Manmade Fibers business unit of the Swiss Oerlikon Group is starting a strategic partnership with the Italy's Teknoweb Materials s.r.l. Bringing the expertise of the two companies together targets expanding the portfolio of nonwovens production systems by entering the fast-growing market for disposable nonwovens. At the Index trade fair, the most important worldwide event for the nonwovens industry, held this year in Geneva (Switzerland), Oerlikon announced the mutual agreement of the two companies with an aim of founding a jointly-owned business entity within a few weeks following the event. Thus, Oerlikon reinforces its Oerlikon Neumag nonwovens systems specialist within the Manmade Fibers segment.
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Fabio Zampollo, CEO of Teknoweb Materials (left) and Rainer Straub, head of Oerlikon Neumag (right) |
Fabio Zampollo, CEO of Teknoweb Materials: "Our aim was to join forces with a strategic investor with outstanding know-how, excellent technologies and machine and systems solutions. Oerlikon offers all these from a single source. Furthermore, we will in future also profit from professional engineering and the global service network of the entire Oerlikon Manmade Fibers segment".
Teknoweb Materials is a reputable technology provider specializing in nonwovens used for producing disposable items. The proprietary patented Arvell® technology provides for exceptionally power-efficient wipes production: the more reliable spunbond-airlaid process of nonwovens production is used instead of the complex carded-spunlace one. The technology goes without hydroentanglement and spares the subsequent drying, resulting in significant power and cost savings for customers. On the other hand, Oerlikon Neumag has expertise in the manufacture of technical (durable) nonwovens. The new joint technology platform offers high synergy potentials and fundamentals for introducing advanced products more promptly.
With a volume of around CHF 300 million and growth potential of 4...5% within the next few years, the market for disposable nonwovens is particularly motivating for Oerlikon Neumag. This will allow for expanding the company's machine and systems solutions to one of the fastest-growing areas within the overall nonwovens sector. The proprietary innovative airlaid, meltblown and spunbond technologies of Oerlikon combined with the Teknoweb's innovative solutions for nonwovens will guarantee an excellent market access with a global S&S network for the new business entity.
CEO of the Oerlikon Manmade Fibers, Georg Stausberg, thus commented on the news: "Oerlikon Neumag gains access to innovative technologies, hence expanding its product portfolio as a total solutions provider for nonwovens production systems. This allows us to expand into an attractive new market. Not least, the collaboration underlines our strategy of broadening the Manmade Fibers segment product offerings, with the aim of making its overall portfolio — currently with its primary focus on the filament business — more balanced in the long term."
At Index 2017 that was held April 4 to 7, Teknoweb Materials and Oerlikon Neumag have displayed an extensive range of efficient technologies for nonwovens production. The experts of both companies have advised on process solutions for various applications of nonwovens, e.g. automotive, roofing, geotextiles, filtration, medical and throwaway nonwovens.
