Sandretto UK & Ireland supplies Injection Moulding Machines, Robots and Ancillaries to the Thermoset market. The Thermoset markets deals with the production of a variety of goods including electrical componenets and products, fire proof storage and equipment, alarms etc.
Click on any of the stories below to read more about how our clients make use of Sandretto products:
Contactum Limited
THE MAGNIFICIENT SEVEN...SEVEN NEW MACHINES IN £2M FACTORY OPENED BY CONTACTUM
Injection moulding of thermosets requires a different approach from that used for thermoplastics. With over 20 years experience in thermoset moulding, Contactum Limited of Cricklewood, North London, was one of the first moulders to investigate thermoset injection.
Changeover to Sandretto DST machines occurred almost 6 years ago. "It continues" says Moulding Engineer Andy Payne, "largely because Sandretto's staff talk the same - and not widely understood - language of thermoset injection."
Specialist manufacturer of domestic electrical accessories Contactum Limited considerably extended its manufacturing capacity with the opening in April of a 22,000 sq ft factory in nearby Neasden.
The only privately owned electrical accessory manufacturer producing a complete range of domestic wiring accessories, Contactum provided its own funding for this £2 million development.
All moulding, at both factories, is from urea-based thermoset materials; at Neasden, where most of the company's Sandretto 'DST' thermoset injection machines are installed, production (which also includes finishing, assembly, testing and packing) concentrates on 26 of Contactum's 352 different product lines. These are the high throughput products, such as 13 amp socket outlets and various derivatives.
Performance is being closely monitored with the intention of adopting the "production cell" approach at Cricklewood where there is now ample room to improve the layout of the moulding shop and the finishing/assembly lines.
"VIRTUAL ZERO" MACHINE MINDING
Long production runs now possible at Neasden have removed much of the need for the more frequent tool changes associated with what had become a cramped operation at Cricklewood. Furthermore, it has enabled the company to take its "virtual zero" policy for machine minding and mould tool maintenance a step further.
Contactum's two injection moulding shops require only one setter/operator for a line of four or six machines, currently running 24 hours a day, five or even six days a week. A contributory factor in maintaining "virtual zero defect" in this area is the company's unique, CAD-based quality control system. Based now at Neasden with permanent connection to the Cricklewood factory, it represents a unique application in manufacturing and has already attracted attention for its advanced use of the off-the-shelf products, such as fibre optics for data transmission around the plant as well as the software packages.
OVER 20 YEARS IN THERMOSETS
In this specialised field of plastics moulding, progress reflects the close co-operation between materials supplier, machinery supplier and moulders. "We continually investigate other machine suppliers" says Andy Payne, "but Sandretto's machine and their DST technology are sound".
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