Forbo Reims: new tools for manufacturing innovative floors
Batirama.com 24/06/20210
Fruit of the latest investments of the manufacturer of flexible floor coverings in its factory in Reims, Forbo's product innovations provide "pluses" while facilitating implementation.
aerial ph/ An 11-hectare site in the heart of the city, the venerable institution that Forbo Sarlino is for the people of Champagne continues to be modernized. It will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2024, with a rediscovered youth.
The Swiss group** invests more than 18 million euros in its factories each year. That of Reims has benefited greatly from this in recent months: it has undergone major reorganizations making it possible to accommodate an automated cutting-packaging line, for the modular ranges, and a High Definition printer which considerably broadens the horizon of possible decorations.
Let's mention the Forte Tile loose-laying slab, laid semi-loose (sticky laying) for a faster construction site (place returned to users more quickly and elements easier to handle than a roll). Obtained by high-density needling of polyamide fibres, it is available in 12 colours. Its underlay is now made of recycled seat belt fibers!
Future developments should further automate this “historic” line of the factory.
On the LVT floor side*
The new Sarlon Trafic Modul'Up collection of PVC tiles is available in 4 versions (4 different compositions of the "thousand sheets" that is an LVT floor), including the 15 and 19 dB 33/43 acoustic tiles, which with their lightness ( 3 kg/m2) are easier to handle and have a lower carbon impact. All are available in 94 decors, for a festival of possible combinations.
First novelty: 14 of these decorations are printed in High Definition. Operational since the beginning of 2021, the new printing line offers the possibility of creating more complex and non-repetitive patterns (impossible to obtain in gravure). If the width of the roll is limited to 2 m, the length is almost not!
This HD printer will make it possible within one or two years to customize the floors, at the request of customers, on the basis of a good quality image.
The other innovation is the XtremPUR surface treatment, a double cross-linked lacquer thanks to a laser + UV treatment. This new finishing product greatly increases the coating's resistance to scratches, punctures and stains of all kinds. It also gives a matte appearance to the coating, which thus looks even more like the materials it imitates, such as concrete, stone or wood.
Choosing to install Modul'Up without glue has the advantage of simplifying and accelerating the work (twice as fast as glued installation); but also to allow easy removal and the possibility of reusing or recycling the coating more easily, unsullied by glue or cement.
Since early 2016, the "Sunflower" recycling system has been used to collect laying scraps and reintegrate the shredded product into the process (since 2009, Forbo has been striving to reduce its environmental impact by reducing the quantity of virgin raw materials used; many products contain recycled materials).
The Multicolour Splash decor of this Sarlon-Trafic-Modul'up covering, 100% Made in Reims, is printed at the rate of 100 m2/hour by the new HD printer.
Fully automatic for the Allura Decibel range
90% automatic (a visual inspection remains irreplaceable to identify the slightest defect), the LVT line has been in operation for a year and a half. She cuts from the "djumbos" (huge rolls of PVC just arrived from the photogravure vinyl production line, installed in the adjoining building) slabs and strips of various sizes, up to 1 mx 1 m. The packaging of the slides is also fully automated. The line's high production rate makes it possible to meet market demand for modular floors, which has literally exploded in recent times (in the first 6 months, sales have tripled).
Moreover, the Reims factory, which is already working in 3/8 shifts, has just set up a weekend team to ensure the production of PVC in sufficient quantities and continue to guarantee the delivery of its 350 references within 48 hours.
The chamfering of each plank on its 4 sides is an exclusivity of Forbo which allows a perfect imitation of wooden parquet.
*LVT for Luxury Vinyl Tiles: flexible PVC modules.
** The Forbo group, world number 1 in the linoleum and flocked textile flooring market, employs 5,300 people in 36 countries (turnover of 1 billion 25 million euros in 2020). 3,000 of them work for Forbo Flooring Systems, the flooring branch for the tertiary and residential sectors (linoleum, PVC, compact needle-punched textiles, flocked textiles, tufted tiles and flexible and rigid entry mat systems).
Source: batirama.com/Emmanuelle Jeanson
