Since November of 2023, we have extended operations to a new facility with two new production lines. While the road to the new facilities had a few bumps and curves, the effort has been more than worth it: with the new production lines, our production capacity for silicone rubber and TPE has doubled! The investments and hard work have certainly paid off, but what exactly has changed in our facilities, and where are we looking to improve next?
This article will introduce the new production lines and other useful additions to our facilities. We’ll also share a little bit about our next investment plans!
NEW VERTICAL SILICONE EXTRUSION LINE
The first of the two production lines is a vertical silicone extrusion line. Project Manager Hannu Veijola and Production Line Operator Arttu Juntunen answered questions about the vertical extrusion line and its current and future role in our production.
HOW DOES A VERTICAL EXTRUSION LINE WORK?
The vertical extrusion line uses production technology that differs from the traditional horizontal furnace. On the current line, the profile is run horizontally along a conveyor belt in a 12-meter-long furnace. On the vertical line, the profile is driven vertically upwards and steered in the air through the furnace.
In a vertical line, the profile is quickly heated by the infrared lamps. The infra-red furnace heats up in about 15 minutes, unlike the horizontal furnace, which has to be heated for several hours before it is ready to vulcanize the profiles and stays on all day. “Although the vertical furnace uses almost as much energy as the horizontal basic furnace, the energy savings are still high as the heating time is reduced, and once a profile has been run through the furnace, the furnace can be switched off until the next use,” says Veijola. Therefore, it only consumes energy during the time the profile is fed through it, plus the 15 minutes before it heats up.
The vertical furnace is just under three meters tall, with a half-meter-diameter tube that opens vertically in the center. It is heated by the lamps and reflector panels inside it, whereas the old furnace runs on resistors. Because the vertical furnace is shorter, it does not need as long a feedline for the finished profile, which is led down by two coils and then gathered.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF A VERTICAL EXTRUSION LINE?
According to Veijola, on the regular production line, the profile is driven horizontally and runs on a belt made of wire mesh that runs for 12 meters through the furnace: “When the silicone seal comes out of the extruder, it’s still soft like plasticine, so there’s always a spot where it sticks to the belt and the pattern on the belt gets pressed into the seal itself.” The surface is left with a dotted pattern left by the mesh, which does not affect the profile but can be aesthetically undesirable. In the horizontal furnace, an attempt is made to drive the profile through the furnace so that the pattern remains on a side that is not visible when installed, but this is not always possible:
In a vertical furnace, the seal is driven upwards, floating in the air as it bakes inside the furnace. the profile cooks fast enough to stay in shape and pass easily through the furnace. The sealant is soft when it is fed from the bottom of the furnace, and by the time it comes out of the top, it has already hardened.
In addition, it can be difficult or even impossible to run a geometrically complex profile with a conventional line. According to Veijola and Juntunen, a challenging shape could be, for example, one where the center of the profile is circular with three whiskers coming out of it. A profile of this shape is challenging to place in any orientation on a horizontal belt without any of the whiskers bending. As the profile travels through the air inside the vertical furnace, nothing can press on it, and even the most complex seal will hold its shape. “In short, the vertical extrusion furnace allows us to make more geometrically difficult profiles, leaves no marks on the profile, and is more energy efficient than a traditional furnace.”
ARE VERTICAL EXTRUSION LINES BETTER THAN HORIZONTAL?
Not all seals can be produced on a vertical line. Sometimes, you will find seals with, for example, a very thin, millimeter-long “whisker” on one side but a thicker one on the other side. In a vertical furnace, such profiles exit the nozzle in a different way, and there is a risk that the profile starts to spiral and ends up vulcanizing in that shape.
Veijola and Juntunen agree that the vertical furnace has shown its potential for even the most difficult sealing applications. The seal can be vulcanized quickly, which speeds up the entire production chain. When using a horizontal furnace to produce geometrically challenging profiles, the gasket is heated with LPG to help keep its shape before it goes into the furnace. If asymmetric seals can be transferred to the vertical extrusion line, the use of gas can also be omitted.
At this point, the vertical line is used every day, and while the speed of production is more or less the same as on a regular horizontal line, especially the more complex and asymmetrical profiles are much easier to produce with vertical extrusion. It is also a very useful tool in cases where the customer does not want any lines or imperfections left by the conveyor belt.
NEW TPE EXTRUSION LINE
Our new TPE line operates very similarly to the old one but with a few helpful bells and whistles. A longer cooling line has made production more efficient. Arttu Juntunen answered a few questions about the new TPE line.
WHAT’S NEW?
The production line has modern equipment with features that make it easier and faster to use. Product recipes can be saved into the control unit, which means that profiles that are ordered repeatedly can easily be selected and produced without inputting their details manually every time.
– The new line works more or less the same way as our other TPE line, but it is a lot more modern and a bit faster, Juntunen explains.
An improvement compared to our older models is the larger cooling tub, which makes a difference in production times, as it can cool down large profiles much faster. The new TPE line was very intuitive and easy for our employees to use, with the only learning curve being the modern and digital user interface.
MORE NEW ADDITIONS:
- We now have all of our further processing operations in one, improved space, saving time and energy in the production process. The further processing area now spans about 200 square meters.
- We have improved our quality control for production and equipment
- We have applied new video-measuring equipment
- Our extended facilities now include new, modern employee areas, dressing rooms, showers, and more office space. We have also improved recycling and waste management in our facilities.
COMING NEXT:
LASER MEASUREMENT
A welcome feature of the vertical furnace was the laser width measurement. A gauge reads the width of the seal as it passes through the furnace, and the machine automatically adjusts the feed according to the variations it detects in the readings. We can give the machine precise tolerances for the gasket width, which it then monitors throughout the production of the profile.
From a quality control point of view, we found laser width measuring so useful that we are looking to apply it to our other production lines as well.
AUTOMATED PACKAGING
One of our next investments has been eagerly awaited: an automatic packaging line for rigid, even 7,5 m long profiles. The manual packaging of these products is not only physically exhausting but also very time-consuming. We are also looking into improving our drying processes to speed up packaging.
NON-STRETCH PROFILES
Last but not least, we will be developing and improving the installation of the non-stretch cords into our profiles.
While some investments may seem smaller than others, they all contribute to our big picture: reliable, innovation-driven manufacturing with fast and flexible production lines!
