We join you wherever possible – recap of recent conferences BCH, Tappi, Outlook

BCH conference, New Delhi, India

In September, ANDRITZ Sales Director André Michalon joined the BCH conference in New Delhi, India.

His topic was the "Latest developments in nonwovens for hygiene".

André focused especially on products from spunlace product lines, but also on other machine elements such as calenders for nonwovens and air-through bonding.

This presentation came from the point of view of producers in the hygiene industry – on the one hand because of the enormous opportunities available in these markets, which are characterized by high growth rates, but also because of the enormous competitive pressure, which has a special impact on the efficiency requirements for such production lines in the hygiene sector.

This means that the producer with the most efficient production solution has a clear advantage. Added to this are the ever-increasing demands on the materials: less weight per square meter, more softness and bulkiness, and also the production capacity already mentioned.

All in all, André was very successful in demonstrating how ANDRITZ technology covers the demand for intelligent solutions in the huge hygiene products market.

If you would like to see the full presentation, please click here

Mat Fiber Conference of the TAPPI organization, Fort Worth, Texas

A completely different topic was presented by ANDRITZ Business Development Manager Leo Bos from Fort Worth, Texas, together with his colleagues Henning Vomhof and Mark Janulis from Global Sales.

At the Mat Fiber Conference of the TAPPI organization, the focus lay on long-lasting products. Against the background of the recent cooperation with Saint Gobain in the wetlaid sector for glass fibers, the topic was elaborated with considerable technical depth, and it was a very challenging presentation overall, aimed primarily at addressees who appreciate technological details.

The markets in general for end-products made of glass fiber composite material are growing continuously (see also the article entitled “Wetlaid for glass fibers”).

If you are interested in the finer details of the presentation held at TAPPI by Leo and colleagues, you can find it here in full length

EDANA Outlook conference, Athens, Greece

The most recent event was Outlook 2019 from October 09–11 in Athens, hosted by EDANA, the umbrella organization for nonwovens.

The Outlook is traditionally a trend event featuring high-caliber keynote speakers (this year Robert Ward, Editorial Director of the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) from the UK, and Daria Krivonos, CEO of CIFS) and trendsetting topics. The spectrum of participants and visitors mainly comprised representatives of the top management in the nonwovens industry.

This year's topics were "Building Trust", "Circularity", "Global perspective" and "Innovation & product developments".

ANDRITZ Nonwoven delegated Tobias Schäfer, Vice President Sales, Didier Vulliet, Vice President Technology, and André Michalon, Vice President Sales, to Athens in order to honor the importance of the event.

The ANDRITZ participants were very satisfied with Outlook 2019 as a whole, the networking opportunities, and the impulses. Tobias Schäfer put reactions in a nutshell: "The meta-topics of climate and the ban on plastics pose major challenges for us as machine builders in the nonwovens business. But there are also great opportunities for our technology-driven industry. Resource conservation, energy reduction, and sustainability have been ANDRITZ's absolute motivation to meet these challenges with innovative technologies for quite some time".