Finland’s leading flooring manufacturer fitted Dosetec automatic dosing system in its Ikaalinen factory and raised production turnover significantly.
Karelia-Upofloor flooring factory in Ikaalinen produces 5 000-6 000 square meters per day. At the moment the company invests heavily in the development of its product line, Lifeline.
The latest investment was a pelletizing line which makes semi-finished material to be used in the final production of flooring. While the most part of the machinery came from Germany, the dosing equipment as well as all its automation system came from Dosetec.
– We have a long term successful business relationship with Dosetec. Working together on this project has given us the opportunity to develop and test run new prototypes as well. This kind of product development is not often possible with bigger contractors, Production Manager Risto Karjalainen says.
Smooth operation
The new dosing system is used in the early stages of the production. Dosetec´s delivery package included the day silos, dosing system, automation, instalment and training. System was connected to the existing process with ease. The dosing system controls the mass flow of each raw material component and adjusts the flow according to recipe. System also notifies of any irregularities that may occur or if any of the ingredients require a top up. According to Karjalainen, the new investment sped up the whole production line significantly by removing the bottleneck caused by the production of semi-finished materials.
– Lifeline -products are made out of semi finished material which is in a granulated form. Making of these restricted our whole production line. Now the granulate production matches the needs of the rest of the production.
Even quality faster
The new system has according to Karjalainen decreased the turnaround time, which shows in turn with faster delivery times. Further, the sophisticated dosing system gives even quality.
– Our productivity has increased, because we are able to make more semi-finished produce per working hour. We have also developed completely new equipment for handling recyclable materials. For example, discarded produce and sand dust can now be utilized much better in the production. This was not possible before or was laborious to do so.
Good planning and fast delivery
In order to avoid any misgivings with some of the more problematic ingredients, a number of test runs were done in Dosetec factory, in Nastola.
– Dosetec´s whole delivery was completed in due time and well before the main equipment arrived from Germany. This enabled us to test the system properly beforehand. Small adjustments and improvements could be then done in conjunction with the run-up of the new process.
Karjalainen was also impressed with the classy plans and presentations.
– Positioning the equipment was really challenging in this project. The 3D layout plans Dosetec made available, enabled us to see beforehand how the machines could be positioned.