Extrusion International 2-2023

48 Extrusion International 2/2023 COMPOSITE FILM – CASE STUDY Trend-setting Product Development – Production of Innovative Technical Composite Construction Films Started In the past few months, the German company, Dörken, has put two new production lines from SML into operation. Highly permeable roof and facade membranes are manufactured as part of the company’s product portfolio. In addition to innovative properties, a large number of the new composite films are making a statement due to their particularly resource-saving and efficient manufacturing processes. To a large extent, the products and production processes were developed in SML’s Technology Center – even before the lines were planned or installed at Dörken. W hen it comes to membranes for the construc - tion industry, Dörken is European market leader. In autumn 2022, the company opened a new produc- tion site in Hagen-Vorhalle in North Rhine-Westphalia, where the two coextrusion coating and laminating lines from SML are now up and running. The tailor-made plants are setting new standards in terms of function- ality, quality monitoring and the degree of automation involved. Previous product development at SML’s Technology Center "The remarkable thing about this project is that Dörken did not carry out substantial parts of the prod- uct development process at its own plants, but on an in- dustrial scale FlexPack® line located in our Technology Center," Dirk Beckendorff, Area Sales Manager at SML, explains. The product development process at SML took several years: Among other things, it included basic tri- als with the SML DoubleCoat process, test series with the most important products of Dörken’s portfolio and several test runs for the development and sampling of new roofing membranes. Since it was possible to certify a number of products even before the lines were com - missioned at Dörken, the over-all product development process was accelerated quite significantly. “It was im- portant for us to benefit from the opportunity offered us by SML. In addition to confirming the known recipes and processes, we were able to use SML’s pilot plant for our innovations at a very early stage. In principle, we have actively integrated SML’s plant into our Stage Gate process,” Christian Harste, CTO at Dörken, clarifies. Im- mediately after the installation of the two lines, Dörken was able to start regular production. New standards for products One of the two multi-purpose coating and laminat- ing lines at Dörken is equipped with SML's patented DoubleCoat technology. This technology enables a combined adhesive and extrusion coating process for the production of ultra-thin and highly breathable lami- nates. It allows the manufacturing of a wide variety of technical composites for the construction industry, such as vapor barriers or waterproofing membranes. The second production line is a combined line with two integrated adhesive roll coaters for the manufac- turing of highly breathable roofing and facade mem- branes in one production step. Dörken-CTO, Christian Harste