REHAU OPENS NEW PLANT IN PORT ELIZABETH, SOUTH AFRICA
EXPANSION OF INTERNATIONAL EXPERTISE
With its new plant in the South African city of Port Elizabeth, REHAU has further expanded its presence on the international stage. The polymer specialist will soon be opening the doors to another production site for its automotive business division in the Nelson Mandela Bay Logistic Park in Port Elizabeth. One of the most modern and outstanding highlights of manufacturing in the world is its modular painting line based on the most recent economic and ecological considerations.
In Port Elizabeth, REHAU will manufacture and paint all future front and rear bumpers for the right-hand-drive models of the internationally sought-after VW Polo. The completely assembled bumper systems with integrated headlamp washer systems, park distance control and fog lamps are sent directly "just in sequence" to the assembly line of the Volkswagen factory three kilometres away in Uitenhagen. Around 130 new jobs will be made through this. In total, the internationally active company employs around 300 workers at the six locations in South Africa.
On-site presence for customers
The South African market has not been a new frontier for the polymer specialist for quite some time. It was more than 40 years ago, in 1967, when REHAU opened its first sales office in the South African Republic. To the present-day, the company has consistently expanded its expertise here. The step of setting up a second production site for the automotive branch was taken due to both economic and customer-specific considerations.
"We often take unconventional paths to secure our customers' satisfaction" says Gerhard Riedhammer, Executive Director of Customer Relations Management Automotive at REHAU. Riedhammer continues "Innovative processing techniques and investments in local sites near to the customer, like here with VW, are the logical consequences of both successful customer relations and a business strategy focussed on international growth.
The total investment figure for the new plant in the Nelson Mandela Bay Logistic Park amounts to around 20 million Euros. The majority of this goes towards the manufacturing process itself, which is one of the most modern systems in the world. The stand-out highlight is the modular painting line on-site. Unlike conventional painting lines, Port Elizabeth will use a completely new painting cabinet concept and infrared drying high-tech process with CO2 cleaning.
Highlight: New painting line
Helmut Ansorge, Executive Director Operations & Technology Automotive at REHAU explains "Until now, each new painting line represented something unique which had to be assembled on-site from thousands of individual parts". Beforehand, month-long construction phases were necessary; Assembly and implementation required several months, as did the resolving of errors and shortcomings. Ansorge goes on to say: "With much finesse and lots of effort our process technology succeeded in setting up a new modular painting concept, which gets around these difficulties and offers stunning economic and ecological benefits as well."
Even when it comes to cleaning the components before painting, the complex, multi-stage washing process has now been replaced by cleaning using liquid CO2. Here, robots are fitted with special nozzles which, like in the flame-treatment process, spray the component surface. With this so-called "nozzle array" the liquid CO2 turns into ice crystals which vaporise when coming into contact with the component surface, thus cleaning the component and simultaneously leaving behind a dry surface. This means that the room requirements for painting are reduced by up to almost 25 per cent and that processing times are shortened considerably.
The technical design of the painting cabinets has also been changed completely whereby alongside implementing space-saving and energy-saving measures, so too was it possible to remove the circulation fluid from the painting cabinets, which was previously needed to collect the overspray and thus prevent it from getting on the component to be coated. Together with the elimination of liquid-based component cleaning it was also possible to completely do without water in the painting process. This also eliminates the preparatory and cleaning processes for the water, which previously involved the use of numerous chemicals. The downstream drying process, with its huge driers in which hot air was circulated around the freshly painted components, has been replaced by a technology which achieves the same goal with special heaters and conditioned air in a fraction of the time previously required. This significantly reduces the room space requirements for the painting line as well as the associated energy needs.
www.rehau.com/port-elizabeth-2009
In Port Elizabeth, REHAU will manufacture and paint all future front and rear bumpers for the right-hand-drive models of the internationally sought-after VW Polo. The completely assembled bumper systems with integrated headlamp washer systems, park distance control and fog lamps are sent directly "just in sequence" to the assembly line of the Volkswagen factory three kilometres away in Uitenhagen. Around 130 new jobs will be made through this. In total, the internationally active company employs around 300 workers at the six locations in South Africa.
On-site presence for customers
The South African market has not been a new frontier for the polymer specialist for quite some time. It was more than 40 years ago, in 1967, when REHAU opened its first sales office in the South African Republic. To the present-day, the company has consistently expanded its expertise here. The step of setting up a second production site for the automotive branch was taken due to both economic and customer-specific considerations.
"We often take unconventional paths to secure our customers' satisfaction" says Gerhard Riedhammer, Executive Director of Customer Relations Management Automotive at REHAU. Riedhammer continues "Innovative processing techniques and investments in local sites near to the customer, like here with VW, are the logical consequences of both successful customer relations and a business strategy focussed on international growth.
The total investment figure for the new plant in the Nelson Mandela Bay Logistic Park amounts to around 20 million Euros. The majority of this goes towards the manufacturing process itself, which is one of the most modern systems in the world. The stand-out highlight is the modular painting line on-site. Unlike conventional painting lines, Port Elizabeth will use a completely new painting cabinet concept and infrared drying high-tech process with CO2 cleaning.
Highlight: New painting line
Helmut Ansorge, Executive Director Operations & Technology Automotive at REHAU explains "Until now, each new painting line represented something unique which had to be assembled on-site from thousands of individual parts". Beforehand, month-long construction phases were necessary; Assembly and implementation required several months, as did the resolving of errors and shortcomings. Ansorge goes on to say: "With much finesse and lots of effort our process technology succeeded in setting up a new modular painting concept, which gets around these difficulties and offers stunning economic and ecological benefits as well."
Even when it comes to cleaning the components before painting, the complex, multi-stage washing process has now been replaced by cleaning using liquid CO2. Here, robots are fitted with special nozzles which, like in the flame-treatment process, spray the component surface. With this so-called "nozzle array" the liquid CO2 turns into ice crystals which vaporise when coming into contact with the component surface, thus cleaning the component and simultaneously leaving behind a dry surface. This means that the room requirements for painting are reduced by up to almost 25 per cent and that processing times are shortened considerably.
The technical design of the painting cabinets has also been changed completely whereby alongside implementing space-saving and energy-saving measures, so too was it possible to remove the circulation fluid from the painting cabinets, which was previously needed to collect the overspray and thus prevent it from getting on the component to be coated. Together with the elimination of liquid-based component cleaning it was also possible to completely do without water in the painting process. This also eliminates the preparatory and cleaning processes for the water, which previously involved the use of numerous chemicals. The downstream drying process, with its huge driers in which hot air was circulated around the freshly painted components, has been replaced by a technology which achieves the same goal with special heaters and conditioned air in a fraction of the time previously required. This significantly reduces the room space requirements for the painting line as well as the associated energy needs.
www.rehau.com/port-elizabeth-2009
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© REHAU Polymer (Pty) Ltd, 2011
© REHAU Polymer (Pty) Ltd, 2011