GENEVA, SWITZERLAND and NEUMUNSTER, GERMANY, April 14, 2014-

With a specially designed production line, Oerlikon Neumag is addressing the growing need of manufacturers of polyester and polypropylene staple fibers to also be able to make small production units in a cost-effective manner. Staple FORCE S 1000, which was recently unveiled at the industry trade fair INDEX in Geneva, Switzerland, achieves this with an exceptionally high production speed of 1 000 meters per minute along with simple and fast handling, which shortens changing times and significantly reduces surplus quantities. With a production capacity of 15 tons per day, the system appeals not only to manufacturers of manmade fibers as it enables them to deliver on demand and expand to markets for special applications. Manufacturers of nonwovens can also directly profit from Staple FORCE S 1000. The system facilitates the cost-effective integration of fiber production into in-house production. "Moving forward, we intend to apply our broad technological expertise in manmade fibers to achieve further growth with machine and system solutions for special applications," explains Stefan Kross, CEO of the Oerlikon Manmade Fibers Segment.

The global market for manmade fibers, such as polyester, polypropylene and bicomponents, used in the production of nonwovens grows around 5 % each year. In 2015, total demand is expected to amount to 3.2 million tons for carded nonwovens alone. They are primarily used in geotextiles for civil engineering, in filtration materials, for application in the automotive industry in insulation and interiors, and for numerous special applications. The market requires both smaller production quantities that can be delivered on short notice and cost-effective manufacturing processes. Up until now, these requirements were incompatible. While demand requires average daily production of 15 tons to 20 tons of fibers per production line, today's production lines are designed to produce significantly larger quantities, which makes them less flexible. "With the Staple FORCE S 1000, we can close the gap between demand, which is focused more on daily production, and cost-efficient production. At the same time, by integrating fiber production into operations, we enable downstream manufacturers to better coordinate product development and also improve quality control," says Stefan Kross, CEO of the Manmade Fibers Segment.

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