Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Abena. Today we will be taking a tour of Line 15, which is currently manufacturing the Abri-Form X-Plus in size Medium. If you will please follow me, we will begin at the start of the the line.

At the beginning of the line, raw materials are fed into the front of the machine. Paper pulp is delivered to the factory on large rolls, while the green hoppers to the left contain the Super Absorbent Polymer that gives Abri-Form products their excellent absorbency.

In the interest of promoting a sustainable supply and minimizing the impact on the environment, Abena only purchases paper pulp from carefully managed forests in northern Sweden. They specify only "long-strand" paper fibers that have excellent wicking properties.

The pulp is delivered to the factory in dense rolls, having the consistency of heavy cardboard. As it passes through the machine the cardboard-like sheet is "shredded" to create the soft fluff that forms the basis of the absorbent core.

In the second step, the paper pulp and polymer are carefully mixed and fed into the top of the two rotating drums shown here. The drums act like a printing press, picking up the loose absorbent material at the top and depositing a formed pad on the conveyor at the bottom.

The use of two drums allows Abena to build up a thicker pad with extra absorbent material in the critical center area.

At the end of this section, the completed pad is laid on top of the plastic backing, which is fed in a single continuous sheet from a large roll.

With the absorbent pad mounted on the plastic backing, the conveyor continues onward to the next section.

From the top, the soft inner layer is fed through a series of rollers and ultrasonic stitchers that create the standing leak guards. A rotating drum is also attaching the elastic that will become the rear waistband.

From the bottom, latex-free elastic strands are attached to the plastic backsheet to create the leg gathers. The four white rolls in the middle are feeding the refastenable tapes into the machine where they are cut and attached on each side.

All of this is happening so quickly that the moving parts of the machine are merely a blur.

In the next section of the machine, the continuous sheet of plastic material (now with pad, tapes and elastic attached) is cut into individual diapers by a rotating die cutter.

In the middle of this photo, a series of ramps and sliders are folding the diaper crosswise.

Finally, just before the exit, another series of arms and ramps are used to fold the diaper lengthwise into the final form.

Less than a minute after entering as raw materials, a completed diaper exits the far end of the machine, ready for packaging.

Before going in the bag they receive a final visual inspection. Regular samples are pulled from the production line and sent to the laboratory for further testing. Any discrepancies will result in a stoppage of the entire line until the problem is corrected.

For the Medium X-Plus being manufactured on this day, the diapers are counted off in groups of 14 and loaded into bags by the mechanism in the middle of the photo. Completed bags proceed to the left where they are sealed and sent for boxing.

Throughout the entire process, a sophisticated computer system is monitoring nearly every aspect of the machine; from the speed of the individual drive motors to the supply level of the raw materials.

While the bags are being packed, boxes are pulled from a stack and assembled by an automated taping station. The completed bags arrive on the conveyor just behind and are loaded into the boxes by the machine on the right.

Each box is weighed upon exit to ensure that the exact number of diapers is properly packed.

At the end of the line, cases are sealed shut and sent onwards to be loaded onto pallets. The large conveyor actually extends into the next room.

Let's follow it and see where it goes.

Ah, we have found the palletizing station. This is where the completed cases are loaded onto pallets for shipment. The process is fully automated, and in fact we are the only ones in this room at the time.

After stacking the correct number of cases on the pallet, the whole thing is shrink wrapped and sent to the warehouse. No forklift in use here - a conveyor will again take the pallet to the warehouse, where an automatic storage system will pick up the pallet and place it on the appropriate shelf, ready for shipment to distributors around the world.