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INDUSTRIAL EXTENSION BUREAU

Udyog Bhavan
Gandhinagar 382 011
Gujarat

Non-Woven Fabrics (Disposable Medical Fabrics)

I Product And Applications

1.1 The Product

Non-woven fabrics for disposable medical application is very well established industry
in advance / developed countries like USA/ UK / France/ Japan/ Germany etc; But this
concept is relatively new in our country. Though, non-woven fabrics is being produced
and used in our country since last more than a decade, it’s use has remained restricted to
few applications only. Use of Non-woven disposable fabrics for medical applications has
been very insignificant until now. However, with increasing awareness about advantages
of use of non-woven fabrics for disposable medical applications in critical areas like
Operation theater garments / linens and wipes, surgical coverings, bandages etc; due to
infectious diseases, the demand for Non-woven fabrics for disposable medical application
has increased and it will be increasing further in coming period and hence there will be
potential for new units for such products.

1.2 The Existing Unit

There are several units manufacturing Non-woven Fabrics for various purposes,
including disposable medical fabrics in India. These units are as mentioned below:
a) GTC Industries Ltd , Tobacco House, Ville parle
b) Radhika Meditex Industries Pvt. Ltd. Silk House, Silk Bazar, Mumbai.
c) Jeevan Products, MIDC Indus area, Thane, Mumbai
d) Madura Coats Ltd, 10/4 kasturba Road, Banglore-1
 e) Uniproducts ( India) Ltd, 21, community Centre, Friends Colony, New Delhi-
65.

The above mentioned units manufacture Non-woven fabrics in rolls and also manufacture
various products from it for medical and hygiene applications. However, out of above
companies only two companies are manufacturing medical disposable fabrics and
supplying it in domestic as well as export markets.

II AN OVERVIEW OF MARKET
2.1 The Existing Unit
As mentioned presently there are few units manufacturing Non-woven fabrics,
including for medical applications in India. However, there is no unit in Gujarat presently
manufacturing Non-woven fabrics for disposable medical garments and other
applications.

2.2 Market Potential

As indicated earlier Non-woven Disposable fabrics for medical applications is having
very good demand potential. Non-woven Disposable fabrics for medical applications,
particularly in operation theaters and critical care areas. Thus there is very large potential
for this product in Gujarat itself. It can have equally large potential in neighbouring states
like Rajasthan, Madhyapradesh and Maharashtra, particularly where now state
governments are spending good amount for heath care in public hospitals also. We are
estimating total market potential for Non-woven fabrics for different applications in
following table No.2.1.

TABLE NO.2.1.

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 ESTIMATED DEMAND FOR NON-WOVEN FABRICS IN GUJARAT
( By Year 2005 )

Sr.No. Application Market Segment Application Marketsegmentwise

Demand in MT
1. Disposable Fabrics Items for 40,000
Medical applications
2. Hygiene products like sanitary 30,000
pads, Nappies, Diapers etc;
manufacture
3. Filtration fabrics for Air 10,000
filters/ liquid filters
4. Total Demand 80,000

Source: International Non-woven directory and Non-woven fabrics

manufacturers Association, Mumbai.

As observed from above table there are several possibilities of marketing the end product
of this project in indigenous market for different applications. There is market potential
for Non-woven fabrics for disposable medical applications apart from it’s use in health
and hygiene applications.

III THE SUGGESTED PROJECT SIZE

3.1 The Project Size
The project size for this project will depend on following factors :
a) Areawise market demand for this product.
b) The project out-lay planned.
c) Application wise market demand for these products.

We are suggesting for Non-woven Disposable fabrics of different thickness (Different

Gauges) as per various applications. However, the unit will have flexibility to produce
different thickness Fabric, hence we are mentioning project size in weight as per present
norms prevailing in this industry. We are suggesting for 500 Kg per hour Non-woven
Disposable Fabric producing plant here or to say 12 MT per day capacity on three shift
basis and considering 300 days in a year it will have capacity of 3600 MT p.a. We are

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 suggesting this capacity to keep project outlay within medium scale project investment
range. Further products can be added once the basic unit has started smooth functioning.
We also suggest to go for other types of Non-woven fabrics manufacturing such as for
use as disposable wipes for cosmetics and disposable garments for critical care Staff and
patients.This project will not generate any effluents and hence as per GPCB norms it can
be put up any where in state.

