BEYOND SURFACES

Rising to the challenge By the end of March, the Business Unit “Oerlikon Nonwoven” had already begun converting its laboratory systems in Neumünster, Germany, to produce nonwovens to support small local busi- nesses in the manufacture of oronasal masks. The laboratory system at the R&D Center is normally used solely for research and development purposes and customer trials, and in its original form was never conceived for continuous operation. Thanks to further investments in order to enable continuous operation, we can now manufacture material for more than one million protective masks a month. leading meltblown technology The Oerlikon Nonwoven meltblown technology — with which nonwovens for protective masks, among other things, can also be manufactured — is recognized as being the most technically efficient method for producing highly-separating filter media made from plastic fibers. The capacities for respiratory masks available in Europe to date are manufactured predominantly on Oerlikon Nonwoven systems. The demand from Germany, Europe and the rest of the world has quickly secured the company a boom in orders, and Oerlikon Nonwoven has fired up the production of the machines and systems. From the manufacturing site in Neumünster, the high-tech systems are meanwhile being exported all over the world, even to Australia. Daniel Günther, the Minister President of the Federal State of Schleswig-Holstein, has already visited Oerlikon Nonwoven’s production facility in Neumünster to learn more about the technology. Philipp Heymann, CEO of the mask manufacturer Lindenpartner, learns about the advantages of the Oerlikon nonwoven meltblown technology system from Oerlikon expert Juliane Müller-Weigel. oeRlIKon TeChnology FoR 1 mIllIon mASKS peR monTh In addition to its Surface Solutions business, the Oerlikon Group has another main pillar. The Manmade Fibers business offers solutions to manmade fiber manufacturers along the entire value chain, including turnkey production plants. We are very proud that our colleagues from Oerlikon Manmade Fibers played an important role in the Corona crisis. This is why we have decided to tell their story, which goes “BEYOND SURFACES”, here. Beyond SURFACeS 02|2020 23