New RC demonstration facility for Asia Pacific

02/06/2009

The RC history tells us - a good, reliable and well equipped technical and commercial service team is very important for successful work with customers and potentials. A key factor for both the technical RC teams in Europe and the US was mobile and stationary demonstration facilities for UV siliconizing and adhesive coating. These extra capabilities give us an outstanding position for future opportunities and give us an edge over our competitors, especially in emerging markets. Keeping in mind that China will be the centre for technical service activities for the Asian Pacific region and looking at the ambitious growth rates it is time now to break the ground for a strong technical service team for RC in Shanghai.
After the final approval by upper management it is planned to invest in a pilot line for coating and curing RC UV silicones in Shanghai short-term. This will be a big step forward to develop the Asian market towards UV curing technology. The pilot line will help customers or potential accounts gain confidence in inerted UV technology and speed up product development work. Based on the experience from Europe and the US with demonstration facilities the new pilot coater will be key for successful and convincing technical customer service.
After intense preparation work we chose the Canadian machine manufacturer ETI to be the supplier for the coating line. The web width of the new machine will be max. 330 mm and machine speed will be up to 150m/min. After inline corona treatment the silicone will be applied by a 3-roll coating system onto various substrates ranging from thin LDPE film to voluminous non-woven substrates. The inerted UV chamber will ensure the proper curing of the TEGO® RC silicone acrylates and the epoxy series.
The opening ceremony of the new pilot line will take place mid of 2009 after the move of the Shanghai RC team to the brand new lab floor. We will come back then with more details.