We are suggesting for capacity of 3600 MT per annum Non-woven Disposable fabrics
for medical applications of various grades i.e. thickness as per market demand. We are
suggesting this capacity based on optimum size of project investment as well as market
potential for end products

IV SOURCE OF RAW-MATERIAL
4.1 Raw-material Source
Though, Non-woven disposable fabrics can be manufactured from many materials and in
many style, we are suggesting here to manufacture it from Poly-Propylene material,
which can with stand higher temperature and if require it can also be sterilized using
autoclave process. As indicated earlier, there are two units in Gujarat producing basic
raw-material PP granules for this project.The Other raw material required for this project
is white / colour pigments. Usually Titanium Dioxide (TiO2) pigment is used for this
purpose, but there are several units who can prepare standard master batches for other
plastic manufacturing units. It is advisable to get prepared masterbatches with such unit
to get consistent quality of end products and to have consistent market for particular
products. This project will also require small amount of plasticizers, which will control
smooth production with consistent thickness and uniform texture of such flim with
uniform luster. Such plasticizers can also be added at the time of preparing master
batches for uniform mixing. We are summarizing main raw-material production in
Gujarat for last Five years period in following table no.4.1.

TABLE NO.4.1

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 YEARWISE POLY PROPYLENE PRODUCTION IN GUJARAT

Sr.No Year Poly Propylene production in Gujarat

. in MT
1 1995-96 500,000
2 1996-97 550,000
3 1997-98 600,000
4 1998-99 650,000
5 1999-00 7,25,000

Source: Gujarat State Plastic manufacturers Association, Ahmedabad.

*PP production from IPCL and RIL, Hajira & Jamnagar plants are considered for
production of PP in Gujarat.

As it can be observed from above table Gujarat is having sufficient raw-material

production for the proposed project size. Furthermore, PP granules are under open
general license and hence they can be imported in case of any shortage of raw-material

The requirement of other input is estimated in following table no.4.2.

Table No.4.2
Estimated Requirement of Other Inputs for proposed unit

Sr.N Other Inputs Estimated Quantity

o. at Full capacity
1. Plasticizers and anti-static additives 18,000 Kg

2. TiO2 and other colour pigments 9000 Kg

3. Electric power in 5,37,120 KWH

Source: Non-woven fabrics handbook/ directory and industry sources.

As it can be observed from above table there is sufficient availability of raw-material and
other input required for the proposed project.

4.2 The Suggested Project Location

Looking to the nature of project and the availability of raw-material, it can be located
any where in the state. But if it is located near to potential market areas, it can have
advantage of competitive transportation cost which will help in marketing it’s product in

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 competitive way. It is therefore suggested to locate this unit near to any urban center
which will have buyers from all consuming sectors in which this product is having
demand.

V TECHNOLOGY AND MANUFACTURING PROCESS

5.1 Technology Sources
Technology for manufacturing Non-woven Disposable fabrics is available in our country.
There are Four suppliers of plant and machinery who also provide required training for
the manufacturing process. Apart from this as mentioned earlier main raw-material
manufacturers also provide training and technical assistance for setting up of such unit as
well as for smooth operation of the unit. PP film and fibre plants are available on turn-
key basis from well known Indian machinery manufacturing companies. Hence,
availability of technology is not problem. The list of plant & machinery suppliers as well
as the technology suppliers are given at the end of this profile.

5.2 Manufacturing Process

In this Non-woven Disposable fabrics producing plant process is fully automatic. There
is a composite plants for PP film and fibres production and fininshing. This plant is
having three main sections. In first section plastic granules are fed and they are melted
with the help of electric heater. At this stage some plasticizers are added for strength, and
smooth extrusion of film or fibre. In case of PP Film production this molten mass is
pushed by twin screw mechanism through slit type die from where the thick hot film is
coming out this film is picked up on big size pull –up rolls and pulled to extrude it to
desired thickness. At this stage film is passing through thickness controller rolls also and
with electronics gadgets it’s uniform thickness and alignment at the time of extrusion
process are maintained very precisely to get uniform thickness and finish. This extruded
film is continuously wrapped on calander rolls. At this stage film may be split into two or
three different width size as per end product size demand. In such case prior to wrapping
of film on calander rolls splitting knife is continuously cutting the film and film is
wrapped on different width rolls for use in disposable products manufacturing.. In case of
Poly propylene fibre, hot melted material is coming out from spinrate, a die with 8 to 12

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 wholes and each thread is picked up on different cone for winding. These fibres are used
for web forming when Non-woven fabric is produced. These fibres are of 80 to 100
Deniers as per end products’ requirements.

