The new Golden Fleece: Responses to a PPE crisis

Wakefield – KTJ's sister publication, Sustainable Nonwovens magazine, will this week broadcast a new webinar that lifts the lid on the global supply of face masks and PPE in the wake of the coronavirus health crisis.
Featuring experts from the nonwovens supply chain and key industry journalists involved in the sector on a day-to-day basis, the webinar aims to reveal the complexity of the PPE supply chain, how China virtually cornered the market on PPE – and will give advice to the industry stakeholders: manufacturers, convertors, end-users and politicians, how it may be possible to mitigate the occurrence of this problem in future.
‘Face masks, PPE and Covid-19: What lessons can be learned for the future?’ will be broadcast at 15.30 GMT on Friday May 15th, 2020 and is free to attend for members of the UK’s Nonwovens Network, with a nominal charge for non-members.
“The last three months, while being unprecedented in so many ways, have certainly been the most extraordinary in the history of the nonwovens and PPE industry,” says Adrian Wilson, consulting editor of Sustainable Nonwovens and long-standing committee member of the Nonwovens Network. “In this presentation, ‘The new Golden Fleece of fabrics’, I’ll provide a complete overview of developments, with a special emphasis on what’s been happening in the UK.”
 Wilson’s presentation will be followed by a panel discussion on how the UK and US nonwovens supply chains have been impacted and how they have responded. Taking part are:

Robert Green, Americas business manager, NatureWorks.
Andrew Halloway, managing director, Warren Nonwovens.
Eamonn Tighe, European business manager, NatureWorks.
Matthew Tipper, business director, NIRI (the Nonwovens Innovation and Research Institute).

The discussion will be chaired by Sustainable Nonwovens editor Haydn Davis followed by questions and answers from the live audience.
Topics under discussion will include:

Why are meltblown nonwoven fabrics so crucial to facemask production and why has there been such a bottleneck?
What has been the response to the shortage of meltblown fabric on the market?
What are the alternatives to meltblown technology for facemask applications?
Single use plastic and sustainability issues
Lessons for the future

CLICK HERE to purchase tickets and confirm your attendance