TOKYO (August 22, 1997) -- Kobe Steel, Ltd. of Japan will furnish a 1.5-billion-
yen spunbond plant to P.T. Multi Spunindo Jaya in Indonesia.  Construction of 
the plant in Surabaya is scheduled for early 1998 and production is to start in 
mid-1998.  The plant will have one dual production line with a capacity to make 
a total of 3,500 tons of nonwoven polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene 
terephtalate (PET) per year.

Spunbond sheet and fabric are used in a wide range of applications.  In the 
medical and hygiene field it is used in surgical caps, masks and disposable 
diapers.   In agriculture, it is used in greenhouses and as plant covers. Roofing, 
clothing, geotextiles, building construction, and household goods are other areas 
of use.  

Roughly 50% of the output will be shipped overseas to other Asian countries, 
including Japan, with the rest for domestic consumption.  With demand in-
creasing in Southeast Asia, the spunbond market is growing 6% to 10% per year. 

Spunbond nonwoven sheet is made by placing the raw material, PP or PET in 
chip form, into a twin screw extruder.  The chips are melted in the extruder and 
the molten polymer is fed to the spinning head where it is spun into filament.  
The filament is cooled and solidified in the quenching chamber and collected on a 
screen.  The filament web on the screen then goes through a calender.  Under 
the heat and pressure of the calender rolls, the filament web is formed into 
spunbond sheet.  Finally, it is cooled, inspected and trimmed before being wound 
into a roll for shipment. 

Characteristics of the Indonesian plant:
*  By just switching the raw material feed, both nonwoven polypropylene and 
nonwoven polyethylene terephtalate can be made on the same line.  

*  Filaments of 1 denier can be manufactured.  One denier is a unit of 
measurement equal to 9,000 meters of fiber from 1 gram of plastic.

*  Sheet weights range from 10 to 120 grams per square meter, with a product 
width of 3.2 meters.

*  When using PET, a separate crystallizer and dryer required in conventional 
lines are unnecessary as Kobe Steel's twin screw extruder undertakes these 
functions. 

*  Production capacity can be increased to 7,000 tons per year by adding a 
spinning head.


                           Background Information

P.T. Multi Spunindo Jaya
P. T. Multi Spunindo Jaya was established in March 1997 to produce spunbond 
products.  Based in Surabaya, Indonesia, the company is headed by President 
Harry Herjanto.  The firm is capitalized at US$3.5 million.

Kobe Steel, Ltd.
Kobe Steel, Ltd. is a leading manufacturer of rubber and plastics processing 
machinery, as well as provides comprehensive plant engineering services.  It has 
supplied spunbond plants throughout the world.  In 1989, Kobe Steel and 
Du Pont supplied to Russia a 20,000-ton-per-year spunbond plant, one of the 
largest in the world.  In 1994, Kobe Steel and Nippon Kodoshi Corporation in 
Kochi, Japan, furnished a spunbond nonwoven plant to South Korea with an 
annual capacity of 3,000 tons.  Since 1995, Kobe Steel has been focusing on East 
and Southeast Asia and Latin America.

                                  # # #

For further information, please contact:
Gary I. Tsuchida
Publicity Dept.
Tokyo, Japan
tel (03) 3218-6055
fax (03) 5252-7961
e-mail  www-admin@kobelco.co.jp

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