Non-woven fabric is produced using two layers of PP film laminated to together, with
sandwitching of PP fibres, using either hot melt adhesive and hot calandering under
pressure or just sticking two layers of film with interspersed PP fibres and films are fixed
using cold adhesive with fixing by rubber rollers under pressure.The process of hot-melt
adhesive and hot calandering is producing better finish and quality product. In second
type cost of production is low and may be used for Disposable Medical applications, if
cost is criteria.

In case of Non-woven Disposable fabrics for medical applications master batch will be
used for colouring the film. Such master batch will have pre calculated colour pigments
as per the colour depth required in market for finished products. Additiver for anti-static
properties are also used at the time of fabrics drawing itself. This will also give anti-static
properties to the Non-woven fabrics, which is required in some critical medical
disposable products for operation theaters and ICU patients wards. Anti-static properties
give dual advantage, as it will not catch dust particles/ fibres/ bacteria from air and there
will not be any chances of static electric spark causing hazard of fire where flammable
gases may be there. Non-woven Disposable fabrics will also be sterilized if it is going for
medical application directly. Sterilization may be done using Ethylene Gas or
Formaldehyde Gas. BARC also does sterilization using r Gamma rays radiation for such
products on job-work basis.

Thus, though Non-woven Fabrics for Disposable medical application looks simple
product, it requires state of the art production facilities with dust proof environment for
fabric production and strict quality control procedures.

VI MAN POWER AND UTILITY

6.1 Manpower Requirement

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 Since, it will be fully automated processing plant there will be need of qualified technical
manpower for plant operation and supervision. We are estimating sectionwise manpower
estimate in following table no 6.1.

TABLE NO.6.1
ESTIMATED MANPOWER REQUIREMENT

Sr Manufacturing section details Persons No.

a Main fully automatic Film extrusion plant 6 persons
B Disposable Medical products section 9 persons
B Quality control staff 3 persons
C Purchasing/ Marketing sections 6 persons
D Finance / Accounting/ godown keeping 6 persons
E Other supportive staff for Utility Operation / 8 persons
security and peons/ driver etc;.
Total Manpower estimate 38 persons

This project may be developed as medium scale unit. It can be located in urban or
semiurban area and it will generate employment for 38 persons directly and equal number
indirectly in the form of manpower that will be engaged in transportation of raw-material,
other chemicals and finished product. Thus it will help in removing unemployment in
urban and semi-urban areas without creating pollution.

6.2 Utility Requirement

In this proposed project main utilities required is power and compressed air. Water will
not be required in large quantity except for drinking and cleaning purpose by factory staff
and visitors. No requirement of steam for heating as it will be done using electric power.
As per technical details given in plant supplier’s brochures such unit will have power
requirement of 125 hp or say 1790 KWH units per day. This include the requirement for
waterpump running and lighting purpose in factory.

VII ESTIMATE OF PROJECT COST

7.1 Estimated Project Cost
We are summarising fixed cost estimates for the proposed project in table no.7.1:

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 TABLE NO.7.1

ESTIMATE OF FIXED PROJECT COST

Sr.No Item Particulars Estimated Cost

(Rs. in Lakhs)
1.0 Land and Land development 10.00
2.0 Building and Civil works 30.00
3.0 Plant and Machinery
a. PP Film plant for Non-woven fabrics 75.00
b. Disposable Medical products 105.00
c. Utility 20.00
Sub total 200.00
4.0 Other Fixed Assets 10.00
5.0 Provision for Contingency 10.00
6.0 Prl.& Pre.op Expenses 20.00
7.0 Total of Fixed Cost Estimate 280.00
8.0 Margin for working capital 60.00
9.0 The Block Capital Cost 340.00

The above estimates are preliminary estimate for capacity of 500 Kg / hour Non-woven
fabrics capacity plant i.e.3600 MT p.a. and medical disposable products from it. This
estimate may vary with the sections planned as well as level of automation.

