in the region. Now, Sevincler is one of the three adult pant manufacturers in Turkey. Additionally, the company is now adapting its new production plant to Industry 4.0 by implementing new automation and palletizing systems and making transfer of goods from production to warehouse automatically.
www.sevinclersaglik.com
Web Industries
Converting specialist Web Industries is uniquely equipped to serve the nonwovens sector with regional manufacturing capacity and capabilities throughout the U.S. and in Western Europe.
“To understand why, we need to turn the clock back to early 2020 when Covid-19 brought the aerospace industry to a virtual standstill,” says Kevin Young, vice president of Corporate Development for Web Industries. “At that time, aerospace constituted Web Industries’ largest business segment. The situation forced us to look in a different direction for fresh business, and that direction was in the nonwovens and medical segments. We made a strategic pivot and prepared our equipment to format, slit and print nonwoven materials.”
The pivot challenged Web’s engineering and administrative resources but was eased by the company already having a foothold in the nonwovens segment, where it produces backsheets for baby diapers and adult incontinence products, as well as components for PPE.
“At the time of our transition to offset the decline in aerospace, the global nonwovens market began facing a series of supply chain complexities, and here, too, Covid-19 was the primary culprit,” Young says. “The pandemic interrupted nonwovens production in lower-cost regions like Vietnam where brands now face labor shortages and transportation issues that hinder the timely supply of product to the U.S. Add to that a worldwide shortage of shipping containers and you have a perfect nonwovens supply chain storm. Lower cost labor markets are becoming more expensive, and transportation costs are going through the roof. The supply channel has become very complex and expensive.
“As a result, brands are increasingly looking to onshore, or regionalize, manufacturing to offset these challenges, and Web is fully equipped to help. We can satisfy nonwovens conversion needs for feminine care, wipes, masks, aprons or nearly any other personal care or medical product category.”
www.webindustries.com
