Announcing New Manager of Human Resources

Announcing New Manager of Human Resources

Apr 21, 2020

Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania (April 21, 2020) – We are pleased to announce that Dawn Sampson has joined the Monadnock Non-Wovens LLC (MNW) team as Manager of Human Resources. MNW manufactures meltblown synthetic media for the automotive, surgical face masks, and air and liquid filters.

Dawn is a seasoned HR professional with over 30 years of experience as a leader, adviser, and recruiter of qualified and valued employees. She brings to MNW her strong skills in administration, training, risk management and OSHA compliance as the New Human Resources Manager.

“Many of our products are used in life-sustaining operations which are critical during the current pandemic,” said Keith Hayward, Managing Director of Monadnock Non-Wovens. “Dawn will play a key role in keeping our production fully staffed and working safely to fight the challenges of COVID-19.”

“We are actively seeking full-time production workers,” said Dawn Sampson. “If you have experience operating manufacturing machinery, have a high school diploma or GED and are seeking employment, I’d love to hear from you.”

For more details about qualifications for employment see our Careers page.

Virus Increases Demand for Surgical Face Masks for Everyday Wear

Virus Increases Demand for Surgical Face Masks for Everyday Wear

Jan 28, 2020

There are news reports of an outbreak caused by a novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) that seems to have originated in Wuhan, China. Cases of coronavirus are being reported around the world resulting from travel to and from the province. The virus causes flu-like symptoms and has proven fatal in some cases.

The CDC recommends if you are infected “to wear a Surgical Face Mask when in the same room as other people” or “if this is not possible that others in the same room should” wear face masks. As a result, there is a sudden and dramatic increase in the demand for surgical face protection. The typical face mask is made with melt blown polypropylene media. 

Monadnock Non-Wovens LLC has already established and validated a portfolio of air filtration media with various weights of polypropylene non-woven from 10 to 34 gsm with exceptionally low air resistance to meet this new global challenge.

Monadnock has a firmly established surgical face mask business supplying qualified roll goods to converters and producers of medical face masks for the dental and hospital markets.  The key is to produce consistent media with a suitable combination of filtration and breathability that is easy to process and convert into a variety of face mask configurations.  A standard test is the Bacterial Filtration Efficiency test (BFE).

In combination with other non-wovens, these products meet the F 1862 standard for low, moderate, and high resistance to synthetic blood penetration and particle retention — typically 95%, 99%, or better than 99% efficiency.  Monadnock uses NIOSH Respirator Test Protocols to qualify the media including critical solid particle challenges.  Products made with Monadnock’s face mask media meet the most rigorous BFE requirements.

The Monadnock range of medical face mask media has been developed over 20 years and now includes a family of roll goods to meet most market requirements including the fast-growing consumer or home market.  Especially developed production machines provide slit rolls typically in the 170mm-200mm (nominally 6 ¾”-7 ½”) size. Typically large master rolls are provided and converted into masks which are then sold separately or in packs.

Contact Keith Hayward, Managing Director, (570) 839-9210, for more information.

Monadnock Non-Wovens Welcomes Ray Whitby

Monadnock Non-Wovens Welcomes Ray Whitby

Dec 11, 2018

Monadnock Non-Wovens LLC (MNW), established in 1998, proudly serves the fast growing automotive, facemask, filtration, healthcare and consumer markets. Today MNW announced that Ray Whitby will join their team on January 2, 2019 in the role of Technical Sales Manager.

Ray is joining MNW after working for nearly 20 years with Transweb in New Jersey developing and marketing some of the most sophisticated and evolved surface charged enhanced media for the HEPA, respirator and filtration markets. His knowledge and proven experience will be used to help further evolve Monadnock’s established range and develop new fine fiber non-woven media aimed at the liquid and air filtration markets.

“Ray’s 30-plus years of experience in technical nonwovens product development, operations, and sales makes him an excellent addition to our team,” said Keith Hayward, MNW Managing Director.

Celebrating 20 Years of Innovation

Celebrating 20 Years of Innovation

Oct 22, 2018

Monadnock Non-Wovens LLC (MNW), established in 1998, proudly serves the fast growing automotive, facemask, filtration, healthcare and consumer markets.  Celebrating its 20th anniversary, celebrating 20 years of innovating, MNW has experienced tremendous growth and a dramatic evolution from making vacuum bags to creating high-performance, light weight technical nonwovens. MNW was founded by Monadnock Paper Mills, Inc. (MPM) which was established in 1819 in Bennington, New Hampshire.

