Extrusion Group™, LLC

Cumming, GA – June 29, 2010 – RDM Solutions Group, LLC is pleased to announce that Mr. Holmes J Hawkins, III of the law firm of King & Spalding, LLP, Atlanta, Georgia, has been secured to provide commercial legal services to the Company.  Mr. Hawkins is a partner in King & Spalding’s Intellectual Property Practice Group.  His responsibilities encompass all aspects of the firm’s intellectual property practice, with particular emphasis on the litigation and trial of patent infringement cases.  Mr. Hawkins is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office and was recently selected by his peers for inclusion in the 2009 edition of The Best Lawyers in America in the specialty of Intellectual Property Law.  He received a bachelor’s degree, with high honors, from Georgia Tech and his J.D., cum laude, from the University of Georgia.  Mr. Hawkins regularly serves as a Visiting Professor at Georgia Tech, where he teaches public policy courses relating to intellectual property issues to undergraduate and graduate students.  “We welcome Mr. Hawkins with his unparalleled background and sterling reputation to our team.  His enormous experience in commercial and patent law will prove invaluable to our rapidly growing company” says Gene Chambers, President and COO of RDM Solutions Group. (more…)

New product bests three other finalists in voting by attendees at fourth annual World of Wipes Conference in Chicago

CARY, NC – June 25, 2010 – Eco-Pak, a new wet wipes delivery system from Nice-Pak, received the prestigious WOW Innovation Award presented as part of the fourth annual World of Wipes (WOW) Conference, June 21-23 at the InterContinental Hotel in Chicago, Illinois.

The WOW Conference, organized by INDA, Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry, is devoted solely to wipes, with a concentration on substrates, active ingredients, packaging, market metrics, industry challenges and market opportunities. The WOW Innovation Award recognizes and rewards the industry members who bring new and value-added processes and products to the wipes market.

Following presentations by the four finalists, attendees at the WOW Conference voted the Eco-Pak system as the recipient of the 2010 Award. (more…)

June 28 (Reuters) – Nonwoven-fabrics producer Fiberweb Plc (FWEB.L) said on Monday it expected full-year earnings to exceed the top end of market expectations.

Fiberweb, whose nonwoven materials are used in products ranging from baby diapers to industrial wipes and fabric-softener sheets, also said it expected net debt to be higher than the year-end figure, mainly due to a rise in forex rates.

At Dec. 31, net debt stood at 136.6 million pounds ($205.8 million). (more…)

ROCHESTER, IL – A new series of oil/plasticizer free, reduced COF thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) has been developed by Elastocon® TPE Technologies, Inc. They are expressly designed for the manufacture of synthetic corks for wine and cap liners for bottled beverages. The low COF (coefficient of friction) enables the cork to be removed from the bottle more easily than natural corks.

Elastocon lays claim to be the first TPE producer to offer an oil/plasticizer free formula for these applications and markets. In addition, the new Elastocon OF Series of TPEs are very high strength, offer excellent resilience and are formulated for easy removal from bottles. They are odorless and finished products can be printed and colored. They are FDA compliant and not only phthalate and latex free, but completely oil/plasticizer free.

The new elastomer formulations are available in hardness ranges from 60 to 80 Shore A, in small or large quantities. The elastomers are opaque natural in appearance. Elastocon can provide this TPE in any color of choice or in translucent natural for coloring by the molder prior to injection molding or extruding the final product. Company officials note that the use of colored synthetic corks gives marketers a unique opportunity to stand apart from their competitors.
(more…)

A preliminary test of Fibertect on the soiled beaches of Grand Isle, La., has proven it successful at picking up the oily paste washing ashore at beaches and marshes across the Gulf State region.

Seshadri Ramkumar, an associate professor of nonwoven technologies, said the Texas Tech-created nonwoven cotton absorbent wipe with activated carbon core makes it a perfect remediation tool for use by cleaning crews trying to remove the toxic material.

Not only did it clean up the rust-colored crude oil, but also it adsorbed toxic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon vapors reportedly sickening oil spill clean-up crew members.

“It definitely has proven itself a perfect product for cleaning up the oil spill,” Ramkumar said. “This preliminary test in Louisiana has shown that our wipe material is unique from others in that it easily absorbs liquids, and it has vapor-holding capacity. This will help workers clean beaches and stay safe at the same time.” (more…)

EDANA, the international association serving the nonwovens and related industries has just released its statistics on Nonwovens Production and Deliveries for 2009.
The figures for Greater Europe, including Turkey and CIS, reveal that as a result of the recent recession, but also of the industry’s effort to provide lighter weight nonwovens – using less material for the same function – the production of nonwovens has contracted in weight by 6.3% from 2008, with 1,609,819 tonnes of nonwovens produced in 2009.
This compares with the growth in the industry of 1.2% in 2008.
After several years of double digit growth, the weight of nonwovens sold to the personal care wipes market declined in 2009, but sales remained stable in terms of surface area, with minimal growth recorded. While total production figures by weight, have fallen, the level of production in square metres did continue to grow  to nearly 51,000 million in 2009.
According to a comparison of a select group of companies in 2008 and 2009, the average price of nonwovens has remained almost unchanged from 2008 to 2009.
The total turnover of the industry in 2009 is estimated at around €4,790 million. (more…)

Among the many materials and devices being utilised to protect the sensitive Gulf Coast from the largest oil spill in history are adsorbent booms primarily made from polypropylene nonwovens.
These booms basically consist of a nonwoven tube filled with a number of different polypropylene materials, primarily made from a nonwoven process known as meltblowing. The booms are laid down in the water and their properties attract and adsorb the oil from the water better than any other known similar product.
INDA says its members are playing a crucial role in the desperate effort to contain the BP oil spill that threatens hundreds of miles of sensitive coastline.

(more…)

Ahlstrom, a global leader in the development and manufacture of high performance nonwovens and specialty papers, announces price increases on its wiping fabrics as a consequence of the continuous rise of raw material costs.

The price increase will affect all products worldwide and will be effective as of July 1st, 2010. The increase range will vary depending on the nature of the products, on the regions and on the invoicing currencies.

The detailed actions will be discussed with customers through the appropriate business teams. (more…)