Improved release agent spraying in industrial boot manufacturing

The Dutch office of a worldwide operating industrial boot manufacturer has multiple production lines to manufacture several types of high-performance industrial boots for applications in slaughterhouses, horse ride and many more. 

In the manufacturing process, rubber compositions  are used for bootleg and sole and these are injected into a mould. For this part of the production process, a thin layer of release agent is used in the mould. To dose a specific amount of release agent, the boot manufacturer requested the help of Bronkhorst using a Coriolis mass flow meter solution.   
 

Process solution

Prior to the implementation of the solution, the spraying process was analysed by a Bronkhorst Coriolis mass flow meter (series mini CORI-FLOW M14) in combination with the Bronkhorst FlowPlot software, to get a good understanding of the way the moulds have been sprayed. The choice for this device has been made based on the short spraying time of the release agent in the process, in accordance with the flow capacity of the M14 mass flow meter.

By adding a Coriolis flow meter in combination with a valve (acting as a flow controller) to the process, Bronkhorst was able to improve the spraying process. This combination enabled to spray a constant flow of the watery release agent. 
By applying this Bronkhorst solution, the amount of release agent used in the process was controlled in a better way, resulting in the use of less of this agent and, hence, eliminating waste of release agent.

Furthermore, the number of rejected boots decreased as a result of this solution, improving the productivity of the entire boot manufacturing process. The payback time of this Bronkhorst solution is in the order of a few months.

As a sign of success of the current Bronkhorst solution, the boot manufacturer ordered a second set of devices for their production lines. Moreover, Bronkhorst was also requested to assist in analysing the boot manufacturing steps where the rubber compositions are being synthesised.