BLAUFELDEN – In direct response to requests from customers, Schott & Meissner has this year rapidly developed a new respiratory face mask manufacturing machine.
With an annual turnover of €23 million in 2019, the company has specialised in thermal and air-through bonding technologies for nonwovens production for the past 35 years.
Speaking during the latest in a series of webinars organised by the textile machinery branch of Germany’s VDMA, Schott & Meissner sales director Heiko Irlbacher said the company’s new machine can produce FFP1 and 2, N95 or KN95 foldable face masks in up to six layers. The masks are based on configurations of spunbond and meltblown, along with a filling material for enhanced comfort.
The system is modular for fast erection, with ultrasonic bonding and Siemens PLC 57-1500 controls.
“We employ a double sonotrode material and cooling for long-lasting ultrasonics, to increase the lifetime of the product,” Irlbacher said. “In-line printing is an option, as is upgrading to clean room conditions.”
Production speeds vary depending on whether the mask is being equipped with ear or head loops and design and materials specifications, to a maximum of 48,000 over a three-shift system for masks with head loops, and 75,000 for ear loops.
In addition to the new machine, Schott & Meissner’s long experience and contacts within the nonwovens industry have proved crucial in 2020.
“We have a big network of nonwovens manufacturers and this year have been able to help mask manufacturing companies – many of them newcomers – to acquire the necessary meltblown and spunbond materials in order to get up and running,” Irlbacher said.
