After the wipes boom: a decade of wipes growth, new investment and consolidation, have left manufacturers figuring out their strategy for the future.

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For a while, you just couldn't go wrong in the spunlace market. Everyday, it seemed, a new line or plant purchase was being announced as the entire nonwovens industry seemed geared toward growing its presence in wipes.

And, who could blame them? A quick look at the products lining grocery store shelves proves these investments were justified. From 2000 to 20007, the global wipes market tripled thanks to new applications in personal care and household care applications. At the same time, spunlaced nonwovens were growing their share in this market as more wipes converters chose it over competing airlaid. Nonwovens manufacturers were eager to grab a piece of this pie. Companies ranging from multinationals like Ahlstrom and Fiberweb (then BBA) to smaller regional players like Orlandi in Italy, Tenotex in Spain, Green Bay Nonwovens in Wisconsin, Spuntech in Israel and Switzerland's Jacob Holm were aggressively investing in their spunlaced arsenals, acts that led not only to a surge in global capacity but also a period of industry consolidation as Fiberweb bought a few smaller European players and then sold its entire spunlaced business to Ahlstrom, which also bought Orlandi and Green Bay Nonwovens. At the same time, investment was particularly heavy in North America, where Procter & Gamble decided to switch much of its baby wipes business from airlaid to spunlace.

The 2006-2007 period saw capital investment including the addition of a second line at the former Green Bay Nonwovens plant (by Ahlstrom) as well as North American investment by Jacob Holm and Spuntech, both in North Carolina--not to mention a new Sandler investment in Germany and an Ahlstrom line in Brazil.

Now, after a period of such activity, it seems the dust is settling on the global spunlace market. Ahlstrom has announced a few plant closures, wishing to streamline its massive spunlaced business, blaming weakened demand on these measures. 'The weakening market demand in the second part of last year and in the first quarter of 2009, combined with a notable overcapacity in the European market made it necessary to take measures to adjust operations by reducing production capacity and costs," said company spokesman Marco Martinez.

Ahlstrom announced in January it was closing its Gallarate and Carbonate, Italy sites and shutting down one line in its Cressa, Italy plant. No product lines were discontinued as a result of these measures.

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Also shutting down a line, albeit temporarily, is DuPont Nonwovens, which in May idled a straight fiber spunlace line in Old Hickory, TN. The line, executives said, was targeted largely at the wipes market, which has seen a slowdown due to the global economic crisis.

Despite these closures, many remain bullish about the global spunlace market. Particularly, Jacob Holm, the Swiss manufacturer that has seen its sales soar from $104 million in 2005 to $172 million in 2007.

"We are still seeing moderate growth in wipes, plus significant growth in spunlace applications in North America," said Stephen Landone, CEO. "And, we are seeing significant growth for the wipes market in general as well as continued displacement of airlaid in Eastern Europe."

Mr. Landone credits much of this growth to the continued ramp-up of its North American spunlace line. Added in 2006, the line continues to grow its sales as more sophisticated, valueadded products replace less expensive materials. Mr. Landone said he predicts that a second U.S. line will be announced in the next 18 months-the first was added in 2006--as the company looks for improvements in the general economic condition.

In Western Europe, where Jacob Holm makes spunlaced nonwovens in Soultz, France, spunlaced nonwovens are not growing as quickly. Growth in the wipes market has plateaued, and the market's conversion to spunlace is complete, Mr. Landone continued.

Meanwhile, spunlace expert Sandler has dealt with maturity in the European wipes market by constantly examining new application areas to supply functional products for as-yet unexploited applications areas. "Thus, apart from baby care applications, we are developing and producing innovative products for industrial cleaning, household cleaning, feminine care and technical applications," said Ulrich Hornfeck, sales director.

Sandler's second spunlace line was completed last year, allowing the German company to reduce the basis weights of its new wipes generation, making the product more ecologically friendly while maintaining its quality and functionality. "The result is a price-performance ratio that is already up to future market demands," he added.

Vanilla, Chocolate or Strawberry?

Many executives interviewed by NONWOVENS INDUSTRY referred to this price-performance ratio as an important strategy for a successful spunlace business. While it can fetch large volumes, plain vanilla spunlace is unable to offer product diversification to marketers and the only way to compete in this market is through price, difficult to achieve for the smaller manufacturers, a spate of innovations-ranging from alternative raw materials to finishing techniques to value-added options--have popped up throughout all areas of the supply chain for spunlace.

At Ahlstrom, for example, a wide range of wipes technologies featuring some unique capabilities is on the menu. The latest additions are three-layer SPC fabrics and Airlace pulpcontaining wipes. The SPC technology is practically unique to Ahlstrom and it allows sandwiching a layer pulp between a spunbond layer and a carded stapled fiber web. The composite structure can then be thermally embossed. Also, airlaid pulp-containing wipes are in line with one of the key priorities in the development efforts of many Ahlstrom product lines, using increasing percentages of natural fibers such as pulp.

