Non-woven fabrics and technical fabrics: market and trends
The textile supply chain is experiencing a time of significant change through investments in the research and development of new digital and sustainable solutions to respond to growing global competition.
Only by combining tradition with innovation and using green tools will the sustainable textile sector be able to face new challenges.
The common thread of this renewal process is the link between research, creativity, technology, and sustainability.
One of the textile areas most focused on digitization and sustainability is non-woven fabrics and technical fabrics.
A market that in recent years has recorded constant growth worldwide, even during the pandemic period.
China leads among primary producers, followed in order of importance by the United States, Germany, and Italy.
It represents a key market for Europe, in fact it accounts for a third of world production.
The winning features of these materials are, above all else, those linked to their versatility and different uses:
Technical sportswear
Technical textiles and non-woven fabrics for sportswear have been recording constant growth values for over ten years , of about 9% compared to traditional textile sectors.
This result is strongly linked to the theme of outdoor life and the athleisure trend, resulting in consumers’ demands for more informal clothing for everyday life.
Air filtration and construction
The high filtering and absorbing capacities make these materials ideal in civil and industrial environments.
Automotive
Technical textiles and non-woven fabrics have had a considerable expansion in the automotive sector, where this material is used to make more than forty components of a car, used extensively due to their incredible tensile strength.
Furniture
The softness, resistance, and breathability make TNT and TT ideal for the furniture sector, specifically for sofa seats, mattresses, and decorative pillows.
Ovens integration 4.0: Valpadana Sud Case Study
Industry 4.0 aims to improve and facilitate process management while increasing productivity and effectiveness through perfect information management.
One of the main features of digital transformation is its pervasiveness, as it can be applied in any sector and to any machinery, including industrial ovens.
Valpadana Sud, a company belonging to the Italian Group Industrie Maurizio Peruzzo, has been developing and producing heat-bound wadding for more than 50 years as sound-absorbing and sound-insulating material and padding for the automotive, clothing, and furniture sectors.
The company, based in Bellizzi near Salerno, where the production plant is located, has started an integration process of the oven burners used for the thermo-binding process of polyesters.
The ovens were ready with the technology required to construct the I4.0 interconnection.
The customer’s main objective was to manage, through the interconnection process, specific variables such as the temperature and speed of the oven fans.
Cannon Automata satisfied this request by integrating the Totem I4.0 system, the high-tech intelligent station characterized by dedicated hardware and software. This advanced solution can manage the input and output of data entered by the operator and monitor the production process while simultaneously collecting and storing all the data used to verify and monitor production.
Our customized software allows easy management and display of the information requested by the company:
- setting the alarm value of the maximum and minimum temperature;
- display of alarms;
- management and display of the speed of the oven fans;
- consumption and ignition ramps/shutdown of the burners.
Maximize your technology investment
The Italian Transition Plan 4.0 promotes the evolution of standard production models towards the Industry 4.0 paradigm through the tax credit instrument. By investing in the implementation of technological and digital transformation projects, Valpadana Sud benefited from the tax benefits thanks to our support, recovering a portion of the costs incurred.
