Reaching the target in stages - Project completed for the floor covering industry

Since May 2011 production has been running at an English company of the floor covering industry on a cutting-edge Olbrich facility. However, until then it had been a long road which demanded the highest flexibility from Olbrich: After several successful laboratory tests at Olbrich’s the manufacturer of safety floor coverings had decided to carry out a complete changeover of his existing facility to Olbrich technology and hardware – step by step during ongoing production. Therefore the entire project work had to be adapted to the conditions and requirements of the operations at the customer’s and even the smallest timeframe had to be taken advantage of. After more than four years of modernizing and expanding, the facility provided the concluding proof last month and was put into operation with new products previously tested at the new Olbrich Technical Centre.

The original approximately 40 m long production facility was laid out for standard products, had two coating levels and worked at a speed of 6 m/min maximum. The rolls with the finished product were packed by hand onto two separate rolling facilities. The basic overall modernization was started in February 2007 with the installation of a new Olbrich coating facility, which was followed by the implementation of the project in three further stages. Today the customer is manufacturing in the same place on an in total 175 m long Olbrich facility with four coating levels and a speed of up to 15 m/min. The rolls with the finished product are automatically wound and packed ‘in-line’.

In addition to this fundamental increase in efficiency some new Olbrich developments for the production in the floor covering industry were used in the course of the modernization, e.g. Olbrich’s new high performance dryer with CTS jets and conveyor system was used for the first time ever in this sector. An up to 30 % higher degree of efficiency is achieved in the dryer. New in the practical application for safety floor coverings is the use of a special painting works. The required coating of a sandpaper-like surface with a soft rubber roller had previously been tested in extensive test runs at the Olbrich Technical Centre.

As the running production always had the highest priority, unconventional solutions were always in great demand in the course of the implementation of the project. Some parts of the facility were exactly fitted into the structural conditions on site, other parts were installed in new halls, which in turn were designed according to the requirements of the production facility in progress. The ‘mile stones’ illustrate the immense commitment which Olbrich showed throughout the project.

Stage 1

Installation of the new pre-coating facility in a new assembly-hall nave on the customer’s premises. The subsequent connection to the old facility and the overall start-up of the extended facility are carried out in just one week.

Stage 2

Installation of a complete painting facility for UV paints including a new winder for jumbo rolls. In the preparation the parts of the facility were completely assembled at Olbrich CZ for the purpose of factory approval.

Etappe 3

Installation of the current core area of the facility with newly developed high performance dryers and two new embossing machines. Four teams from Olbrich worked around the clock in shifts. Previously all machines had been completely pre-installed at Olbrich’s in Holoubkov (dryer) and in Bocholt (embossing and control unit). Thus the assembly at the customer’s site can be reduced from the originally planned six to just two weeks – and therefore fits perfectly into the customer’s plant shutdown.

Etappe 4

Installation of the new automatic rolling and packing facility on the customer’s premises after a previous start-up with operating test at Olbrich’s in Bocholt. Afterwards the connection to the front part of the facility and the update of the control software of the overall facility is carried out within one week.