Precot Meridian Ltd., a leading manufacturer of yarn and fabrics with annual revenues of more than $120 million, is setting up a nonwovens project to manufacture hygiene care products. Intending to become an important player on the cosmetic pad market, Precot found partnered VMI Holland BV, which will supply several of it’s new ACE 300, fully automatic and compact pad production and packing machines, as well as a HCI, high output machine, to the new venture.
 
VMI Holland BV, worldwide Dutch machinery supplier, develops solutions for cotton pad punching and packaging while its Product Handling Systems division (formerly EBM) is a market leader in high capacity cotton pad machinery, which converts cotton blanket into cotton pad stacks that are professionally bagged. The ACE 300, VMI’s latest machine was designed especially for this nonwovens market. It incorporates the current state-of-the-art techniques including solid and rigid mechanics, low maintenance, easy operation and economic performance. Swift changeover to a large variety of pad shapes can occur by switching-product related parts and ensures a highly flexible production level.  
 
Precot Meridian is establishing the nonwovens operation in the southern state of Karnataka in India. “This greenfield project will be an integrated plant, with processing, nonwovens lines and finishing machines. Major machinery has been ordered and Precot will start with trial production of cotton pads in January 2013. We look forward to a fruitful cooperation with VMI,” says Precot’s Ashok Kulkarni, CEO of the new division.