Close co-operation between a producer of an adhesive and equipment for its application and a manufacturer of furniture panels made from solid pine is bringing advantages to both parties. Thanks to the experience of its partner Casco Adhesives, the company is continuing to improve its products, and because it belongs to the Swedwood Group’s plant in Resko it can systematically modernise its production technology.
Due to ever-increasing demands on IKEA products, arising in part from the company’s penetration into new markets, the Swedwood Group’s producers are obliged to eliminate formaldehyde emissions from their products. That is why the Resko plant ( West Pomerania), a producer of panels for pine furniture, has been involved in introducing a new technology in the past few months. In co-operation with the adhesives manufacturer – Casco Adhesives – the best possible formaldehyde-free adhesive is being sought, as well as a method for its application and conditions in which the gluing process takes place. “The panel processing plant uses the traditional urea-formaldehyde resin adhesive,” says Pawel Weimann, Casco Adhesives’ representative. “This is a universal adhesive, tested and widely used in the timber industry. We have also started general tests on our formaldehyde-free products.” Two products are being ‘tested’: one component polyvinyl acetate and an EP I (Emulsion Polymer Isocyanate) adhesive. The second one requires the use of an isocyanide hardening agent.
“We are currently pilot testing a number of selected adhesives in production,” says Artur Rokicki, Director of the Swedwood plant in Resko.
“Over the next few months the site staff, together with Casco Adhesives technicians, will try to select adhesives with a suitable composition and find optimum settings for the equipment which would be best suited to our existing machinery.” Rokicki is satisfied with the test results so far. He can imagine urea-based adhesives being abandoned. The one task remaining to be solved is to adapt formaldehyde-free adhesives to the current technical and technological conditions in the plant, and vice versa. All parameters involved need to be optimised; the adhesive, its application to the material and the actual process of gluing the panels.
Preparation of raw materials will also undergo testing. Pinewood may potentially require different parameters of adhesives technology than those currently in use. Moreover, finished glued panels might be subject to different miscellaneous factors. In the final phase, one selected adhesive will be used for several days in everyday production.
This is not the first time the Resko plant is acting as a testing ground for new production technology. Two years ago the factory, operating since 1994, was relocated to a new facility as a result of a project, initiated by Swedwood, to integrate the entire production cycle in the smallest possible area. Long technology lines in which successive production phases take place facilitate the correct flow of material.
The current technique of producing glued pine panels was a world innovation. Instead of traditional heating by water or oil, the presses utilise high- frequency waves. The glued wood is heated to the specified temperature and glued joints are fixed in a microwave oven. Such presses were known in the past but they processed wood in sequence. While presses based on continuous gluing were not new technology, the material was heated in a traditional way or in the ‘cold’ way. It was the combination of both systems that proved to be the proverbial bull’s eye.
“Our plant is the first (and currently the only) one in Poland to use the continuous gluing technology,” comments A. Rokicki. “When we started up production in the new plant, all presses were prototypes. The manufacturer was assembling them to suit our technology. ”The new fully automated presses were manufactured by Obel–P Automation, Denmark. One distinguishing feature of the equipment is the fact that the material, from entry to exit, is a fully formed product. The presses produce finished panels of specified dimensions which do not have to be trimmed, as is necessary in traditional presses. As in the current case, preparation and introduction of the new production cycle would not have been possible without close co-operation with Casco Adhesives. Their specialists were the ones who helped to find innovative solutions when Danish automatic gluing equipment was being introduced.
“In the presses we changed the way adhesives are applied to edges,” explains P. Weimann. “Traditionally they are applied using a roller. Our solution was to apply adhesives using special spray nozzles. This method is not only more economical but also faster. The transfer of the material over a roller takes a certain amount of time, whereas spraying is faster. ”Because of a different application method to
the edges, selection of an adhesive with a suitable consistency proved to be crucial. While the adhesive should not be too viscous, the required quality of joints has to be guaranteed. Production lines commissioned in 2006 are fully automated. Material is fed into the machines by special feeders. The latest generation of Wood Eye electronic scanners ensure optimisation and sorting of edges. “The conventional technology meant a certain loss of raw material,” explains Wojciech Chlubek, Director of the Swedwood Poland plant. “First the wood had to be trimmed to a specified length, then sliced on a planing machine, and only then could suitable pieces be selected for further processing. Now the entire beam is cut at the beginning and a scanner optimises the planks to the required length and sorts them according to quality.” Since the whole production cycle is continuous, higher material and time productivity is achieved. Production automation has brought considerable gains thanks to lower labour requirements. Instead of operating in four shifts, the plant now works in three. The workplace has also become safer.
The management of Swedwood describes its Resko plant as a ‘conceptualistic factory’ – and not without reason. It was here that the conventional production system was converted to the latest technology for the first time, implemented in co-operation with Casco adhesives. Managers of other plants in the Group can gain from the experiences of management and staff in Resko. The know-how is being applied also in the construction and equipment of the latest Group site in Wielbark, in the Warmia-Mazury region of north-east Poland. The Director, Mr. Rokicki, is pleased to see his factory being emulated. The next factory will appear in Russia. ■