With more than 460 delegates from across the nonwovens supply chain, OUTLOOK, a leading conference for the nonwovens hygiene and personal care industry, was well attended by the nonwovens personal care and hygiene products businesses.

Concluded last month in Madrid, Spain, the conference attracted participants from 184 companies, coming from 30 countries, showcasing EDANA’s mission to support the industry’s growth and promote its sustainable development.

"As a newcomer to OUTLOOK, I was impressed by the variation in the presentations covering both high-level strategic issues and new technology developments,” said Robin Grankvist, Senior Application Specialist at Stora Enso Biomaterials.

Comprehensive programme

Profiting from networking with colleagues from across the globe, and a comprehensive programme, participants this year were introduced to the use of tablets in the conference room to enable personal viewing of slides, interaction between the speakers and the audience, and management of questions and polling.

Additionally, to celebrate the 15th edition of OUTLOOK in Europe, an exhibition reminded participants of the past editions across Europe, and the newer expansion of the conference to Asia and Latin America.

As part of this celebration, Pierre Wiertz, General Manager of EDANA congratulated two EDANA members, Søren Gordon Nielsen from Fibertex Personal Care and Krzysztof D. Malowaniec for their participation in all 15 European editions of OUTLOOK.

Presentations

Speakers throughout the conference presented market data, consumer and demographic trends from Europe, India, and Iran, and the global hygiene markets, human factors and innovation, and recent product and technology developments.

In 2016, Professor Geoffrey West was welcomed as keynote speaker to address Growth, Innovation, Economies of Scale and the Accelerating Pace of Life, which was complemented by Professor Ragnar Löfstedt’s presentation on how the nonwovens industry can draw some valuable lessons from risk communication.

The conference closed with an inspiring case study by Nina Koppola from Suominen on changing a company and sessions on odour measurements and the importance of risk assessments in all business projects.

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