Improving margin in nonwoven production is often approached through pricing or cost-cutting. But in practice, the biggest gains come from something more fundamental; delivering the same customer outcome with less waste, less variability, and less complexity without increasing risk.
In this article, we outline a practical 5-step roadmap to improve margin.
Step 1: Increase Saleable Output
Profit is lost whenever you make material that cannot be shipped.
Focus on:
- Reject reduction: identify the three biggest defect types and remove their causes (web non-uniformity, bonding instability, winding damage, contamination).
- Faster grade changes: improve start-up efficiencies with standard machine settings and fast checks.
- Less unplanned stoppage: treat critical components (dies/nozzles/rolls/filters) as measurement tools, when condition drifts, defects rise.
Step 2: Reduce Material Usage
Many products carry “extra grams” because specifications are not tied tightly to real use conditions. By defining measurable outcomes and designing smarter structures, weight can be reduced without sacrificing function.
Focus on:
- Clearly defining the customer outcomes in measurable tests: for example, filtration efficiency and pressure drop, fluid uptake and rewet, abrasion resistance.
- Reducing mass with structure, not hope: use layered designs so more expensive fibres or chemistry sit only where they are needed to work.
- Mapping the safe operating window: run controlled trials so you know where performance drops sharply and set limits before scale-up.
Step 3: Rebalance Raw Materials
Raw materials cost money twice; once when you buy them, and again when their variability creates scrap, claims, or over-processing.
Focus on:
- Blend optimisation: adjust fibre types and ratios to hit performance at minimum cost.
- Remove “nice-to-have” chemicals: keep only what measurably improves processing, performance, or durability.
- Control variability at the gate: set acceptance limits for incoming material properties so the process stays stable.
These efficiencies directly reduce operational risk and shrink the environmental footprint of processing.
Step 4: Reduce Energy and Utilities
Energy is often used to compensate for instability. Improve process control to reduce the need for excess energy.
Focus on:
- Drying and heating: recover heat, control exhaust humidity, balance airflow, and avoid overheating.
- Water and filtration systems: keep filtration and nozzle condition high so you don’t need higher pressure to get the same effect.
- Compressed air: fix leaks and lower pressure where possible, small changes have large cost effects.
Step 5: Simplify the Product Range
Every additional product variant increases complexity, testing burden, inventory, and opportunities for error.
Focus on:
- Building platform families: create a small number of base materials, then add features only where customers pay for them.
- Eliminating low-value variants: keep differences only when they deliver a measurable customer outcome.
- Pricing for performance: where function is proven, sell the outcome delivered, not the material used.
The common thread across all five steps can be summarised as follows: optimise for customer outcome and remove everything else that doesn’t contribute.
However, this isn’t about trying to tackle everything at once. The most effective approach is to start with yield, capture the quick wins, and then improve step-by-step from there.
When approaching margin improvement, the key question is: where are you seeing the biggest margin losses today, materials, waste, or complexity?
Let’s Continue the Conversation
Contact us to discuss how this approach could apply to your manufacturing operation and customer requirements.
Contact NIRI via email or phone +44 (0)113 350 3829.
