The World Nonwovens Industry: Part 3--Ten Smaller Producers Shows

Tag : spunlace roll
Research andMarkets has announced the addition of the "The World Nonwovens Industry:Part 3—Ten Smaller Producers" report to their offering.
Worldwide sales of nonwoven roll goods continued their mid-singledigit growth in 2006 to surpass US$16 bn. Sales of the ten smallerproducers profiled in this report—which rank from number 31to number 40 among the world's leading companies—rangedindividually from US$71 mn to US$100 mn and together accounted forabout 5% of the global total.
These producers include relatively new players as well as longestablished ones. Two Italian producers—Union Industries andAlbis—were both established in the 1990s and focus mainly onthe hygiene market. Rexcell, a newcomer to the top 40, became thefirst European maker of commercial air-laid nonwovens in 1982 whenit established a small production line in Sweden. Unitika is thelargest manufacturer of polyester spunbonds in Japan.
Internationalisation and investment are helping to drive industrygrowth. KNH has recently invested in a spunlace line in China, andthis will be followed by a second spunlace line in 2008. UnionIndustries has recently added a Reicofil 4 SSS(spunbond/spunbond/spunbond) line, which has raised its annualcapacity from 45,000 tons to 60,000 tons. Textilgruppe Hof,following recent investment, is now offering spunlaced nonwovens,branded Zetajet, which will be targeted at automotive, filtrationand various speciality end uses. In Australia TenCate Geosynthetics(formerly Polyfelt) has increased its capacity at GeofabricsAustralasia, a 50/50 joint venture with Kaymac Group.
Other drivers of growth are new technologies and product markets.SP2C and Easy Care interlining products from Textilgruppe Hof havecoatings to enhance performance in fashion fabrics. The samecompany is offering a new generation of mouldable nonwovens for usein trunk applications and wheel arch covers, as well as a newtechnology to manufacture multi-axial fabrics for the compositesindustry. It has also developed non-flammable nonwovens forautomotive applications. Precision Custom Coatings has diversifiedinto OmniStretch hydroentangled liners for the automotive market.Kuraray has commercialised nonwovens made from Vectran, which usesliquid crystal polymer technology. Suominen has introduced a neweco-friendly wipe substrate called Biolace.