Nonwoven Product Development & Innovation Short Course – August 2026

From market intelligence to technology choices to decision making via a hands-on case study – attendees will be exposed to the full lifecycle of nonwoven product development.

The Nonwoven Product Development and Innovation Short Course is a dynamic training, combining classroom activities with a hands-on exemplar. Attendees will have the opportunity to work through options for creating a new nonwoven product, examining tradeoffs from raw material selection to process settings to cost basis and end-product functionality. In doing so, emphasis will be placed on how to effectively utilize the stage-gate process to explore feasibility in terms of material availability, manufacturing readiness level and costs.

If you attend this course, you will:

• Understand relationships and team dependencies between product design, manufacturing, purchasing, marketing and business disciplines.
• Learn critical product development methodologies and tools to help ensure success (patent landscape, innovation culture, commercialization strategy, etc.)
• Get hands-on experience with a real-world product development exemplar in NWI’s state-of-the-art fabrication and testing labs, taking your product from lab to pilot scale and final testing.

Featured Topics Include:

• Product Development – Stage Gate
• Intellectual Property Considerations
• Market Research and Marketing Strategy
• Innovation Culture Practice
• Commercialization
• Sustainability and Circularity
• Design of Experiment
• Laboratory – Hands-on developing a specific product utilizing NWI’s world-class nonwoven production labs.
• Prototype Testing

Expert Instructors:

• Angelo Corino, Spunbond and Meltblown Lab Manager, NWI
• Tom Daugherty, Deputy Director, The Nonwovens Institute (NWI); former Procter & Gamble
• Raoul Farer, Ph.D., Executive Deputy Director, NWI; former Freudenberg Performance Materials
• Benoit Maze, Ph.D., Director of Education and Administration, NWI
• Amy Minton, Analytical and Filtration Testing Lab Manager, NWI
• Behnam Pourdeyhimi, Ph.D., Executive Director, NWI

Who Should Attend? 

• Business and Product Development
• Finance and Purchasing
• Manufacturing and Engineering
• Process and Plant Management
• Quality Control
• Research and Development
• Technical Sales and Marketing

Attendee Feedback:

• “This course was excellent, providing a balance of hands-on work, one-on-one detailed education, collaboration opportunities with a diverse group, and practical applications of the knowledge learned.” — Product Manager, Nonwoven End-Product Manufacturer
• “What I liked most about this course was the opportunity for collaboration and the great balance betweeen in-classroom and hands-on instruction” — Account Manager, Nonwoven Fabrics Manufacturer
• “Definitely the next step needed for my professional growth journey. I can’t wait to start implementing these learnings in my day to day adventures at work. We even got a chance to be hands on by processing our very own wipe prototypes!” — Chief Science Officer, Fiber Producer

Price: 

• Non-Members: $3,300
• NWI/INDA Members: $2,500 (NOTE: If you are an NWI Member, please e-mail registrar@inda.org with your Member Name and Short Course title to register at the NWI Member Rate.)
• Group Discounts: If you have a group of 5 or more from your organization, the INDA/NWI Short Course Value Pack program enables organizations to purchase a block of registrations, which can be used by any combination of employees to register for any combination of training courses, at progressively discounted rates. Learn more.