"Our investment in this new production line is in response to customer demand for capacity in the North American dry market," said Dante Parrini, the company's chief executive.

According to the company, the new production line is also based on the consideration of orders from major customers. When announcing the $80 million line two years ago, Glatfelter said growth in lightweight hygiene products and disposable wipes was a big reason, up 12 percent last year.

In 2015, the feminine hygiene products business accounted for 74% of total Glatfelter sales, while the wipes business accounted for less than 10% of sales. Chief Financial Officer John Jacunski recently told analysts that the investment in Arkansas will also include a Center of Excellence, which will enable Glatfelter to further increase its support for the wipes business without affecting the efficiency of the feminine hygiene products business.

"The new production line will bring additional balance to our business portfolio, which is a good thing, and it also shows all customers that we are willing and able to support their business growth." He said.

The location of the new production line is not far from the wipes manufacturer Rockline's plant in Springdale, Arkansas, and Kimberly-Clark's feminine hygiene products manufacturing site in Conway, Arkansas. Industry insiders speculate that the capacity of this new production line now appears to have at least two potential big customers.

a long wait

Since 2000, North America has not seen significant airnetting investment for a long time. The previous time was Buckeye (which has been acquired by Georgia-Pacific) added a 50000-ton production line in North Carolina, while Concert Industries (which has been acquired by Glatfelter) invested in two production lines in Gatineau in Quebec.

What this new line means for the airlaid industry, particularly in North America, remains to be seen. As Glatfelter's influence in the wipe market continues to expand, its main competitor, Georgia-Pacific, may be forced to find new markets, such as feminine hygiene products or tabletop products, to fill its capacity. Most of the capacity is from Gaston, North Carolina. Which production line of the factory was installed by Buckeye Technologies in 2001, mainly serving the wipe market, so far, GP has little local competition in airlaid nonwovens for wipes.

Airlaid is smaller and more specialized than many other nonwoven technology categories, and one investment can make a big impact in the market. The past few years have seen high capacity utilization and strong demand from manufacturers, and this investment like Glatfelter can make a big difference to the industry.

Other major airlaid manufacturers in North America include Georgia-Pacific and Domtar. Domtar, a paper specialist, entered the airlaid market with the acquisition of EAM(Engineered Absorbent Materials)'s nonwovens business, which also includes Novathin Technology. Sources said that despite a very aggressive personal care business growth strategy through a series of acquisitions in recent years, the company has not yet succeeded in fully utilizing Novathin technology. Therefore, feminine hygiene products and adult incontinence products are still Domtar's business areas.

However, as Domtar's personal care business sales continue to grow and the company reports that many large customers are expanding their brand plans, Domtar said they plan to increase their advertising and marketing campaign spending to boost sales in the personal care business.

In addition, Domtar has not stopped the pace of acquisitions. Since 2011, the company has been steadily acquiring brands in feminine hygiene products, adult incontinence products and other hygiene areas. Earlier this year, the company added the Butterfly Health brand to its portfolio, which specializes in making incontinence pads for patients with urinary incontinence. This niche product incorporates EAM absorbent core technology.

Domtar has a core technology engine like EAM in personal care, which has become a powerful tool for building product innovation. Domtar executives believe that airlaid technology can improve the innovation capabilities of the entire hygiene products business. A recent example is Domtar's relaunching of its Indasec brand with EAM core technology-Domtar's light incontinence products in Italy.

"We can take more and more of the great technology out of EAM and incorporate it into the product to benefit the consumer, and then we can build high-value product technology," said John Williams, the company's CEO. "Indasec is the first step in that direction, and the consumer response so far has been very good."

In order to drive the Indasec relaunch, Domtar has added EAM technology to its plant in Toledo, Spain, and plans to promote upgrades to all of its production lines so that EAM technology can be added when necessary.

The use of airlaid technology in its hygiene products makes Domtar the company most likely to add an airlaid production line in North America. Domtar's factory in Greenville, South Carolina, which makes Attends adult incontinence products, has plenty of room to add a production line. Some sources pointed out that the acquisition is still the company's top priority.

Progress of Airnetting

According to the latest report from Smithers Pira, the global airlaid nonwovens market is currently worth $1.64 billion and is expected to grow at a rate of 4% per year to $2 billion by 2020. Demand for airlaid nonwovens is strong in major markets, including adult incontinence, feminine hygiene products, wipes and food pads, which are growing worldwide. Consumer demand for thinner, more close-fitting and more comfortable feminine hygiene products, adult incontinence pads and even baby diapers matches the strength and performance of airlaid nonwovens.

The research report shows that there are significant differences in the major regions of the airlaid nonwovens market. Airlaid supply is most tight in North America, with a utilization rate of nearly 95%. It is also home to two of the largest producers of airlaid and the largest supplier of airlaid raw materials. North America already imports some raw materials from Europe and could have major supply problems if new capacity is not added by 2020. At the same time, major production sites in Europe, including McAirlaids (in Germany), Glatfelter (in Germany), Karweb (in Turkey), Duni (in Sweden) and Lucart (in France and Spain), now have the highest airlaid supply, with a utilization rate of only 87.5 percent.

At the same time, the Asian market is more complex for airlaid nonwovens. According to Smithers Pira, the older production lines in Japan, China and Taiwan are smaller and slower, but in line with local needs. The utilization rate is now about 90%, and hygiene products are the largest end market. The report adds that demand for airnetting does exist in Asia, which is the fastest growing major region from 2015 to 2020, with an annual growth rate of 8%.

And, after Duni decided to narrow the focus of its airnetting business, utilization became low. In 2013, Duni said it would exit the hygiene products business, but remained involved in the desktop products market. After failing to find a buyer for the airlaid production line focused on hygiene products, Duni announced in September 2014 that the production line would be transferred from Das Långed to Skåpafors and converted to serve the desktop products market. Das Långed's plant eventually closed.