Sep 24 2007
The emergence of new and innovative PUR processes continues to boost the competitive advantage of this material in many markets. To speed the pace of innovation, KraussMaffei is setting up a new development lab for reaction process machinery and systems, located at its main plant in Munich-Allach. The lab will become operational in December 2007. It will be an important additional resource especially for joint developments in partnership with raw materials suppliers, plastics processors and mouldmakers. Lab trials will address any aspect of process development, from cost-effectiveness to product design and engineering. The new lab will have a bigger machine park than the existing lab, including highly flexible systems that can be used to produce any type of multi-layer polyurethane composite product.
The lab floor area of 600 m2 will be subdivided to guarantee confidentiality and security in all stages of any project. Several projects can be on-going at any one time. The existing lab will continue to operate, mainly as a prototyping and sampling lab.
Competence network
KraussMaffei’s project partners will naturally also benefit from the close interaction between the company’s plants in Harderberg and Viersen in Germany and Detroit, USA. The Viersen plant engineers and builds presses, punch&die systems and flexible routers for post-processing PUR parts. Harderberg near Osnabrück is a KraussMaffei competence centre for foam moulds for automotive interior components. The competence centre in Detroit for PUR process development was opened in September 2006. The continuous and systematic flow of information between the three sites and the Munich labs gives KraussMaffei a head start in the development and testing of new PUR processes.