Our Quality and Innovations team have recently been concentrating their efforts on our sponge line efficiency. The team have been finding improved methods to achieve more consistent dimensional control to allow for better quality control of our sponge sheeting and at the same time improving the health and safety of our employees.
Investment has been made into a new re-roll and cross cut unit, which has been tested and developed over the last 2 months. The new re-roll unit allows for the tightest controls and dimensions to ensure the sponge sheeting stays flat and maintains the same widths from start to finish, where the cross cut unit is an automated slitting machine to give a perfectly straight cut across the sponge sheet.
Other improvements where the new re-roll unit has improved processes are as follows:
Improved overall quality of the silicone sponge rolls
Improved health and safety as the staff are now positioned further away from the emissions
Even finish to the sheeting with a major improvement in the sponge flatness
Improved efficiency within the department
Innovations Engineer, Steven Maxwell said: “The reasons for introducing the re roll & cross cut unit was firstly to improve the health & safety of our staff by removing them from the environment where fume is most potent. Secondly, we also wanted to improve the quality control of the product by maintaining a more accurate and consistent width, thickness and length of product.”
“Along with improved quality control, we expected to reduce process waste, helping to keep future manufacturing costs at a minimum.”