Every 3 years Index takes place at Geneva Palexpo. Next April 15-18 this major event for the nonwovens industry will receive more than 12 000 visitors from more than 100 countries. Machinery is part of the industry, 6 French machinery manufacturers will showcase their latest innovations, meet their customers, listen to their needs. They no more consider themselves as machine suppliers only but technology partners.

 “With an average growth rate of 7% to 8%, the nonwoven industry is a dynamic sector”, states Bruno Ameline, Chairman of the French Textile Machinery Manufacturers’ Association (UCMTF). One of the reasons is that nonwovens cover an extremely large array of applications. From hygiene single use products (diapers, cotton pads, medical textiles, wipes..) to automotive carpets and headliners, geotextiles, clothing, coating substrates, isolation and filtration products and the likes, nonwovens are part of everyone’s everyday life.
Thanks to the encounter of ever renewed market needs with the pro-active approach of nonwovens producers and machinery manufacturers, many new applications have been, are and will be successfully developed. They need an extensive search for more effective and more productive production processes. “This is why, machinery manufacturers are an essential part of the Nonwoven industry” affirms Bruno Ameline.
 Many alternative production technologies have been developed, for web- and batt-forming processes (carded, spunbond, meltblown, airlaid, wetlaid, etc.) as much as for consolidation processes (thermobonding, needlepunchling, spunlacing, stitching, chemical bonding, etc.).  “These intensive developments have led to fierce competition among nonwoven machinery makers, but we have to live with it and in the end, machine producers also benefit from their competitors’ initiatives. France has several leaders involved in the opening and blending, carding, needlepunching, spunlacing, spunbonding machinery for nonwovens, at the top of their respective technologies.” affirms Bruno Ameline.
Evelyne Cholet, the Secretary General, adds “At Index, our goal there is to be as close as possible to our customers, to understand their needs, present our know-how and find new solutions to create value for them.”
In France there are no big diversified groups but state of the art, very active and specialised SME’S leaders in their sectors of application, Nonwovens is a major one. In the Nonwoven business more than in any other sector the customers want the machinery manufacturers to design and offer complete lines. Therefore integrated responsibility, the fact that one company takes full responsibility from the design to the after-sales services, is an essential feature to gain new markets. French manufacturers are used to work that way.

The French manufacturers of nonwoven machinery showing at INDEX 2008 will be:
 
NSC nonwoven
Thibeau Excelleâ cards, Asselin crosslappers, Prodynâ, drafters, needlelooms, Monomatic EasyWinders, VantageWinders and their respective slitters-rewinders.
New features will further improve consistent web quality, high production and  productivity, ease of maintenance and minimum downtime, safety and user friendliness.
New equipment will be introduced: the BattCruise, the WebCruise, the Expert-Scada system. 
NSC nonwoven will also offer its range of Axcess equipment with cards and crosslappers for medium performances lines, with no compromise design qualities at attractive cost.

Laroche
- Recycling: world leader in textile and nonwoven wastes recycling machines. Large capacity “EXEL” and “JUMBO” waste tearing machines as well as the fastest tearing machines for in line with the « MINITRIM HSP ».
- Complete process for bast fibers( hemp, flax, kenaf, jute): to reach the cleanliness and staple lengths required for the nonwoven processes.
- Opening and blending : high precision fiber opening, blending and dosing lines with the new “EXEL” fine opener.
- Airlay: complete Airlay line “FLEXILOFT” from all kind of fibers raw materials up to nonwoven products.
- “RESINFELT” compact Airlay line to manufacture cured and semicured resinated felts for acoustic insulation, molded parts for automotive and other applications.

Rieter Perfojet
Offers state-of-the-art web forming and web bonding machinery to the nonwoven producers.
- Market leader in spunlace technology with more than 150 spunlace installed: ETlace®3000, and JETlace® Essentiel
- Perfect web uniformity in spunbond technology: PERFObondTM
- A new generation of meltblown system
- New generation of nonwovens fabrics thanks to SPUNjet®

Bekaert Carding Solutions  
Besides the complete range of traditional metallic card wires, Bekaert Carding Solutions will show further developments of its SiroLock ® wire range. This new range of metallic wire is reducing fibre recycling around main cylinder and consequently improving carded web quality, under increased throughput.

Calemard  
Specialised in the designing / manufacturing of in-line and off-line slitting and rewinding machines, and spooling lines. Calemard has a proven expertise in crush, shear and razor slitting systems and also in sealing/cutting technologies.  

Dollfus et Muller  
Dollfus & Muller develops and manufactures a wide range of conveyor belts used for nonwoven processing lines. Proposes antistatic solutions, non-marking pin or endless seam. Also wires for high temperature (up to 250°C) ambiance are part of the product range.
Its conveyor belts are particularly designed to meet the most specific demands of the nonwoven producers.