A big portion of the economy remains in state hands and foreign direct investment in Slovenia is one of the lowest in the EU per capita, yet the country is taking a notable lead in the area of green issues and sustainability.
Slovenian companies have been heavily involved in Factory Ecoplast, an EU-backed Eureka project aimed at combining natural fibres with thermoplastics to create new recyclable compounds for consumer products and audio components.
Wood, flax, hemp and jute are just some of the natural materials now showing promise in this use.
“We need to develop new materials that are cheaper and better,” said Factory Ecoplast coordinator Uros Znidaric of Slovenian company Isokon. “Ideally, such materials should also be more easily recyclable, reducing environmental impact. Although wood is known for its good acoustics and is often used in musical instruments, today a lot of speaker boxes are made of injection-moulded polymers,” said Znidaric. “We wanted to see if our new composite, which contains wood, might display better acoustic properties.”
Factory Ecoplastic results show that the wood fibre-filled composites developed under the project are indeed well suited to use in loudspeaker boxes. Both damping of sound radiation and sound wave resistance for the material are comparable to those displayed by medium density fibreboard (MDF), one of the most commonly used materials in this application.
Further tests of the project’s new Eureka speaker boxes show higher frequency acoustic performance on a par with market leaders and the potential for Factory Ecoplastic commercialisation is therefore very high.
Slovenian nonwovens
As a leading Slovenian nonwovens manufacturer, Filc, based in Menges, manaufactures both nonwovens and multi-layered textiles and composites for automotive, building, furniture, footwear, filtration, artificial leather and lining reinforcements.
The company also carries out a wide range of after treatments, including chemical – hydrophobic, oleophobic, flame retardants and antibacterial finishes – calandering, sewing and making up.
Machinery builder NSC Nonwoven – a regular exhibitor at the INDEX nonwovens show in Geneva – recently marked the sale of its 1,000th crosslapper to Filc.
Founded in 1937 as a producer of woollen felts, Filc began producing nonwovens in 1963, and added coating and laminating technology at the time of its management buy-out in 1999. A year later it started producing nonwovens at a second location within Slovenia at Lendava.
Filc has consistently increased both domestic and export sales over the past 15 years. Major export markets are Germany and France, with the company’s prime end-use markets being automotive, construction and furniture.
It was as part of a complete line equipped with an Excelle card and the 58th NSC ProDyn control system to be sold to date.
The Novbelt conveyor belts manufactured by leading Slovenian nonwovens manufacturer Konus Konex, based in Mestni, are used in a wide variety of material transport applications such as metal stamping, automated cutting machines, logistic systems, airports and food processing. Their advantages are quiet running, very high abrasion and cut resistance and high conductivity.
Silon chemical and needle-bonded nonwovens manufactured by the company are primarily used in the footwear industry and due to their thermal and adhesive resistance can be easily adhered, pressed and formed. The materials are also resistant to chemicals and tearing and are therefore suitable for other leather goods. PU or PVC coated or printed, Silon is also used in synthetic suitcases and bags, as well as filtration, belts, wipes, mops etc.
Tosama, based at Vir near Domžale, employs around 680 people in the manufacture and marketing of auxiliary medical supplies, finished products for hygiene and nonwovens.
Local sanitary napkins and other femcare products are marketed under the Viriana brand, and baby diapers as Tetra and Kaliko.
Other products – the company markets over 500 with 11 trademarks – include woven gauze and bandages, carded cotton and viscose wadding, bleached gauze and wadding, and the processing of bandages and other finished products.
Two thirds of production is sold on the Slovenian market, while in Croatia Tosama owns sister companies in Zagreb and Skopje engaged in marketing operations in Croatia and Macedonia. About 15% of Tosama’s turnover is generated by exports to other European markets.
The company says its domestic market has become too small and it now intends to increase its market share in Europe, based on the continuing and rapid modernisation of its facilities and on the development of functional high-quality products.
