Extrusion International USA 5-2021

41 Extrusion International 5/2021 SLS Kunststoffverarbeitungs GmbH & Co. KG Industriestr. 11, 66994 Dahn, Germany www.sls-kunststoffpro f i le.de Director Jan Leibrock explains: „These new facilities allow us to increase our production capacity and we now have a total of 32 extrusion, co-extru- sion and tri-extrusion lines to manufacture rigid and elastic solid and hollow pro fi les. And thanks to our new handling equipment and the new plat- form, we were able to save some storage space and opti- mise numerous peripheral ma- terial fl ow processes.“ New machines and further digitisation In order to meet the high ca- pacity demand, SLS‘s in-house tool shop will get a new ad- dition: In the coming days another CNC-machining centre will be installed enabling the company to meet the growing demands for geomet- ric complexity of the pro fi les even more effectively. „As a result, we are once again strengthening our position as de- velopment partner for our customers”, Jan Leibrock says. In addition, the further digitisation is being continued in all areas and departments. Currently, the main focus of activ- ity is on further extensions of our enterprise resource plan- ning system, project management and time recording. Furthermore, we are planning to install charging points for our company and customer electric and hybrid vehicles. A new building for fi nishing and packaging One key aspect in the current investment programme of SLS is the construction of another hall which will be exclu- sively dedicated to the fi nishing and packaging section of pro fi les. Jan Leibrock explains: “Not only does this eighth new building project in our company’s history show our commitment to our location in the beautiful region of the Dahn Rockland but also takes account of the fact that there is a steadily increasing demand for customer-specif- ic partially processed, preassembled, re fi ned and packed pro fi le systems and special-purpose solutions”. Several years ago, SLS – as a supply partner with a clear customer orientation – started to pay more attention to the fi nish- ing and packaging of its pro fi les. Many customers have gladly accepted the expansion of the service range at this point to release their own capacities. “The fi nishing and packaging sector is also getting a considerable impetus for demand from our growing range of large and heavy pro fi les – for instance for the construction industry”, Jan Leibrock reports. If possible, the commissioning of the new hall should take place before the turn of the year. SLS produces hollow or solid pro fi les from many engi- neering plastics ranging from hard PVC, soft PVC and ASA via PE, PP, PS, POM, SBR and ABS up to different polymer blends. In addition, the production of sophisticated hard- soft combinations is one of the company’s core compe- tencies, and for applications with increased strength re- quirements it also implements composite solutions with glass fi bre, aluminium and steel. Author: Manfred Stiller, freelance technical journalist, Darmstadt The two new extrusion lines of SLS include tailor-made downstream equipment including calibration, haul-off and cutter (Picture: SLS) With the acquisition of two new extruders from HansWeber (pictured), SLS is increasing its production capacities and now has a total of 32 extrusion, co-extrusion and tri-extrusion lines to manufacture rigid and elastic solid and hollow pro fi les (Picture: Hans Weber Maschinenfabrik)