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Globally, which kind of tissues are consumed most and why ?
On a worldwide base, toilet tissue represents 57% of the total tissue market and it is therefore the dominant category, followed by towels (about 22%, please remind that AFH hand towels are also included!), then facial tissues (about 12%), then napkins (about 7%) and others 2%.
However, there are significant differences by region, for example in Asia the second category after toilet tissue are facial tissues, which represent over 20% of tissue consumptions, while towels are just close to 10%.
Reasons are cultural and in some cases, even religious. Of course, local habits also play a role, for example, in Asia there is a limited use of napkins because both, facials and toilet tissue are used as napkins substitute.
What are the parameters for choosing different types of tissues for different applications? How does an end user ascertain the right kind of tissue for a particular application?
The tissue producers have in mind the final uses for each category of products and this is why they make the facial tissues particularly soft, for a very personal use, they make the towels very resistant (even when wet) and absorbent, they often make decorated napkins, to make them pleasant on the table.
But ultimately, it is the consumer, with his habits and preferences, deciding what to use for each task. For example, suppose that you offer a cup of tea to somebody visiting your home: in Japan they will offer to you a box of facials, in southern Italy they will give some paper napkins, in northern Italy quite often they offer to you a sheet of decorated towels. In this particular case, technically speaking, the product best suited for the task are the napkins, which combine some softness, some absorbency, some strength and often a nice design, but how can you argue if the consumers in a given region prefer the lighter and softer touch of facial tissues?
What are the determining factors in choosing a particular brand of tissue? Quality, cost…
The producers of the best brands apply advanced technologies to make their product unique, focusing on the unique selling provision they have chosen, which can be: ”the softest”, “the strongest”, “the most absorbent” “the best combination of all the above”, “the nicest”, “the longest roll”, etc.
The fact is that behind these “subtle” differences among the different brands, there are often huge technological investment, because the paper making and the converting machines are becoming increasingly reliable, sophisticated, automatic and … expensive! Consider that when you invest in a paper machine, it will probably remain with you for half a century.
In countries where the distribution system is advanced and concentrated, also the retailer brands (brands owned by the retail chains) are becoming very popular. The retailers can use their bargaining power to obtain good quality products from the producers – sometimes quite close to the best brands, sometimes not so much, at very aggressive prices, which are partially used to reduce the price to the final consumers and partially to boost the margins of the retailers themselves. Almost always the margin of the retailers on retailer brands is higher than on the leading brands.
How do tissues contribute to best hygiene practices in different applications?
Paper has been used for hygiene purposes for centuries, but tissue paper as we know it today was not industrially produced in the Western world until the mid-1940s. Tissue products are “single use” products and therefore they insure that for example, when you have a cold, the germs in your textile handkerchief do not re-contaminate you, if you re-use it again.
But probably one of the most important aspects is hand hygiene: it is well known that hand hygiene is a fundamental component for controlling the spread of infections. There has always been much emphasis on the correct method for hand washing, but less so concerning the options for drying hands. But residual moisture determines the level of touch-contact-associated bacterial transfer following hand washing.
As ETS we have sponsored a number of studies with the most prestigious Universities, comparing the hygiene of hands and of the washroom, depending the type of hand drying system adopted. These studies confirm that single use towels are by far more hygienic than electric air systems. I strongly suggest to visit our website (www.europeantissue.com), where all these studies are illustrated in detail and in some cases can also be downloaded for free.
How can a facility manager calculate the consumption of tissue required for different applications?
There are no magic rules, but for example we know that an average of two to three paper towels are used by each customer when he/she washes hands after visiting the toilets, so, if know how many customers you have every day, it is not so difficult to make reasonable estimations.
My only suggestion is to use high capacity dispensers both for toilet tissue and for paper towels in the public facilities, so that you minimize the risk of out of stock and can also better learn how often they need to be refilled. And of course, if you do not need to refill them very often, because they are high capacity, you also minimize your staff operating cost.
While markets like North America or Western Europe are mature and their growth rates are between one and two per cent, the markets in developing Countries have a growth rate which can reach 10% per year.
At the same time, some obsolete machines, which could only produce low quality products, are being substituted by modern, more efficient, faster, lower energy consumption machines, capable of delivering first class products.
Also embossing the paper (in converting) or obtaining a texture (during Paper making) are quite important, both for aesthetic reasons, but sometimes also to boost the physical properties (for example: absorbency) of the tissue products.
The use of recycled fibres is already quite high for tissue products and this will continue in the future. It is also important to notice that when new fibres are used, the European producers of tissue (members of the European Tissue Symposium) are committed to use only pulp (cellulose) obtained from sustainable forests (either FSC or PESC). This decision is increasingly adopted also by the tissue producers in Asia and this is very good news!
The growth axes are two-fold: in developed markets that already have a very high penetration (for example, toilet paper in Western Europe) the key is in quality improvement and maybe the addition of moist towels. Actually, high quality products yield important extensions of use: just think of rolled towels: as their quality improves, their use is no longer limited to the kitchen to absorb oil when frying, but everywhere in the home for uses where absorbency and strength are necessary. This is the key to growth in the high quality segment.
In emerging markets with still partial penetrations, the key is an increase in penetration and in the quantities used – from kitchen towels to handkerchiefs – all the more so in Eastern European countries.
Just think that, compared to an average Italian per capita consumption of around 14kg, in Russia this figure is 2kg. On a world scale, the forecast on the economic boom of many emerging countries, from China to South America, is so obvious that I will not even bother to talk about it.
An exercise in style: a portrait of the roll of the future. It is true that the roll can never be square, but what could be the main innovations of the next few years?
A wish that nuclear fusion may give humanity unlimited quantities of low-cost energy … low-cost energy would be very useful in producing soft, absorbent papers at contained costs. But until then, we have to instead try our best to limit energy waste, promote renewable sources, reduce the miles travelled by products.
A wish that paper production and converting technology unite top quality with top efficiency, maybe with sufficiently compact machines as to be placed near the final customers.
Now if we try and put these wishes together, the ideal roll emerges: soft, absorbent, resistant, very long, pleasantly de-corated and made with recycled fibres. At a price that is accessible to the large majority of people.
Well, humanity certainly possesses the ingenuity for this; the tissue field is used to working hard and, looking to the future, maybe the ideal roll is not so far away… [1] Every Day Low Prices is not simply a slogan for Walmart but an objective that the American retail chain has been successfully pursuing since 1962; a delivered promise to the consumer, who has made the company the biggest retailer in the world, with a 2005 turnover of 312.4 billion euro and 6,500 sales points in 14 countries.
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