In the nonwoven industry, underpads are usually evaluated through finished-product parameters: absorbency, SAP content, or surface integrity. Much less attention is paid to the machinery that generates those characteristics. Yet in underpad manufacturing, machine architecture is not neutral. It defines what kind of product is economically and technically possible.

Over time, underpad machinery has gone through a clear structural transition. Not a sequence of minor optimizations, but a real divide between two approaches: drum-based forming systems and the RS developed by Coax Technologies.

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Drum-based systems: industrial stability with structural limits

Drum technology represents the historical foundation of underpad production. It offered what the market initially needed: robustness, repeatability, and compatibility with conventional cellulose-based absorbent cores.

Its strengths are well known:

• Mechanical simplicity
• Proven industrial reliability
• Predictable production behavior

But drum systems also embed structural constraints that become more evident as performance requirements increase:

• Limited control over fiber and SAP distribution
• Dependence on material overuse to compensate for inhomogeneity
• Reduced flexibility in shaping and engineering the absorbent core
• Sensitivity to speed increases, often resulting in quality trade-offs

For decades, these limits were tolerated because there was no real alternative. The machine dictated the product, not the other way around.

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RS technology: a structural break in core formation

The RS developed by Coax Technologies does not refine the drum concept. It replaces it.

RS introduces a rotary forming architecture that changes how absorbent material is handled, distributed, and stabilized. The impact is not incremental; it is architectural.

Key effects are tangible:

• Highly homogeneous material distribution, independent of speed
• More efficient SAP usage, with equivalent or higher absorbency
• Greater process control, enabling intentional core design
• Lower energy losses, thanks to optimized airflow and material dynamics
• Consistent output quality, even under demanding production conditions

Where drum systems require compensation strategies, RS enables design. The core is no longer the result of mechanical constraints, but of controlled engineering choices.

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From machine constraint to strategic capability

This shift has broader implications. In underpad manufacturing, machinery has traditionally been treated as a fixed cost and a fixed boundary. RS challenges this mindset by turning machinery into a strategic capability.

With RS, manufacturers gain:

• Material cost optimization without sacrificing performance
• Greater freedom in product differentiation
• Increased resilience against raw material volatility
• A platform suited for long-term process evolution

In this sense, RS is not just a new underpad machine. It is a different way of thinking about underpad production.

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Why RS is redefining underpad machinery

As underpads move toward higher performance, tighter cost control, and more demanding end uses, the limits of drum-based systems become structural bottlenecks. RS removes those bottlenecks by design.

That is why discussions around underpad machine and underpad machinery are increasingly associated with solutions developed by Coax Technologies. Not as an alternative among many, but as a reference point for what modern underpad manufacturing can become.

The evolution from drum to RS is not about novelty. It is about finally aligning machinery architecture with the real requirements of today’s underpad market.