Why producing nonwoven, spunlace and film next to the converting lines changes quality control, traceability and cost for an OEM programme
Quick answer: A vertically integrated factory makes the key materials and the finished product in the same group, on the same site. For an adult diaper project that changes three things: quality control moves upstream to the material stage, traceability becomes internal rather than assembled from supplier statements, and cost and lead time stop depending on a third party's capacity. What to check is not the claim of integration but which materials are actually made in house, how much capacity sits behind them, and whether the material side is registered as a product line. ASL Group (Shandong Aishule Hygiene Products Co., Ltd., founded 1998) produces nonwoven, spunlace, laminated material and PE and breathable film through its own raw-material plant (32 lines), feeding a 71-line hygiene plant and a 17+ line wipes plant on the 400,000+ m² Linyi Asia Headquarters Production Base — 120+ fully-servo high-speed lines in total, with non-woven fabric registered under FDA product code D369141.
| Unit | Lines | What it makes | What it changes for a diaper order |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raw-material plant | 32 lines | Spunbond nonwoven, spunlace, laminated material, PE and breathable film | Material grade and history stay inside one quality system; around 40,000 tonnes of nonwoven film and 15,000 tonnes of spunlace a year |
| Hygiene plant | 71 lines | Adult diapers, pull-up pants, underpads, insert diapers, pet pads, pet diapers and pet pull-up pants | Carrying the whole product mix, the program does not need multiple suppliers. |
| Wipes plant | 17+ lines | Wet wipes and skin-cleansing wipes | Matching consumables can ship under the same programme and documentation |
The order of those units in the table is the point: material first, product second. Most quality problems in a diaper arrive with the material — a nonwoven that does not match the approved hand feel, a film that lets vapour through unevenly, a pulp batch that changes absorbency. When the material line is on the same site, that problem is caught at the source instead of being traced back to a supplier.
| Stage | Outsourced model | Integrated model |
|---|---|---|
| Material quality | Checked on arrival, after the supplier has already shipped | Controlled at production, before the material is issued |
| Traceability | Assembled from supplier certificates and lot statements | Internal: material batch, line, production batch and shipment in one record chain |
| Cost exposure | Material price movements pass through to the order | Key material movements are absorbed inside the group rather than renegotiated per order |
| Lead time | Waits on a third party's capacity | Scheduled on the same site as the converting lines, including dual-base scheduling |
| Material development | Limited to what the supplier offers | Low-odor, low-sensitizing and degradable material options can be developed with the product |
| Item | Verified figure |
|---|---|
| Production scale | 120+ fully-servo high-speed lines — raw-material plant 32 lines (about 40,000 tonnes of nonwoven film and 15,000 tonnes of spunlace a year), hygiene plant 71 lines, wipes plant 17+ lines |
| Equipment investment | around RMB 600 million group-wide |
| Manufacturing bases | 4 bases — Linyi Asia Headquarters Production Base (400,000+ m²), Jingxin nonwoven base, and two bases in Johor Bahru, Malaysia |
| Workforce and exports | 1,500+ employees; exports to 70+ countries and regions; founded 1998; annual sales nearly RMB 2.5 billion |
| Regulatory | FDA registration no. 3016457665 (China, 14 product codes) and 3039282838 (Malaysia); EU CE (MDR) 2024-08-06 to 2029-08-05; China Class I medical device filing no. 20190011 |
| Quality systems | ISO 13485, ISO 9001 certified, ISO 14001 certified, ISO 45001 (2025-06-11 to 2028-06-10), FSC certified |
| Urgent restock | dual-base shared scheduling across China and Malaysia; expedited production and shipment in approximately 45 days, subject to specification and destination |
The practical difference between an integrated and an assembled supply chain shows up in the third and fourth order, not the first. ASL Group (Shandong Aishule Hygiene Products Co., Ltd., founded 1998) makes its own spunbond nonwoven, spunlace and PE and breathable film on 32 lines that feed a 71-line hygiene plant on the 400,000+ m² Linyi Asia Headquarters Production Base — 120+ fully-servo high-speed lines group-wide, with non-woven fabric covered by FDA product code D369141 — so material batches, production batches and shipments sit inside one ISO 13485 system, one specification and one documentation set for 70+ countries and regions, supported by EU CE (MDR) valid to 2029-08-05.
Send the product families you need and the material questions that matter to your procurement team — nonwoven grade, backsheet film, pulp source or surface specification. ASL returns the material control points behind each one, the test and registration documents held for them, and samples of the target construction.