1. Berry Global Inc. $2 billion
2. Freudenberg Performance Materials $1.7 billion
3. Kimberly-Clark $1.3 billion
4. Ahlstrom-Munksjö $1.25 billion

5. DuPont $1 billion
6. Johns Manville $725 million
7. Fitesa $708 million
8. Glatfelter $589 million
9. Suominen Corporation $475 million
10. TWE Group $440 million

11. Low & Bonar  $407 million
12. Lydall $400 million
13. Georgia-Pacific $380 million
14. Zhejiang Kingsafe  $365 million
15. Jacob Holm  $350 million

16. Hollingsworth & Vose $350 million
17. Toray Advanced Materials $341 million
18. Avgol Nonwovens $339 million
19. Sandler $328 million
20. First Quality Nonwovens $300 million

21. Fibertex Personal Care $283 million
22. Jofo Nonwovens $247 million
23. Pegas Nonwovens $236 million
24. Nan Liu Enterprise $213 million
25. Mitsui Chemicals $207 million

26. Asahi Kasei $202 million
27. Gulsan Groups $200 million
27. Fibertex Nonwovens $200 million
29. Xingtai Nonwovens $176 million
30. Precision Custom Coatings $175 million

31. Tenowo $171 million
32. Hassan Group $171 million
33. Union Industries $170 million
34. KNH Enterprises $150 million
35. Dalian Ruiguang $143 million

36. Spuntech $138 million
37. Toyobo $125 million
37. Saudi German Nonwovens $125 million
39. Mogul Spunbond Nonwovens $121 million
40. Shalag Shamir $120 million
41. Unitika $93 million

19
Sandler AG
Schwarzenbach/Saale, Germany
www.sandler.de
2016 Nonwovens Sales: $328 million (€288 million)

Key Personnel
Dr. Christian Heinrich Sandler, president & CEO; Wolfgang Höflich, board member & chief production officer; Dr. Ulrich Hornfeck, board member & chief commercial Officer; Tobias Baumgärtel, president Sandler Nonwoven Corporation

Plants
Sandler AG, Schwarzenbach/Saale, Germany
Sandler Nonwoven Corporation, Perry, GA, U.S.     

Processes
Carded, waddings and drylaid nonwovens, thermally bonded, meltblown, needlepunched, air-through bonded, spunlaced, lamination, coating and flexoprinting, embossing and aperturing, composites

Brands
sawafill, sawabond, sawaloom, sawavlies, sawaloft, sawaflor, sawatex, sawascreen, sawagrow, sandler sports, sawacomp, sawaflock, sawaform, sawalux, sawaflex, sawasoft, sawasorb, sawatec, fibercomfort, sandler fiberskin, Sandler Unico, sawadur, sawadry, sawabond White Lace, sawabond Silver Lace, sawatex mariquita, sawatex orsettino, sea dwellers, bio textile by sandler, sawatex wipinator, enAIRsave, Sandler. The textile Building, sawatex classy silk, sawasoft TriLace, Sandler fascinating nonwoven, lace-O-pague, sawatex FineLace

Major Markets
Construction/engineering, filtration, hygiene, medical, home textiles, technical nonwovens, transportation

Less than a year after completing its new U.S. plant, German nonwovens manufacturer Sandler continues to increase production at the new site, located in Perry, GA. “We are completely on schedule—maybe even a little better than on schedule,” says board member and CCO Dr. Ulrich Hornfeck.

While Sandler has remained mum on the specific technology at the site, Hornfeck does admit that the U.S. operation is mainly serving its customers in the global hygiene market but the line has the flexibility to do many things. The U.S. operation should ultimately offer the range of technologies that already exist in Sandler’s German plant.

“Growth is definitely in our plans for the U.S.,” he says. “We want to grow in the U.S. organically and bring our German products to the U.S. and find new customers there.”

Back in Germany, Sandler’s site in Schwarzenbach/Saale, one of Europe’s largest nonwovens operations, continues to be the company’s center of development and new ideas. With five separate manufacturing facilities at the site featuring a range of technologies, the plant has been the focus of significant investment in recent years.

Sandler’s last German investment was in July 2016, when it completed work on that site’s largest investment, its fifth plant, which houses proprietary technology for hygiene applications. The hybrid line, which combines multiple technologies, has reportedly allowed Sandler to successfully tap into interesting new areas of applications and introduce new products to the market.

In product news, the fibercomfort brand of insulation materials is applied in the roof and in walls of a building, allowing rooms to maintain a pleasant temperature and at the same time helping conserve energy. In partition walls, ceilings or textile wall coverings, sound-insulating nonwovens keep the peace and quite and can also provide for a quieter work environment in office partitions.

Meanwhile, in hygiene, Sandler has been working to improve the fluid management of its nonwovens, making them more porous, developing different types of backsheet and topsheet materials and creating softer products for its customers. For elastic applications, Sandler provides an assembly kit of materials. Customers can choose from different degrees of elongation for their individual use.

Another important market for Sandler is wipes which it serves from three spunlace lines located in Schwarzenbach/Saale. Apart from functionality and feel, visual differentiation is also a focus in wipes manufacturing. New Sandler designs unite appealing appearance with optimized function. The new embossed design square for cleaning applications makes wipes even bulkier and enlarges the surface for even more efficient cleaning. New colored substrates facilitate easy distinction between different applications.

Special fiber blends used in Sandler wipes substrates allow for excellent functionality at reduced basis weights, thus helping to conserve resources.

“We feel that if we give our customers a drawer full of possibilities, they will easily be able to select the right choice for their business,” Hornfeck says. “In the wipes business, we have been finding new ideas that put customers a little bit ahead of the market,” Hornfeck says.


*Editors note: Due to an editing error, Sandler was unintentionally left out of this year’s Top Companies report in our September 2017 issue. With $328 million in sales last year, Sandler is the 19th largest producer of nonwovens in the world. Nonwovens Industry regrets any confusion this may have caused.