Well-combined and Economically Optimized – Punching and Edgefolding in a Single Step

Lotte/Sontra, September 2014

For economically viable production of high-quality plastics and lightweight components, the market demands innovative manufacturing solutions: processes must be accelerated, resources saved and costs saved at the same time – both in the initial investment and in ongoing production.

FRIMO is the leading market specialist when efficient production solutions are involved, and can offer nearly all technologies that are used to manufacture plastic components. When the plastics specialist Hess approached FRIMO in Sontra with a new request for a seat-back covering system, this provided the impulse for an innovative new idea. The complete edgefolding, and then the joint holes for the luggage net, should be directly integrated into the back-injected seat-back cover. Rather than the ordinary process and work steps – applying adhesive, edgefolding and then punching – FRIMO presented the customer with a concept that allows a combination of punching and adhesive-free edgefolding. In this case the edgefolding is realized by remelting the PP retainer part by use of hot air.

This punching and edgefolding tool developed by FRIMO allows the previously separate steps of punching and edgefolding to be cleverly combined into a single step. This makes the process more efficient and also accelerates it. The design as a compact inline unit saves space, while its high level of automation ensures optimum material flow and thus significantly shorter cycle times. This manufacturing solution has convinced our customer Hess, who has now placed a follow-up order with FRIMO in Sontra.

„Through the solution developed together with FRIMO and our integration of the separate process steps into one single process we have, in short, become considerably more efficient, that is, faster and at the same time better value. As a result we have also remained true to our own claim of being a guarantee of top-quality competitive products“, stressed Stefan Ginsberg, Managing Director of Hess.
The combined punching and edgefolding process can generally be used for all back-injected or press-laminated components. Additionally the process is suitable for a large number of other applications for vehicle interiors, such as door, side panel and pillar trims.

About Hess (www.hess-kunststofftechnik.de)
Karl Hess GmbH & Co. KG, with headquarters in Burbach-Wahlbach, employs over 400 people and has developed into a recognized specialist for plastics components over more than 50 years. The company has a turnover of around 50 million Euros with a widely varied customer base from the automotive, construction, electronics, leisure, houshold goods, machining industry, and other industries. The automotive division is among the younger business fields, and is continually being developed and the capacities expanded. Today, Hess delivers to almost all vehicle manufacturers in Germany. The product range, in the meantime, contains more than 3,600 different components from the non-automotive and the automotive segment, e.g., complete upper and lower pillar trims, seatback coverings in artificial leather optics, seat panels, compartment systems, and storage sytems for seat structures or even handwheels and storage boxes in selectable carpeting colors and qualities such as Thermoplastic Olefine foils – those are textile and foil back injection molding solutions.

Company Contact:
Karl Hess GmbH und Co. KG
Lindenstockstrasse 29, 57299 Burbach-Wahlbach
Stefan Ginsberg, Managing Director
Tel. / Fax: +49 (0) 27 36 29 89-0 / 29
E-Mail: stefan.ginsberg@hess-kunststofftechnik.de

About FRIMO (www.frimo.com)
Additional production and sales locations belong to the FRIMO Group, with over 1,200 employees in Europe, Asia, and the Americas as well as numerous international representatives. The FRIMO Group was again distinguished for excellent service. FRIMO has received the SPE Awards, known as the “Oscars of the Plastic Industry”, 18 times already. In 2014, FRIMO was distinguished with the JEC Innovation Award in Atlanta for the cooperation project “Street Shark” (www.street-shark.com).The work of the FRIMO Group for the plastics processing industries includes a broad range of technologies from polyurethane processing, flexible trimming, punching, pressing and forming, thermoforming, laminating, and edgefolding, as well as joining and glueing. System solutions for large-series capable processing of fiber-reinforced plastics (composite technology) are also part of the business. For this purpose, FRIMO offers its customers tailored tools, machines, and production systems as individual or complete solutions from a single source.

Kontakt
FRIMO Group GmbH
Martina Schierholt
Hansaring 1
49504 Lotte
+49 (5404) 886-157
+49 (5404) 886-5157
schierholt.m@frimo.com
http://www.frimo.com