In celebration of its 20th anniversary, MNW has launched a new responsive website, www.mnwovens.com, to highlight the breadth of its capabilities and products. MNW designs and builds its own manufacturing lines. It also offers a “Pilot to Production” program for developers of fine fiber meltblown polypropylene products seeking to transition from proven R+D scale production to industrial scale manufacturing. MNW is a longstanding member of both INDA and AFS industry associations.

This year MNW introduced the next generation of sound attenuation media for the automotive and trucking industry. HPAM® High Performance Acoustic Media is lighter than competitive products yet offers a quieter ride with improved fuel efficiency. Like all MNW products, HPAM is recyclable and manufactured with 100 percent renewable electricity (RECs). Under its newly updated ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management Standard, MNW demonstrates its commitment to manufacturing excellence.

All of the polypropylene products made at MNW are all recyclable and 100 percent of its polypropylene manufacturing waste byproduct is recycled.

“It has been an exciting year for all of us at Monadnock. I look forward to what opportunities our next 20 years and beyond will bring,” said Keith Hayward, MNW Managing Director.

HPAM® High Performance Acoustic Media

HPAM® High Performance Acoustic Media

Jun 5, 2018

Introducing the next generation of sound attenuation media.

Leveraging its manufacturing experience and long history of partnership with the automotive industry, MNW has designed and developed a product that significantly improves sound absorption at lower frequencies through an improved fiber matrix and a tunable scrim on both sides.

With this tunable scrim, Monadnock HPAM (High Performance Acoustic Media) provides excellent sound absorption at low weight allowing vehicles to meet acoustical targets while addressing challenges of light-weight aluminum bodies and improved acoustics. This new product is compressible allowing for use in cavities with varying thickness. HPAM may be die cut with existing equipment – no tooling or equipment modifications are necessary. Factory die cut parts have a perimeter seal to encapsulate loose fibers. MNW has also developed special packaging to maintain the integrity of the product in transit.

“We are pleased that new HPAM is already approved for use at GM and Ford plants,” said Monadnock Managing Director Keith Hayward. “This innovative media development offers the quiet ride and fuel efficiency that the market is seeking and that the consumer demands.”

As with all MNW products, HPAM is made with 100 percent renewable electricity through the purchase of Green-e certified renewable wind power energy certificates. Constructed with 100 percent virgin polypropylene, HPAM is lighter than competitive products – critical for fuel economy, and it is fully recyclable at the end of its useful life. For more information about Monadnock Non-Wovens send us a note.

Green Projects Energize MNW

Green Projects Energize MNW

Jul 24, 2017

Monadnock Non-Wovens LLC, which makes rolls of melt-blown polypropylene, began investing in this green renewable energy process to “do the right thing for the environment,” said Keith Hayward, managing director and principal of Monadnock.

Read the whole story in the Lehigh Valley Business News.

Pilot to Production Program Now Available

Pilot to Production Program Now Available

May 12, 2017

Monadnock Non-Wovens LLC offers a “Pilot to Production” program aimed at developers of fine fiber melt blown polypropylene seeking to transition from proven R+D scale production to industrial scale manufacturing.

The program is ideally suited for developers who have innovative ideas for media or composites. There is a big leap from small lab sized concept to industrial-scale production. This is where Monadnock’s experienced team and right-sized melt blown and calendaring machines are real assets. “There is a considerable difference in running melt blown media under test conditions to running heavy duty industrial quantities.” says Keith Hayward Managing Director of Monadnock Non-Wovens based in Mount Pocono in NE Pennsylvania. “Our unique combination of flexible polypropylene melt blown operations and combining technology with many years of practical experience is ideal for marketers with new products seeking process development.”

This program is suitable for product developers seeking characteristics or special properties in the fast growing allergen barrier, anti-microbial or odor removal applications often used in fabric, homeland security, medical devices and some consumer products.

Monadnock Non-Wovens has expertise in prototype to industrial transitions involving polypropylene melt blown with or without a wide range of additives and combined materials. The size and flexibility of the company permits relatively low cost and rapid development of roll goods media suitable for further converting or direct sale.

“The elegance of our Pilot to Production program is that once approved by the market the client has a ready made home for subsequent production with established processes and cost structures supported by an ISO9001 Quality System” says Keith Hayward. “Pilot programs can involve renting machine time, toll converting or conventional purchase.”