Nonwoven converting
Nonwoven Converting Machinery
GFM builds and retrofits custom nonwoven converting machinery for medical, hygiene and filtration products, from a single module to a complete line built around your product rather than a standard machine. Tell us what you want to produce and we will tell you whether it can be built, and how.
More than 40 years in converting machinery · More than 1,000 projects delivered worldwide · Engineered and made in Germany.
Overview
Custom Nonwoven Converting Machinery from GFM
Nonwoven jobs vary more than a few numbers can show, so read the figures below as the range we build within, not a hard limit. If your web width, line speed or material thickness sits outside them, or you are not sure, tell us and we will say what is feasible.
| Parameter | Range |
|---|---|
| Working width | up to 4,000 mm |
| Line speed | up to 400 m/min |
| Material thickness | 0.02 to 5 mm |
| Approvals | UL or CSA for North America, where required |
Built for the Way Nonwovens Run
A nonwoven is a delicate web. It stretches, pulls in at the edges under tension and runs lofty, and its weight varies along the roll. Handle it like a stiffer material and you crush the loft, neck the width or lose register. We build the web handling around that: low, closely regulated tension, edge guiding and spreader rolls to hold the width, and a nip set to keep the bulk rather than flatten it. Cutting and register are set to absorb the weight variation, so the line holds tolerance. Get the handling right and the rest of the line does its work.
Built to a Process You Can Validate
Much of what we build runs in medical and hygiene production, where the machine has to deliver a repeatable and documentable process for a certified environment, typically an ISO 13485 quality system and an ISO 14644 cleanroom. We build the line to meet those process requirements and support your validation. The certification of your production environment stays with you; what we supply is a machine that holds the process you have to prove.
How We Build Your Nonwoven Line
A nonwoven line is built from a set of modules, combined in the order your product needs. The roll is unwound, an autosplicer joins the next roll so the line keeps running, and the web is guided and held at low tension across its width. From there it passes through the modules the product calls for: slitting and cross-cutting, perforating, folding, ultrasonic or rotary sealing, lamination and liquid application such as the lotion in a wet wipe. A sterile product often needs a special fold pattern, and the folding module is built for it. Inline inspection runs before the product is counted, stacked or packed. Because each module stands on its own, we can add one to a line that already runs rather than replace the line. Explore the modules.
Typical Applications
A few typical products our nonwoven lines turn out. The clearest proof that a line can be built is one that is already running.
Surgical Drapes
Surgical drapes with sterile, one-handed fold patterns, folded and packed in one line.
Patient Warming Blankets
Multi-layer patient warming blankets, from web to finished device on a fully automated line.
Wound Compresses
Nonwoven wound compresses, cut, folded and counted to your specification.
Wet Wipes
Wet wipe lines with inline lotion application and cartoning.
Washing Gloves and Sponge Cloths
Washing gloves and sponge cloths made from nonwoven webs, at volume.
Filter Bags and Media
Filter bags and nonwoven filter media, converted and finished to size.
Solutions Beyond the Standard
We build beyond the catalogue. When a standard machine cannot make your product the way it has to be made, we design the line around it: your material, your feature, your output. That covers a product with a feature no standard machine makes, such as a sterile fold pattern; a fabric that needs handling a standard line cannot give it; a hand-made product that has to go into series; or a line you already run that has to take on a new step.
The feature drives the machine. If your product depends on a particular fold or bond, we build the unit that makes it, rather than fit your product to a catalogue machine.
Retrofitting Existing Nonwoven Lines
Not every project starts with a new machine. A large part of our work is done on nonwoven lines that already run, often on lines we did not build. We bring an extra process step into a line that is otherwise sound, we convert a line to a new nonwoven product, and we keep a line producing when its original manufacturer is gone. The mechanical interface is rarely the hard part. Getting the new module to work with your existing control system is what decides the effort and the schedule. More on maintenance, spare parts and retrofits under Service.
Industries
Medical
Surgical drapes, warming blankets and compresses.
Hygiene and Care
Wet wipes, washing gloves and sponge cloths.
Filtration
Filter bags and nonwoven filter media.
What decides whether we can help is not your industry but your nonwoven product. If it runs from a roll, describe it.
Tell Us about Your Nonwoven Product
If your exact product is not shown above, describe it. Your enquiry reaches the engineers who build the machines, not a call centre, and we reply quickly.
FAQ: Nonwoven Converting Machinery and Custom Lines
What Is Nonwoven Converting Machinery?
Nonwoven converting machinery takes nonwoven fabric supplied on a roll and turns it into a finished or semi-finished product. It unwinds the roll at low, closely regulated tension, guides the web and runs it through the stations the product needs, such as slitting, folding, perforating, sealing or lamination, before the product is counted, stacked or packed. Because the processes differ so much from one nonwoven product to the next, two lines built for two different products often share very little. The order of the stations follows the product, so the line is designed around your case.
Do I Need a Nonwoven Specialist or Will a General Machine Builder Do?
It depends on your product. A simple, standard nonwoven job can run on a general line. But a nonwoven is delicate: a line built without that in mind can crush the loft, neck the width or damage a fine web. For a demanding or sterile product you want a builder who works with nonwovens as a core material and designs the web handling for the fabric from the start, not one who treats it like any other web. That is what we do.
Can You Retrofit Nonwoven Converting Lines from Other Manufacturers?
Yes. A large part of our work is done on lines we did not build, including lines whose original manufacturer no longer exists. We first need access to the line and whatever documentation remains, and from there we assess what can be repaired, rebuilt, extended or replaced. The mechanical side is rarely the obstacle; getting a new module to work with your existing control system is usually what decides the effort, and it is often where a first project with us begins.
Where Do You Deliver, and How Does Service Work Worldwide?
We deliver worldwide, with more than 1,000 projects delivered to date, and every machine is installed and commissioned on site wherever it goes. After handover, service runs through remote diagnostics over a secured connection for anything that can be solved that way, and through a technician on site when it cannot. Genuine spare parts ship from Germany. For projects in North America we build to UL or CSA where the market requires it.
Can You Build for a Cleanroom or a Validatable Medical Process?
Yes. Many of our nonwoven lines run in medical and hygiene production, where the line has to deliver a repeatable, documentable and validatable process for your certified environment, typically an ISO 13485 quality system and an ISO 14644 cleanroom. We build the machine to meet those process requirements and support your validation. The certification of the production environment stays with you. Tell us the standard you work to and we will confirm how the line is designed to meet it.
Tell Us What You Need to Produce
Describe your nonwoven product, your material and the output you need. We will tell you whether it can be built, how, and roughly what it will cost before you commit to anything.
Let’s Talk about Your Nonwoven Product
Write to us and we will get back to you quickly.
