They're the hot new household packaged product—cleaning wipes. Whether wet or dry, they're disposable, impregnated with consumers' favorite cleaning solutions and designed to help them quickly clean bathrooms, countertops, backyard grills, etc. Some pop out of the package already moist, others need to be moistened to release the encapsulated cleaning solution. For that matter, there are dozens of industrial cleaning uses for the wipes, too.

Tufco Technologies, Inc., Green Bay, WI, wants to storm this nonwovens market in a big way. And with the help of a turnkey line provided by S & S Specialty Systems, Iron River, WI, they're ready with the flexibility to turn out wet or dry wipes on the same line, with fast changeover and numerous downstream packaging options.

According to Michele Corrigan, Tufco vp-sales and marketing for the company's contract manufacturing sector, a combination of new business awarded to the company, and a desire to expand in the production of wet and dry wipes led Tufco to commit to the multi-million-dollar investment in its new Viper line, as it is known.

"Our consumer-products customers are in the household cleaning and personal-care industries, as well as in institutional cleaners, such as are used by janitors in hospitals and schools," she says. "We were looking for versatility in producing both wet and dry wipes."

"The Viper can run a broad range of wet and dry flat packs, with no minimum stack height, at a wide range of cut lengths from 4 to 16 in.," says Mark Leiterman, operations manager for Tufco's Green Bay plant. "We currently have a customer base that requires both wet and dry applications—and we can respond with fast changeovers. This equipment satisfies a multitude of needs."

According to Leiterman, S & S Specialty's broad technical background as a supplier, skill in rebuilds as well as in designing new systems, and proven track record through other machinery purchases, made it the choice to supply the Viper line. However, Tufco took no chances, as the company's corporate purchasing policies built speed ratings and other performance criteria into the machine acceptance, performed at the S & S facility. The system was ordered in February 2004 and installed in June of that year.

"Our operators train at the equipment manufacturer's facility during machine acceptance," says Corrigan. "And all ratings and criteria were checked out, in terms of efficiency, changeover speed, spare parts, operator acceptance, etc., before the machine was accepted and paid for. After delivery, there were no issues—it was a very clean start-up."

When it was time to let customers and prospects know about its new wet/dry line capabilities once the Viper line was installed, Tufco didn't leave anything to chance. "We used a combination of literature, our Website, direct sales contacts, multiple trade-show promotions and our POWER direct-mail sample campaign, in which we had mailed sample wipes packages to over 2,000 potential prospects in October 2004," says Jeanne Stangel, senior manager of customer services and corporate relations.

"It was important to us that our customers be aware of the advantages to them of our capabilities," says Corrigan. "We can offer printing, converting and laminating of wet and dry wipes all under one roof, which keeps Fortune 500 consumer-product companies from having to deal with three different converters, as they've had to do in the past. Advantages include decreased turnaround time, better logistics, reduced waste and shorter lead-times. They get to market faster with new products."

Still, Tufco often finds itself in the position of competing with the in-house capabilities of its own customers. "Many of our customers convert in-house, especially for their core products," says Corrigan. "There's often a misconception that contract manufacturing and converting drives up costs. We try to make the case, through our Six Sigma practices and lean manufacturing, that we can drive out costs for their medium-niche products for specific markets."

Tufco has an enviable record of growth as a major, publicly held contract converter. Corrigan attributes some of it to creativity in offering customized products, and predicts steady growth in dedicated component production (where Tufco engineers and contracts out equipment for customers' proprietary production).

Growth in the next few years is expected to come from the flexible packaging side of the business, as capacity growth in nonwovens starts up in 2005–2006. Tufco's capital investment, quality-control infrastructure (it's ISO 9001/2000 registered) and clear vision for the future should have it well positioned to follow new converting markets for continued success.