Alpha Foam Ltd has announced the commissioning of its 3.2 meter width spunmelt (SMMS) nonwoven fabric line. The SMMS plant has been erected at its new state-of-the-art facility at Chakan, India, near Pune, adhering to all GMP norms required for the medical and hygiene industries. Alpha Foam is a complete solution provider for various nonwoven applications. The company manufactures spunbond, spunmelt, spunlace and various laminates of these nonwoven fabrics at their integrated facility. It has access to the latest process technology, enabling it to provide various coatings like hydrophilic, hydrophobic, alcohol repellence amongst others required for medical disposables, diaper and sanitary napkin manufacturers.

The SMMS line has an installed capacity of 8500 tons per annum, thus increasing the overall spunmelt fabric capacity to 12,000 tons per annum. The fabric produced at this facility will meet various international quality standards especially the high demands of the new European standards, EN 13795. The barrier properties such as hydrohead and air permeability of the fabric will surpass the current industry standards. This has been possible due to meltblown technology that has been incorporated into the new plant. Alpha Foam is also setting up an in-house testing facility for bacterial barrier properties, which is the key to providing fabric for surgical masks, drapes and gowns. The plant will also produce high quality low basis weight fabric from 10gsm onwards, an essential requirement for diaper and sanitary napkin manufacturers.