The World of Wipes® (WOW) International Conference attracted a record number of wipes industry professionals from the entire wipes value chain at the annual conference held in Minneapolis, MN, June 2-5. The eighth annual WOW conference highlighted presentations from renowned industry speakers on the $6 billion wipes industry and included round-table discussions, market analysis, receptions, exhibit displays and the announcement of the prestigious World of Wipes Innovation Award. The WOW conference is the only event solely devoted to the wipes industry and is organised by INDA, the association of the nonwoven fabrics industry.
The sessions detailed the latest topics of interest across the wipes industry and included flushability, sustainability, new Industrial Wiper regulations and wipes to reduce healthcare acquired infections (HAIs). Among the other topics that were presented were branding strategies, industry forecasts and analytics, ethnography, regulatory compliance, certification and technical advances.
The prestigious World of Wipes Innovation® Award was presented to ITW Professional Brands for their Sertun? Rechargeable Sanitizer Indicator Towels for demonstrating the most innovative, creative and novel use of nonwovens that most expanded the use of nonwovens with creativity, novelty, uniqueness and technical sophistication.
Dave Rousse, President, INDA, said, ¨The resounding success of WOW 2014 demonstrates the vibrancy and positive growth of the entire wipes industry. The program contained relevant and informative subject matter along with opportunities for making connections at the exhibits, receptions and meetings interspersed throughout each day. We are particularly pleased to see a 25 percent increase in the number of exhibitors and an ever increasing percentage of new exhibitors to the industry. The highly-anticipated announcement of the World of Wipes Innovation® Award winner continued the dynamic energy of WOW to the very end.¨
Sertun? Rechargeable Sanitizer Indicator Towels are an innovative, nonwoven rechargeable food service towel that indicates by colour when the towel is cleaning and when it needs to be recharged in cleaning fluid.
The other finalists competing this year were Andritz for their substrate patterning process; Pacon Manufacturing Company with their MINWAX® wood finishing cloths.