Diaper manufacturing and innovation are derived from the inner workings behind our solutions – a connection made daily, goes beyond simplicity.
It’s the ideation, testing, and development that brings to fruition that simplistic connection. Beginning with a visionary inventor’s walk in the woods, to the talented R&D department, our fasteners are the engineering behind a diaper’s performance. Throughout the personal care market, we’ve fostered reliability industry-wide for almost 30 years!
That’s why we’re spotlighting team members whose innovation flourishes inside and out of our organization.
How Diapers Are Manufactured – Connections Make All the Difference
Located at Velcro Companies’ Innovation and Technology Center (ITC) in Manchester, N.H., Marianne Bowen has been working here for 22 years. As Global Research and Development Lab Manager, Marianne validates all innovation products and evaluates prototypes against international testing standards.
With over 200 pieces of testing equipment and 100 different test methods, it’s imperative to provide validations for not only design qualifications but its manufacturing capabilities as well.
“Technologies are changing, and we have to keep up with what the industry is doing, so sometimes it’s taking that time to do the research. The actual ‘R’ in ‘R&D.’”
The ‘Research’ – Testing Within Diaper Innovation
Marianne researches feasibility – when a design is created, she’ll validate it for manufacturing capability or even quality control. It’s within this moment, she’ll determine if a project can move forward, meet market demand, and ensure our customers are getting the highest quality product — “We design a solution for our customers in every product we innovate. The testing is the validation for good quality design and manufacturing.”
Getting Down to The Technical
The set specifications and test performances ensure each product is made correctly. A fastener’s technical performance is deciphered by “peel” and “shear.” These determinates are used within the design and validation phases.
This is a roll-down machine.
What’s Peel and shear?
Peel is the amount of force used to disengage the hook and loop apart from each other. On a diaper, it’s the tab- “as we take the material and separate it, it’s the amount of force it takes to disengage the hook and the loop together.”
Whereas shear is the amount of force it takes for the product to go across each other. It’s the friction that’s measured. This affects how a diaper remains closed and how it’s worn.
Favored by Moms and Dads Around the World
Across the globe, diapers are manufactured for children– “The caregiver who is utilizing the fastener may not relate to the technical details around how a fastener performs, but there is an expectation and certainty that the closure will perform.” Within the personal care market, it’s the expectation that creates a simplified connection to its users. Marianne and her team are more than just testers – they “are the science and math behind the expected diaper performance.” Making what we do here more than a fastener.
Stay on our blog to discover all the ways we’re #EssentialToTheEssentials.
