Nonwovens Industry INDEX 08
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INDEX Awards Winners Announced Today

A key highlight of INDEX’s opening day line-up was the announcement of the winners of this year’s INDEX Awards competition. The awards recognize excellence in the nonwovens industry and highlight innovation in all parts of the nonwovens supply chain from raw materials to machinery to roll goods to end use products.

During a late morning ceremony, five awards were presented by a specially assembled INDEX Awards jury composed of former company marketing and research and development experts as well as members of the media and academia.



In the nonwoven roll goods category, the winner was Ahlstrom’s Disruptor Technology, a nanofiber-based filter media that combines two mechanisms: electrokinetics and mechanical entrapment. Its main features include low pressure drop, high loading capacity and superior filtration efficiency.


In the finished product area, Johnson’s Baby Extracare wipes from J&J GmbH took the prize. The cleansing and moisturizing baby wipe features a separate incorporation of cleansing and moisturizing materials. The wipes form an emulsion in situ that incorporates incompatible elements, lipid and aqueous.

In the marketing achievement category, J.H. Ziegler’s Z-männle mascot was the winner. The marketing campaign includes a short animated movie that combines J.H. Ziegler’s company logo with product features as well as the company’s philosophy.

ExxonMobil Chemical’s Vista–maxx melt spinnable elastomer took top place in the raw materials category. Highly elastic and processable on conventional polymer-to-web machinery, Vista–maxx is easy to process without machinery modifications. The result is a product that is adaptable in feel, touch and drape and can be bonded easily to polyolefin nonwovens and films without adhesives.

The machinery winner was neXdetect from Andritz Kusters, which is a measuring system for the detection of invisible chemical applications on nonwovens. This high-speed, sharp equipment can determine exactly the position and width of stripes of chemical applications; allows fast and precise adjustment of the stripe coating equipment and differentiates the identification of the applied finish pick-up.