Growth drives manufacturing investment at Promat UK

Growing customer demand for traceability and long term assurance in products which are designed to offer protection against heat and fire has driven investment in new manufacturing equipment and capabilities at Promat UK.

The company, which is a market leader in fire, thermal and acoustic insulation, has invested a six-figure sum at its main Lancashire manufacturing plant to support the production of a range of insulation materials in its Promat Workshop division. This area of Promat’s business serves customers across virtually every manufacturing, industrial and building market with high performance insulation for critical applications. These range from Formula 1 racing cars, train rolling stock and aerospace engineering, to white goods, processing machinery and fire rated doorsets.

Promat UK has invested a six-figure sum at its main Lancashire manufacturing plant / Picture: Promat UK

A comprehensive capital investment programme has seen the commissioning of new machinery across several different processes in the ISO 9001: 2015 and ISO 14001: 2015 registered facility at Heywood. This has included a new machine for manufacturing the pourable FREEFLOW^® microporous powder. With its very good insulation properties, this product is suitable for filling complex shapes and cavities with demanding thermal specifications, often where no other conventional insulation can be used.

In addition, Promat UK has invested in new machines for laminating and trimming PROMASEAL^®-PL intumescent seals to meet exacting customer specifications. Another new CNC machine has also been installed to support Promat Workshop’s ability to keep up-to-date with the demands of modern manufacturing and help further boost its growth within the UK. Like the other three CNC’s currently in operation at Heywood, the new machine is equipped with high speed tool changing capabilities, and high speed rapid movement key to manufacturing products as fast and accurate as possible.

Finally, new laser cutting machinery comes with the purchase of a CO2 laser machine. This has been a long-term goal for Promat Workshop to offer a turnkey package for a simplified supply chain, and develop new methods of manufacturing engineered solutions for high temperature applications. The laser cutter will be used for a range of materials including glass cloth, MICROTHERM^® microporous insulation panels (plain and quilted) and DALFRATEX^® textiles.

A comprehensive capital investment programme has seen the commissioning of new machinery across several different processes / Picture: Promat UK

Ian Cowley, Regional Director (UK and Scandinavia) at Promat UK said: “Clients across all market sectors are increasingly looking for total traceability in the products used in critical applications, so it is more important than ever for us to a 360 degree wheel of assurance. That means offering a complete service in-house, from raw material manufacture right through to cutting and processing.

“Anything we can do to take risk out of the supply chain will help our customers who share our Specified for a Reason^® ethos to avoid product substitution or poor application. We know from numerous incidents from a across the world that tragic consequences can result from weaknesses in the design, specification and installation of insulation materials designed to protect against heat and fire, and our latest investment in machinery and processes will help our customers reduce the risk of such incidents occurring.”

Part of international building product manufacturing group the Etex Group, Promat UK has been producing fire, thermal and acoustic protection solutions for more than 30 years. In addition to its range of products for the industrial and engineering sectors, the company manufactures market leading high performance insulation solutions which are used in numerous hi-tech, building and manufacturing sectors.