Manufacturing and quality control
Five stages between fibre bale and export carton. Each one has a check attached, and the check is what the quotation is written against.
The five stages
- 01
Fibre intake
Bales are received against the blend specification and held by lot, so that a finished towel can be traced back to the fibre it came from.
What is checked
Lot identity, fibre type, moisture.
- 02
Carding and web forming
Fibre is opened, blended and combed into parallel alignment, then laid into layers at the target weight.
What is checked
Web evenness, weight setting against the agreed target.
- 03
Hydroentanglement
Water jets entangle the web. Jet pressure and line speed are the two levers; they set how tightly fibres are locked and how pronounced the surface pattern is.
What is checked
Bonding uniformity, surface pattern, absence of unbonded patches.
- 04
Dewatering and drying
Water is drawn out and the web is dried under tension so it holds the specified width.
What is checked
Residual moisture, width.
- 05
Slitting, converting and packing
The roll is slit to width, embossed or perforated, folded, counted and packed.
What is checked
Cut size, fold, pack count, print and label position.
What is measured, and where
Checks run on the line and again on the finished pallet. This is the standard set; anything additional you require is agreed in writing before production starts.
- Basis weight against the agreed target
- Width, cut size and fold dimensions
- Tensile strength in machine and cross direction
- Visual: holes, foreign fibre, colour variation
- Pack count, print position, label and barcode placement
Where a test method is named in the contract, it is followed as written — the ISO 9073 series is the usual reference for nonwoven test methods. Where no method is named, the method used is stated on the data sheet so that you can compare it with your current supplier.
Traceability
Each production lot is recorded against the fibre lot, the line, the date and the specification revision in force at the time. If a question arrives six months later, that record is what we answer from.
What this page deliberately does not state
Line count, monthly capacity, yield and certification status are not published here. They change, and a figure on a website cannot be verified by you. They are supplied with the quotation and in the audit pack, dated, so that you can check them against the document rather than against a web page.
Send us the specification you are working to.
A target weight, a pack format, a market and an annual volume is enough to start. A sample of what you use today is better.