ANDRITZ at INDEX 2020

• February 04, 2020

The broad ANDRITZ product portfolio covers state-of-the-art nonwovens and textile production technologies such as air-through bonding, needlepunch, spunlace, spunbond, wetlaid, converting and textile finishing.

What’s been happening at ANDRITZ since INDEX 2017?

ANDRITZ Diatec, Italy now part of the ANDRITZ GROUP

With the acquisition of ANDRITZ Diatec, ANDRITZ enlarged its product portfolio to include state-of-the-art converting lines for the hygiene, lamination, medical and food pad sectors. A wide range of special machines and technologies for the production of baby diapers and pants, adult incontinence underpants, adult diapers and pants, adult light incontinence products, sanitary napkins, panty shields, food pads, medical and laminating applications extend the supply and value chain of ANDRITZ. The converting process for hygiene products requires premium quality standards, high capacities, and top-level production efficiency by reducing labor costs and machine downtime. Every detail is essential. This is why customers can develop and run trials on ANDRITZ pilot facilities to optimize raw materials, roll goods and final product applications.

At INDEX 2020, ANDRITZ Diatec will present its new adult pants line, which offers top-class components and an innovative technology process. The growing market for adult incontinence products has resulted in a state-of-the-art process with highest quality standards, such as the development of ultrasonic side seam solutions with excellent results in terms of bond strength and system reliability. The machine speed no longer limits quality bonds. As a result, operations and size changes are faster and easier. The modern forming system for higher SAP concentration and the turning and placing system guarantee maximum process stability and put customers’ adult pants at the top of the adult hygiene market. Learn more at INDEX.

Trends and Innovations in the hygiene machinery business

Sustainability is more than just a trend in the nonwovens industry. It is a serious responsibility for the entire world for the years and decades to come. The strong demand to reduce the use of plastics, save energy and increase efficiency is a clear innovation factor for the nonwoven industry and has led to newly developed production processes. ANDRITZ has always invested in future-oriented technologies that reduce the use of the various substances and raw materials required as well as cutting energy consumption. For the hygiene business, ANDRITZ provides first-class air-through bonding, spunlaid, spunjet, spunlace and Wetlace^TM machines, as well as converting technologies and corresponding services to meet these demands for years to come.

One great highlight of ANDRITZ at INDEX will be the introduction of innovative technologies for the production of “green”/biodegradable products. Such processes for the production of biodegradable wipes are achieving high performance entirely with natural and/or renewable raw materials. The added benefit of using a blend of fibers, like wood pulp, short-cut cellulosic staple fibers, viscose, cotton, hemp, bamboo or linen, without chemical additives or binders results in a 100% biodegradable fabric, thus meeting customers’ needs exactly as well as supporting the strong tendency to move away from plastics and synthetics.

In response to the demand to save raw materials, ANDRITZ will be presenting its neXline spunlace for lightweight fabrics. Decreasing weight per square meter while maintaining high MD and CD tensile strength is the main challenge. Indeed, fibers account for a substantial part of the production costs. Very high productivity is needed for the lighter fabrics required with perfect uniformity. ANDRITZ provides the well-known TT card web forming and the high-performance Jetlace hydroentanglement units that can more than fulfill these challenges. The spunlace roll goods may achieve weights of 25 gsm and even less for ultralight spunlace fabrics, and web uniformity is excellent.

Another highlight at INDEX will be the latest technology developments in the spunlaid sector. Besides the well-known calender technologies, ANDRITZ also delivers Spunjet technologies, finishing solutions, and state-of-the-art dryers. Customers can produce the exact fabric characteristics they need with superior ANDRITZ technologies. The patented nonwovens process called Spunjet is the in-line hydroentanglement of continuous filaments, creating a new generation of spunlaid nonwovens with unrivalled bulkiness and softness compared to standard spunbond fabrics. Spunjet offers customers the best properties ever achieved in existing and new nonwovens applications.

Process and product optimization to expand customers' business opportunities for years to come

In order to optimize processes and gain a faster return on investment, ANDRITZ is continuously developing innovative products, for example in the needlepunch segment with the brand new ProWin technology for profile weight correction. This unit combines the well-known technologies ProWid and ProDyn, enabling even better performance. By uniting these processes, customers have an even more homogeneous web and can reduce the input of raw materials. ProWin minimizes the level of instantaneous acceleration as well as the maximum internal speeds. As a consequence, the same machine can run faster with less mechanical stress. ProWin can also be retrofitted to recent ProDyn installations.

ANDRITZ always has the customers’ needs in focus. With new development of the unique PA3000 pre-needleloom, ANDRITZ is responding to customer demands for higher capacities and lighter products. The PA3000 is an optimized cylinder pre-needleloom, which offers greater speeds and widths and has been specially developed for lighter webs. There is no friction between the web and the rolls, and there are no issues with the visual appearance.

In addition to further technological development of its machinery and equipment, ANDRITZ relies strongly on smart IIoT products and solutions developed in-house by ANDRITZ and marketed under its technology brand Metris. Metris products are specifically tailored to the needs of ANDRITZ’s customers and help them to achieve their goals in terms of productivity and sustainability. Metris products offer effective and intelligent methods to successfully digitalize industrial production processes, data are continuously analyzed, and the machines, plants and their production operations are networked and optimized. At INDEX, ANDRITZ will highlight the benefits of the first industrial Metris installation.

Running complete lines calls for in-depth expertise in nonwovens technology, excellent service and prompt support. Most recently, ANDRITZ introduced the new 24/7 remote diagnostic service. Customers save time and money by obtaining fast support through this service. ANDRITZ remote assistance is based on three pillars: 24/7 service hotline, online diagnostics and augmented reality support. The dedicated teams of ANDRITZ experts supervised by customer care specialists are ready to assist customers with any mechanical, electrical, process and fully remote connection service – any time.