Spunbonded nonwovens:Blooming with innovation

By+Li+Yili

On December 8th to 9th， Branch of Spunbonded Nonwovens of China Nonwovens & Industrial Textiles Association （CNITA） celebrated its 20th anniversary in Foshan， and China Medical Nonwovens Base Promotion Meeting was held at the same time. Yu Mingfang， academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering， Chen Shujin， counselor of China National Textile And Apparel Council （CNTAC）， Peng Yanli， director of Science and Technology Department of CNTAC， Li Lingshen， president of China Nonwovens &Industrial Textiles Association（CNITA） and Zhang Cuizhu， secretarygeneral of Textile Vision Science & Education Fund attended the meeting， together with delegates from more than 200 research institutes and en- terprises of China spunbonded nonwovens industry. During the meeting， Chen Lidong was elected president of the Association and Zou Ronghua became the new secretary-general. The meeting also commended a number of advanced enterprises， individual and suppliers of spunbonded nonwovens industry， who have made outstanding contributions to the industry.

Developing in the ascendant

Nanhai District of Foshan City （in Guangdong Province） is the birthplace of China spunbonded nonwovens： 20 years ago， 19 companies gathered in Nanhai to hold the first annual meeting of China spunbonded nonwovens industry and established the Branch of Spunbonded Nonwovens of CNITA formally. The later 20 years witnesses the noteworthy achievements of China spunbonded and meltblown industry with the imported advanced technology， continuous innovation and development as well as actively exploration of market.

In 2013， the total capacity of spunbonded nonwovens reached 2.81 million tons， with an increase of 10.82% over the previous year； the actual output was 1.91 million tons， growing by 15.42%. In addition， meltblown production enjoyed gratifying market in 2013： the capacity and production， which has been in the doldrums since 2009， have all gained significant increase in 2013， the production capacity reaching 66，000 tons， with growth of 12.84% over the previous year， and the actual production achieved a record high of 39，000 tons， with an increase of 42.24%. In terms of industrial structure adjustment， production growth slowed in traditional products while accelerated in new technology and equipment， and high-end health and medical nonwovens became an investment hotspot.

“After development of 30 years， Chinas spunbonded nonwovens industry has made great improvement and achievements， which is the result of joint efforts of many people，” Yu Mingfang introduced in his report. He also hoped that in the future， the industry can see greater performance.

Chen Lidong made the report on the economic performance and trends （industry status and trends） analysis of China spunbonded and meltblown nonwovens industry in 2013. He believes that as the world economic growth slows down， domestic and overseas spunbonded industry are all faced with the same situation of adapting to adjustment and development. Adjustment of the domestic spunbonded and meltblown industry refers to that of low-end devices which came to use hastily a few years ago because of emergencies such as “SARS” and “ban on free plastic bags”， and will come across difficulties and even run into unsustainable situation in a time with the feature of low output and high operating costs. And development refers to that some spunbonded and meltblown nonwovens enterprises have upgraded the equipment， which enjoys large capacity and high degree of automation， and still continuing to provide investment opportunities. Currently， Spunbonded nonwovens occupies about half of the entire nonwovens industry because of the short production process， low consumption， no pollution and wide range of applications， however， there is considerable room for development of Chinas spunbonded nonwovens compared with that of developed countries and regions. This industry is still in the ascendant.

In the speech， Mr. Li Lingshen pointed out that technical textiles has maintained in rapid development in recent years and even remains its two-digit growth in the situation of “new normal”， which indicates that the industry experiences upward development and the future is expected to remain in optimistic situation. In addition， with high technological content and production efficiency， China nonwovens industry will lead the world trend after development of 10-20 years. Moreover， Mr. Xie Ming， president of Branch of Spunbonded Nonwovens of CNITA also made report on the 20-year development of the Branch， going over those days of starting， developing and maturing with the audience and searching the promising future of the spunbonded nonwovens industry.

Improving with technological innovation

To give recognition to outstanding enterprises and individuals in Chinas spunbonded and meltblown industry， the Spunbonded Nonwovens Branch also awarded the “Lifetime Achievement Award”， “Outstanding Contribution Award”， “Technology Innovation Award”， “Excellence Promotion Award”，“Advanced Enterprise”， “Technology Innovation Enterprise” and “Outstanding Provider” of China spunbonded and meltblown nonwovens industry to companies and individuals， which encourages the development and innovation with official consent.

The characteristics of technical textiles determine that the future development must rely on scientific and technological progress， focusing on innovation in particular. In terms of spunbonded and meltblown industry， scientific and technological support help to build the development of 30 years， growing out of nothing， and then to large scale. In recent years， the industry has already made a series of achievements in material， process， product and equipment. And contemporary to the meeting， there are activities to promote some of the technology： “Development of High-strength Polyester Filament Asphalt Felt Bottom Cloth and Market Situation”， “SSMMS Production Equipment and Product Application”， and “R & D of Two-component Ultrafine Fiber Spunbonded Spunlace Nonwoven Technology and Equipment”， etc.， are all the achievements of recent independent research and development， which are key technologies in the field of spunbonded and meltblown industry with high technology content， making great contribution to promoting technical progress， increasing production efficiency， improving quality and conducting product development.

Promoting industry with medical product base

On December 9th， the delegates visited the Qiaojiang Technology Park in Jiujiang Town and attended “China Medical Nonwovens Base Promotion Meeting” there， jointly laying the foundation stone for Qiaojiang Technology Park， and witnessing the establishment of Nanhai Medical Textiles Association. This is the conduction of Jiujiang Towns nonwovens development strategy of “medical textiles as focus， textiles in daily life as major， technical textiles as subsidiary”. Then the delegates also visited the medical textile enterprises such as PGI and Beautiful.

Feng Chunxiang， alcalde of Jiujiang Town， said：“By the opportunity of the meeting， wed like to introduce Jiujiang to more well-known enterprises， with the title of ‘China Medical Nonwovens Base.”

“More than 80% of the giants come to Jiujiang for the first time，” Liang Juecong， member of the Jiujiang party committee， expressed， “and with clear development orientation and certain industrial base， we have confidence in making a good impression on domestic industry and enterprises， thereby promoting the concentrated development of medical nonwoven industry and other fields along the industrial chain through further investment.”

Currently， there are two enterprises among the “top ten” of domestic nonwovens industry settling in Jiujiang， and Qiaojiang Technology Park was approved as China Medical Nonwovens Base this June， which all together serves as opportunities to build nonwovens industry as pillar industry of the area.