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May 2013

Cast from a single mold: Germanika backs complete Line

Around two years ago, it was all change for the production department of one of Lithuanias biggest furniture producers company Germanika, which is a member of SBA: The flat-pack furniture it produces has been manufactured ever since using new production facilities including a complete Line plant from the Black Forest. Company Germanika is one of the 7 furniture producing companies, which belong to SBA, and, also, the largest plant in the Baltic States producing foiled carcase furniture. Company Germanika produces bedroom furniture and only high quality ready to assemble furniture for everyday use shelves, TV tables, shoechests, cabinets, hallstands, drawer profiles, which are supplied to IKEA. The demands made on the new plant were high, including improved furniture quality and higher productivity. Key requirements also included compact design and affordability. The experts at HOMAG Engineering were able to satisfy the customer on all these counts, designing a HOMAG laminating plant with an impressive array of solutions.

All in one The furniture manufacturer now uses the new complete Line plant to produce RTA furniture elements and extruded materials coated on both sides using the laminating technique. Today, the items of furniture are now sized, profiled, laminated on two sides and wrapped including the profiled longitudinal edges in series production. Company Germanika is based near the town of Klaipeda and in a production area of 3,500 m (on a total

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site of around 11,000 m), the company manufactures carcase furniture coated with decor paper (finish foils). The plant works in multiple-shift operation. The employees of company Germanika are able to produce 40.000 50.000 products per month under the technology of foiled furniture. However, the stock is constantly changing, therefore, the volume of the manufactured products vary: sometimes more beds, and sometimes more cabinets or different collection products are produced. When the technology of unfoiled furniture products is applied, over 50.000 of shoe chests alone might be produced.

Alongside the new laminating plant, the Germanika production facility was already home to a large number of other HOMAG Group machines. These include HOLZMA angular systems, HOMAG throughfeed machines and processing centers for sizing and edge processing, several BST 500 throughfeed drilling machines from WEEKE and a large number of feed and stacking systems from BARGSTEDT.

Speed and flexibility Another item on Germanikas specification list was the ability to coat thin furniture rear walls using the same plant. Even this highly challenging task was successfully solved and without any overhanging decor paper on the longitudinal and transverse edges. The specified production output for a feed rate of around 30 m/min did not pose a major challenge to the HOMAG Engineering team, as the majority of complete Line plants delivered to customers around the world are in any case configured for V=50-60 m/min.

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Film application from abov e The producer also attached particular importance to a design which would enable the greatest possible operating simplicity of the overall plant. HOMAG decided to go with a concept already implemented for a customer in Asia. Two single-sided laminating plants both working from above are coupled to a star revolver. These straighten out the entire process sequence and at the same time afford optimum user operator convenience. Although the plants are generally fitted with a double unwinder and automatic foil splicing device, this arrangement simplifies handling and start-up at the beginning of each shift, as well as general process monitoring.

Fiv e steps one w ork process zero butt j oint Sizing, profiling, double-sided lamination and wrapping of profiled edges now take place in a single work process. For coating, the company uses finish foils thin decor papers off the coil with a weight per unit area of between 40 and 80 80 g/m.

This means that alongside the furniture outer and inner surfaces, differently profiled longitudinal edges can also be wrapped using the complete Line plant in a single process. As longitudinal sizing and profiling take place after lamination of the inside furniture surface, the paper overhang created can be trimmed without the need to use additional units and devices. Then lamination takes place on the outside of the furniture and additionaly the wrapping of the narrow surfaces. A separate point to note here is the uninterrupted trend towards lightweight, low-cost furniture panels in other words for low-density chipboard. Not only does this help to save precious

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resources, it also means a considerable weight saving in the finished furniture. The Lithuanian producer also uses lightboards. This makes it all the more important to pay particular attention to one part of the lamination process: The compaction and improvement of the profiled longitudinal edges.

Improv ement of profiled longitudinal edges Sealing the open-pored and profiled longitudinal edges with improvement materials is particularly important. In this case, the furniture manufacturer opted to use EVA as a surface adhesive system. This process entails filling the porous chipboard central core along the narrow side using an EVA-based hot-melt glue and sealed subsequently.

This is a decisive process step which forms the basis for the creation of smooth, impact-resistant furniture edges despite using a low-density material such as chipboard. Also striking is the flawless surface finish, addressing the growing expectations of customers in terms of furniture quality. The last work step is the decisive work process which distinguishes these workpieces from the ordinary: Wrapping the narrow surface at the longitudinal edges. From Lshaped to U-shaped profiles with butt joint for coating underneath, the complete Line technique permits the implementation of every kind of popular edge profile. At Germanika, the profile edges are produced as inlay U-profiles. The foil does not overlap on the inside surface of the furniture, but is laid without any joint or transition and integrated into a smoothed and flattened surface over a width of 12 mm. After processing, this means that the furniture features no visible joint of the coating material in the profile and edge area.

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The new technology allows producing aesthetically looking, high quality furniture that is resistant to environmental influences, says the Manager of company Germanika Mr. Eimuntas Jankauskas.

Edge improv ement: An important contribution to stunning quality Generally speaking, edge improvement is an interesting solution in many areas of front production both in terms of the materials used and also economically. As the trend towards lightweight, low-cost furniture panels continues unabated, HOMAG has made edge compaction on profiled chipboard panels a focus of its development work. Today HOMAG is able to offer four different systems to cover every conceivable customer requirement in this important sector of quality assurance.

The four processes on offer are: 1. One, two or three-sided edge compaction using EVA-based hotmelt 2. Blind edging in the form of a paper or veneer edge 3. UV-curing lacquer systems 4. UV-curing hotmelt systems

The various methods are coordinated with the different glue and adhesive systems used for surface coating. The two UV systems are both new, and offer the following advantage: Unlike processes 1. and 2., after UV curing finish processing takes place using a profiling tool to ensure an absolute profile match.

A new approach to w orkpiece div iding One special feature of the plant of SBA in Lithuania are the two workpiece

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dividing devices. Previously the continuously extruded laminated workpiece was divided using rotary dividing devices for thin panels or dividing roller conveyors for furniture elements coated in decor paper. As the customer envisaged the possibility of working in future with thermoplastic foils, socalled diagonal dividing saws were used (for the first time with a complete Line plant) and completely integrated into the line control system. These devices together cover all conceivable current and future requirements of Germanika in terms of workpiece dimensions and the potential use of plastic coating materials.

Ov er 95 % of plants w orldw ide originate from the HOMAG Group The development of the complete Line process, for which HOMAG currently holds the patent, marked the advent of a new departure in laminating technology in 1994. In a joint development with FRIZ, HOMAG Group Engineering took the world of laminating technology by storm: Today, over 95% of all plants for complete sizing, profiling, laminating of workpieces and longitudinal edge wrapping originate from the companies of the HOMAG Group. This extensive experience and sound expertise in the field of laminating technology is utilized by HOMAG Group Engineering to address every customer requirement with the utmost flexibility.

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Pictures courtesy of: Germanika

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Fig. 5 Logo Germanika

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For more information, contact HOMAG Group AG Homagstrae 35 72296 SCHOPFLOCH GERMANY www.homag-group.com Alexander Prokisch Head of Central Marketing Tel. +49 7443 13-3122 Fax +49 7443 13-8-3122 alexander.prokisch@homag.de Author: Rainer Miller Project Manager Tel. +49 7443 13-2560 Fax +49 7443 13-8-2560 rainer.miller@homag.de