Last year, Suominen, one of the largest suppliers of substrates in the global wipe market, took a specific step in its "Changemaker" strategy and introduced the Suominen smart nonwoven concept to the market. Suominen's senior vice president of care, LyndaKelly, described its potential in markets such as feminine hygiene products and baby care. As a first in the field of nonwovens, the concept can embed digital features into Suominen nonwovens, taking product traceability and safety to a whole new level. It also provides Suominen customers with a new and mature marketing tool.
The concept stems from Suominen research and development projects that preceded the launch of the HighDefinitionDesign series, which provides revolutionary pattern options for nonwovens. The Suominen Smart Nonwovens concept uses unique technical capabilities to combine artificial intelligence with extremely high-definition patterns to embed various digital features into the substrate without affecting the other functions or aesthetics of the nonwoven.
Suominen developed the technology with the help of thousands of consumers, who advised on hundreds of substrate designs, narrowing it down to about 25 options. Potential users of Suominen smart nonwovens can choose these patterns, or provide their own patterns to develop smart nonwovens that embed digital features such as traceability, safety, education, or novelty. "When we design patterns and develop technology, it is most important to listen to the voice of consumers." Kelly said.
This nonwoven can be used with any smartphone using a special code provided by the Suominen. Kelly said the benefits of the technology are limitless and could introduce other things, such as educating young girls about menstruation in the feminine hygiene market or playing music to entertain babies by scanning the surface of diapers. "This allows the app to read the information on the nonwoven," she said. "There are many things that can be done with this technology depending on what you want for safety, education or fun purposes."
Consumers' thirst for product information can also be satisfied through this technology. By scanning nonwovens, applications can provide greater transparency, such as ingredient lists and where the product is manufactured.
Our publication: What is the reason why you develop Suominen intelligent nonwovens? Is it because you have noticed that there is such a gap in the market?
Subtitles:Yes, the idea of Suominen smart nonwovens (IntelligentNonwoven), originally stemmed from what we observed in the market that users wanted to solve the problems of traceability and counterfeiting.
In today's market, the consumer doesn't dial a customer service number or anything like that. Instead, they take a photo of the product and spread it around the world via social media and complain. Under such circumstances, it may cause great damage to the brand. As a nonwovens supplier, we have limited tools to help customers solve similar problems. Consumers often don't keep available packaging to help us trace our supply chain. And the retrospective process can be time-consuming, and in these claims cases, time is money. With Suominen smart nonwovens, we can determine where and how nonwovens are produced, even if we only use them once.
This publication: How many design options are there for Suominen smart nonwovens?
Subtitles:We have 21 different patterns for customers to use, all with patents. We are also very happy to use Suominen smart nonwovens for functional design following customer or brand specific patterns.
This publication: How did the development of the Suominen designer series lead to the birth of smart nonwovens?
Subtitles:Over the past few years, customization has been very important in our technology strategy. Three or four years ago, we began to study the pattern of wipes in detail. We want to understand the connection between customer perceptions and our patterns and the actual data in the lab. We studied the softness and cleanability of different patterns and compared them with actual data from our laboratory. Through this progressive development process, we were able to design the softest and cleanest patterns.
Through this work, we were able to improve our technology and pattern development capabilities, and patterns are better now than they were five years ago. The contrast becomes sharper, and even the camera of an ordinary smartphone can easily recognize the pattern. We also use artificial intelligence (AI) to direct the camera what to look for in the pattern. Even better, the system learns from each pattern scan and continues to improve.
How do these innovations combine with the Suominen Changemaker strategy?
Subtitles:Around the Changemaker strategy, we want to create "nonwovens that no one else can do". We chose customization as a focus area for our work, which is a challenging task for a business like ours. Patterning has a very intuitive and functional aspect in wiping, and we have not fully utilized this tool to provide value to customers before. If you are able to tie the wipe itself to digital content, you can choose unlimited customization options. Such wipes are visually attractive, perform better than competing products, and provide customized digital content to consumers.
In addition to wipes and spunlace nonwovens, do you think this technology has opportunities in other fields?
Subtitles:Yes, this technology can also be widely used in other industries. Artificial intelligence and image recognition will soon become a part of everyday life. Today, the most advanced smartphones can use the same technology-facial recognition-to unlock the phone for the user.
This publication: Do you plan to license this technology to other nonwovens or textile producers?
Subtitles:We understand that many customers want to have more security in terms of supply and they insist on dual sourcing. Suominen are also ready to discuss different licensing models if needed.
The Journal: What Benefits Smart Nonwovens Will Bring to Manufacturers and End Users? S
>TABLE>For manufacturers, the idea revolves around supply chain security, traceability and combating counterfeit products. Among the possible claims, the time required to trace the supply chain is significantly shorter.
For consumers, these value-added digital features bring many benefits, such as teaching consumers to use wipes in a professional way, you can make a schedule when to replace a new wipe, you can create a digital wipe record, you can use the pattern to trigger reordering, etc. The possibilities are endless.
How the technology will help your customers meet various criteria associated with market needs, such as flushability, biodegradability, plastic reduction, sustainability, and more.
Subtitles:Our smart nonwovens are a very useful tool to tell consumers how biodegradable, flushable or non-plastic a product is. Digital tools make the story of the product compelling and easy to understand, and you can use any images and videos.
