Nonwovens by FDI

On October 8, Nonwovens Industry published an article about flushable moist toilet paper packaged a little differently:  on a roll.   Because consumers are far more accustomed to their toilet tissue being packaged on a convenient roll, this innovation a good candidate to be embraced throughout the consumer world. 

On November 1, Stanley Biwott of Kenya blazed through the famed New York City Marathon in 2 hours 10 minutes 34 seconds.  In 2015, there were 50,530 finishers in the New York City Marathon and, while the official numbers haven’t yet been tallied at this writing, all bets are on this year’s marathon being larger than the last.

But what do nonwoven fabrics have to do with the New York City Marathon?  I can think of a few reasons why this marathon, and many other athletic events, always brings nonwovens to the top of my mind. 

We’ve talked about it before, hiring and keeping top talent in manufacturing is a challenge in today’s employment environment. In February 2015, the US Labor Department estimated that there were roughly 138 million jobs in the United States. In 2014, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that just over 250,000 workers in the United States were classified as production workers. Almost 325,000 were inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers and weighers. Over 835,000 workers were team assemblists and approximately 400,000 were machinists and purchasing agents in the manufacturing sector.

Sustainability is the buzzword of the day. Everyone is looking to reduce environmental impacts and create products using "green" methods and materials. This year, Nonwovens Industry published an article about a company using pineapple leaves to develop a sustainable nonwoven fabric as a leather alternative. The company uses a needlepunch technology to convert extracted fibers from the leaves into nonwoven fabric. They hope to offer their product to converting manufacturers this year.

In the manufacturing environment, there can be communication blocks between management personnel and the team members working on the manufacturing floor. These blocks can create discontent and affect work production. In order to manufacture quality products, inspire innovation and retain skilled workers, there should be plans in place to ensure that ideas and information flow smoothly throughout all areas of your manufacturing company.

I was just looking at the calendar and realized that 2015 is slipping away.  It’s time to decide about registering for INDA’s Filtration 2015 happening November 17-19 in the Windy City.  Both INDA members and non-members who register by October 12 get a pretty decent break on the conference price; the same is true of the pre-conference Filter Media Training Course. 

Nonwoven fabrics are widely used in automotive manufacturing, even if the customer driving the car doesn’t know it. While there may not actually be 101 uses for a nonwoven in a vehicle, there are around 40 different applications. As a matter of fact, on average there are around 38 yards of nonwoven fabrics inside every vehicle.

It’s important to stay abreast of the latest trends, techniques and information in the nonwovens industry. There are several more conferences in 2015 that you may want to consider attending.

The variety of products to be removed from a liquid stream ranges from practically invisible to the naked eye to larger solids.   One of the first major considerations for converters when designing an end-use liquid filtration product is the size of the solids to be removed from the liquid stream.   That, however, is not the only consideration.

How do you do most of your business with nonwoven manufacturers and converters? Over the past many years, the way to get business done was with a phone call. Perhaps it was to someone you’ve done business with before. Or perhaps the phone call was to someone you were referred to by your colleague in the industry.