An expert on nonwoven textiles like those made at Wayneboro’s Polymer Group Inc. plant said the industry is growing domestically at 5 to 6 percent a year, faster than the growth rate of America’s gross domestic product.
The nonwoven innovation in textile manufacturing, which has changed the production of medical bandages, wipes and diapers, saves on time and labor and relies on the latest technology, said Seshadri Ramkumar, associate professor of nonwoven materials at the Institute of Enviromental and Human Health and manager of the nonwoven laboratory at Texas Tech University in Lubbock.
“It is one of the burgeoning forms of making the fabric,’’ Ramkumar said Wednesday.
Time is important since the type of products made at nonwoven facilities like PGI are baby diapers, wipes and feminine hygiene products that are used in one day and discarded, he said.
The old textile methods of spinning and weaving were more costly. Ramkumar said while nonwovens are more technological and research intensive, they are more efficient in the long run.
Ramkumar noted that PGI has been in business a long time and is one of the global leaders in nonwovens.
The U.S. is behind the nonwoven rate of growth of foreign competitors such as China and India.
Ramkumar said the populations of those countries and the disposable incomes in India and China are contributing to the double-digit growth in nonwovens there.
The laboratory Ramkumar operates at Texas Tech is using new innovations in nonwovens. Those innovations include the development of a nonwoven decontamination wipe for applications in the U.S. military and federal Department of Homeland Security, as well as cotton nonwovens.