VIII FINANCIAL PROJECTIONS

8.1 The financial Projections
We are giving in brief the financial projections for the proposed project here below.
These are preliminary projections and it may change with location of project or with the
project size variation.

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 Table No.8.1
Estimated Annual Profitability and Financial projections

Sr. Particulars Operating Years

No
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th
1.0 Installed capacity 3600 3600 3600 3600 3600
( MT / Year)
2.0 Utilised Capacity % 60 70 80 90 90
a)Non-woven Fabric 2160 2520 2880 3240 3240
Disposable products
3.0 Total Sales Rs.in lakhs 1728 2016 2304 2592 2592
4.0 Cost Of Production
a) Rawmaterial 1080 1260 1440 1620 1620
b) Other Mfg.Exp. 216 252 288 324 324
Cost of Production 1296 1512 1728 1944 1944
5.0 Operating Profit 432 504 576 648 648
6.0 Interest, Depreciation 112 112 112 112 112
Adm. & Selling Exp.
7.0 Net Operating Profit 320 392 464 536 536

N.B. We are assuming Rs.50 per kg Raw-material cost for Non-woven fabric.We are assuming
selling price of Rs.75 per kg for Non-woven Disposable fabrics for medical application.There
will be cost of Rs.10 per kg for other manufacturing expenses and other overhead costs are taken
at 40 % of fixed cost as per industry norms prevailing at present.

IX CRITICAL FACTORS AND KEY ELEMENTS

9.1 The Critical Factors
The most critical factor for the proposed project is continuous availability of power as
interruption will cause lot of material waste which can make end products’ cost
economically non-viable. The quality of end products is important aspect for this project.
Looking to this well equipped laboratory to test raw-materials as well as to monitor the
quality of finished product has to be as per international standards, for this also well
established quality control laboratory is must.
9.2 The Key Element
The key element in success of this project will be economical raw-material procurement
and efficient operation of the plant to obtain consistent yield and quality. It is strongly
recommended that manpower should be trained properly to have this key elements looked

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 after. They should be trained in Disposable Medical Plastic products’ processing
technology as well as about the quality of finished products standards of the industry.

X TECHNOLOGY , PLANT & MACHINERY SUPPLIERS

10.1 List of Technology & Plant Suppliers
We are summarizing list of plant and machinery suppliers as well as technology supplier
in following table no.10.1.
TABLE NO.10.1
LIST OF TECHNOLOGY & PLANT & MACHINERY SUPPLIERS

Sr.No Name and Address Items Supplied

1.0 Texcello Nonwovens Machinery and equipment manufacturer-
16/75,Gitasadan, cutting, seaming, sewing equipments,
Chembur, Central Adhesives bonding: equipments for
Avenue Road, single / Limited use products for e.g.
Mumbai-400071 caps / masks towels/ wipws / dressings,
Bandages, Surgical drapes etc; finishing
equipments like Calendering/
Embossing, Slitting/ winding/ adhesive
applicators, web forming machinery.
2.0 Roll Print Company (P) Machinery and equipment manufacturer-
Ltd. cutting, seaming, sewing equipments, ;
6, Jawaharlal Nehru finishing equipments like Calendering/
Road, Calcutta-700013 Embossing, Slitting/ winding/ adhesive
applicators, web forming machinery.
3.0 Kolsite Machine Fabrik Complete Plant on turn-key basis for
Ltd, Kolsite House, manufacture of PP Film and PP fibres
Veera Desai Road, for Non-woven disposal Fabrics for
Mumbai-400 053 Medical application.
Note: This
4.0 D.G.P windsor & Complete Plant on turn-key basis for
project
profile is company manufacture of PP Film and PP fibres
based on DGP Windsor House, for Non-woven disposal Fabrics for
preliminary Thane, Mumbai Medical application.
study to
facilitate
prospective
entrepreneur
s to assess a
prima facie
scope. It is,
however,
advisable to
get a detailed
feasibility
study
prepared
before taking 11 iNDEXTb
a final
investment
decision.