"This has a two-fold objective, increase the use of a renewable and biodegradable raw material, thus making the fabric more sustainable, and at the same time delivering specific performance features, for example, increased absorption," Mr. Martinez said.

Wipes Get PC

Probably in no other nonwovens market has the push toward sustainability been so great as it has been in wipes-and by extension spunlaced nonwovens. As consumers become more concerned about the total lifecycle analysis of the products they use, they are looking for wipes made from sustainable raw materials or products that will biodegrade or disperse after use.

On the end use side, this has led to the creation of several eco-friendly wipes offerings including Clorox GreenWorks wipes, several Method brand wet wipes and floor cleaning cloths and a number of dispersible and flushable products. On the substrate side, it has led to the creation of several products made from alternative raw materials and through greener processes.

One spunlace substrate making strides in this area is Suominen's Biolace. Launched two years ago, Biolace is that company's answer to the question, "How can wipes be ecofriendly?" Containing sustainable raw materials, such as NatureWorks' Ingeo fibers based on corn rather than petroleum, these products use less energy to be made and do not use up valuable, non-replaceable raw materials.

"Our 100% biodegradable Biolace is constantly gaining more foothold on the market, since sustainability and environment friendliness are becoming increasingly important for everyone," said Paul-Erik Toivo, vice president and general manager of Suominen Wiping. "As a responsible producer, our aim is to provide customers and end users with products that meet their demands while using all raw materials and other resources as efficiently as possible. We also work hard to reduce the amount of energy and water used in our production processes, and we recycle our waste. Our customers share our vision for a more eco-friendly future."

Meanwhile, driving down the cost basis of spunlace has also been a top priority. PGI has achieved this through the development of its Spinlace proprietary technology, which creates a lower basis weight substrate without sacrificing bulk, elongation and tear strength. Two years after its launch, Spinlace was already chosen by Clorox for a major restage of its disinfectant wipes line.

"PGI's Spinlace Technology, where continuous filaments and airlaid short fibers are bonded via PGI's proprietary Apex three-dimensional technology, is a strong sustainable brand, which is a focus for us," said Bob Dale, PGI's vice president of research and development. "The carbon footprint is minimized in that fibers are not being manufactured separately and transported to another site for integration into a substrate."

Going Global

With the wipes market facing saturation in Western Europe and growth slowing down somewhat in North America, there is only one option for the spunlace manufacturer who wants to grow--globalization. At this year's Asian Nonwovens Exposition, the halls were full of spunlace manufacturers touting their product for the wipes market, suggesting that China may be the next big growth market for the technology.

According to Kirk Hwang, of Taiwanese nonwovens producer KNH, there is a lot of spunlace in China, but it's segmented into different quality categories. "Only a small percentage of spunlace is actually qualified for good manufacturing practices; the majority is okay for general practice but when microbial control is required, like in hygiene, there is a shortage," he said.

A maker of qualified spunlaced nonwovens, KNH's business has largely been driven by growth in the wipes market. The company is currently making about 8000 tons of the spunlace per year and that figure should hit 10,000 tons by the end of this year as more capacity on its second line is utilized. "We are still using the machine for new product development," Mr. Hwang added.

"Wipes continue to drive growth," he said. "Overall, we saw baby care wipes come down but at the same time adult wipes and medical wipes improved. Part of it is that technology has allowed wipes to be more affordable, particularly in Asia."

Spunlace machinery manufacturers have had great success in China, providing customers with the means of making a product that can meet the stringent needs of hygiene. German spunlace equipment supplier Fleissner announced this spring that ShaoXing Hezhong Fiber Co. had ordered its fourth Fleissner spunlace line, a 3.6 meter, medium-speed line dedicated largely to the domestic and export wipes market. The line can make plain, perforated or embossed wipes. "ShaoXing Hezhong has really emerged as one of our best customers," said Rudiger Weinhardt, director of sales for Fleissner. "The Chinese government gives companies loans for making innovative materials and that has really helped the nonwovens market here."

Around the same time, another spunlace manufacturer, France's Rieter Perfojet, said it had sold a new spunlace line to China's Zhejiang Shaoxing County Zhuangjie Nonwovens.

This spunlace line--the company's third--can produce 5000 tons per year with fabric weights ranging from 30 to 100 gpsm. The line is expected to be in operation in the third quarter of 2009.

Spunlace investment is also occur ring beyond China. Ahlstrom completed construction on its new spunlace line in Brazil late last year. The plant-the region's first reported site dedicated solely to spunlace nonwovens--primarily focuses on customers within the household and industrial wipes segments in Brazil and Latin America, which has been described as an important growth market.

Of course, global investment is not the answer for every company. Some are happy to focus on what they have and patiently wait for economies to rebound and wipes growth to spike once more.

"To grow one's business is a challenge for each spunlace producer at the moment," said Suominen's Mr. Toivo. "Our response to the current global economical situation is to streamline the product portfolio, launch new value-add products and produce only against customer orders."

By Karen Mclntyre

editor