|
R & D| Alongside the day-to-day manufacturing carried out
at the foundries and factories, the Fluval group also recognises the importance
of moving forwards and developing, both in terms of the products themselves, and
also in terms of the structures and direction of the company. There are 6 people directly involved in Research and Development, although the aim of the management is to encourage feedback from all parts of the company, which can be used to enhance the products and service. The main areas in which Research and Development are carried out is in the foundries and in the technical department. To expand its range of products, Fluval is continually producing valves using new patterns, and R & D is crucial in ensuring that a new pattern is fully tested prior to its release onto the market. After the initial pattern has been made, a trial casting is produced, and subject to PMI (Positive Material Identification). All components of the valve are checked before and after the trial runs, in which actual use is simulated. Once this first stage is successfully completed, a batch of five castings is produced, and similarly subject to stringent testing to make sure it will be suitable. All parts of the valve are carefully checked, including internal dimensions, thickness, etc.. The valves are completely stripped down after the trials and checked over once again to ensure that no unacceptable stresses have occurred, no breakage of parts, no unreasonable wear or erosion. Only after these long and extensive tests have been fully passed is any Fluval pattern made available to the market. Although the valve market is very competitive, there is considerable co-operation between suppliers in the matter of Research and Development, and there is cross-fertilisation between companies in the development of new products. Competitors' products are regularly obtained from the market, both new valves, and valves at the end of their working lives. These valves are stripped down and checked, to see if there is anything that can be learned from them. The aim is to increase the lifetime of the valves, while keeping costs as low as possible. Fluval's own products are often returned to the factory for refurbishment and re-conditioning, and these valves are carefully tested and scrutinised to learn the impact of their service conditions on each of the valve components. The main area in which R & D is carried out is at the foundries. The major parts of a valve, the Body, Bonnet and Disc, add up to around 65% of the volume, and the integrity and quality of castings is very important. A lot of research is being carried out into the casting of Buttweld End valves, which is where problems can occur with casting quality. The eventual aim is to ensure a much higher percentage of perfect castings, without the necessity of performing radiography on the castings. Buttweld end valves are a problem for all foundries, due to the high material concentration required in the Buttweld areas. This means that differential cooling times are required for different parts of the castings. Consequently, the foundries are carrying out extensive research into automatic casting systems. This allows the feeding rate of material to be controlled more accurately than it could be with a human input, preventing possible formations of holes or areas of impurity within the castings, which could reduce the castings quality. Research into automatic feeder systems is well advanced within our foundries, and the techniques are being improved all the time as further testing is carried out. On smaller valves at lower pressures, the technique is fully successful now, and the research is well on course to extend this to higher pressures, larger sizes and different material grades. The foundry is also continually aiming to make sure that all castings produced are of the highest possible quality. The research into feeding rates also looks into the distribution of material through all valves produced, both Buttweld and flanged, to ensure that porosity and shrinkage are not a problem in castings. At the main factory, the management have invested over US million during the past 3 years in new machinery, including CNC-guided machinery, which again can be used to give higher quality products than older methods. The used of automatic methods also allows several stages of production to be merged into one, significantly reducing manufacturing time. One of the main areas of R & D in the factory is in extending the use of CNC machinery and robot technology. At the present time, the machinery is being tested and is not used in full production, personnel are being trained in the different techniques required to make full use of new machinery. So far, however, the results have been very good, with production time, cost and wastage reduced, while product quality is improved. The development of these new machining systems will be main thrust of the factory Research. On the commercial side, the company is continually aiming to extend into new areas of the world, and new industrial sectors. The conventional markets for standard valves are becoming increasingly competitive, with strong manufacturers developing in the Far East, and the company is expanding into less standard valve types, larger pressures and sizes, where the competition is less. The ultimate aim of Research and Development is the same as that of all parts of the company: to make a better product, which will last longer and will suffer fewer problems. Most Fluval products perform throughout their service life with no problems at all; R & D is aiming to make sure that no Fluval valves suffer problems. At the present moment, the direction of new product development and research within Fluval is into the following areas:
|
