Disposables 4.0

Without a doubt, wearable, sensor-containing new technologies are set to become the next wave of hygiene and healthcare disposables which the nonwovens manufacturing supply chain needs to be very alert to. 

A wide range of them were showcased at the Wearable Technologies conference and exibition which took place at Messe Munich in Germany on February 2-3, and at the ISPO sports gear show at the same venue from February 5-8.

There are obvious synergies between many of the products being introduced and the current ranges of the absorbent hygiene and medical product brands. 

Speaking at the conference, John Dwyer, of Flextronics, an electronics leader with 2014 sales of around $1.7 billion, put the value of connected health devices at $5.7 billion in 2015, with growth of 33% anticipated for the next decade by leading analysts. This means it will be worth around $97 billion in 2025, and significantly, much of the market will be in off-the-shelf, disposable products.