Oerlikon Neumag To Expand Spunlaid Pilot Plant; Consolidate Spunbond, Meltblown R&D

Germany-based Oerlikon Neumag, a business unit of Oerlikon Textile GmbH & Co. KG, will add a J&M meltblown beam and a second spunbond beam to its existing one-beam spunbond line in its Spunbond Solution Center at its headquarters.

The expansion, which will necessitate the temporary suspension of customer trials, will begin in early 2008 and is expected to be complete approximately six months later. According to Oerlikon Neumag, the updated facility will enable the company to present the full capabilities of its spunbond and meltblown technologies in spunbond/meltblown/spunbond (SMS) materials, as well as enable further development of multibeam processes and composite materials.

In other company news, Oerlikon Neumag will consolidate its spunbond and meltblown research and development (R&D) operations at its headquarters, closing down a bicomponent SMS pilot line in Dawsonville, Ga., that was included in its October 2006 acquisition of Nordson Fiber Systems Group.

According to Oerlikon Neumag, the consolidation will allow it to optimize spunbond and meltblown development activities and better integrate them with its other nonwovens technologies.

“With this move, we not only concentrate our R&D activities at our headquarters, but we also provide our customers fully integrated state-of-art pilot facilities,” said Dr. Tarik Vardag, head of Oerlikon Neumag.

The Dawsonville pilot plant will remain open through March 2008 to allow completion of previously scheduled programs requiring use of the equipment.

January/February 2008