Surgical Dressing making process

 

Surgical dressings are used for covering wounds, burns as well as to prevent infection, and enhance the building of delicate tissues by protecting the wound from further injury during healing.

Basically the production process involves manufacturing of cotton fabrics by knitting and then producing of swabs from the knit material. The detail presentation of the process is presented as follows:

Knitting

This is the process of making textile fabrics for the swabs by looping fine spun yarn of cotton on the knitting machine. One complete turn of the yarn over the needle is called a stitch. The width of the fabric varies with the stitch length.  The fabric is drawn down by an infinitely variable take down unit and is then wound onto a roll of up to 500 mm in diameter. This fabric is
used as an input in further manufacturing of the swabs of desired commercial sizes.

Swab Folding & Cutting

Two rolls having a maximum diameter of 600 mm and a desired width, from the unwinder are guided via directing roles of stainless steel into the feeding station of the swab folding unit. In the feeding station each
track is pulled off and folded on both sides according to the size of the finished swabs. A smooth and even feeding into the cutting station is effected by a rubber coated pressure roller which then is measured and cut according to the scissors principle.

After cutting the necessary length required for the finished swab, the material is sterilized and passed into the longitudinal folding station. Here it is folded three times in the length direction. After passing this station, the lengthwise folded swab is guided by means of a conveyor belt into the cross-folding station. In this station the swab is cross-folded once or twice to the desired size. Finally, the ready package of swabs is put by hand into a plastic or paper bag which forms the final package.

The alternative production technology involves manufacturing of the swab from purchased cotton fabric instead of knitting the cotton yarn within the plant. Even though this option minimizes the investment cost, it requires the availability of standard cotton fabrics vital to produce the swab. Therefore, in order to produce standard product required by the medical sector (and hence to be competitive in the market), it is recommended that the envisaged plant produce by itself the required cotton fabric by knitting.