Cannon USA ' s“ plus” factor has been the capacity to develop, and maintain, in the USA the know-how for design and fabrication of equipment in full accordance with American client ' s requirements.
CN: What can you say about your most recent achievements, then? PS: Talking of what we have designed, manufactured and installed fully in the USA, I remember, among others, some recent large contracts signed with Tier One suppliers of the Automotive sector. We have supplied less than two years ago a leading global producer of car seating and interior systems with a sophisticated moulding line able to inject tunnel covers in three different colours without any interruption between one colour and the following one, all with only one mixing head. The plant was composed by one dosing unit, three CCS( Cannon Color Systems) and one FPL 14 mixing head with a 4-component radial feeding, capable of handling the three colour streams in rapid sequence with a very small intermediate purging, with a dedicated stream for a non-mixable HFO blowing agent. We made an 18-station oval track, able to carry four moulds on each mould carrier, served by two robots that apply mould coating systems. We run a thorough industrial pre-production in our premises in Zelienople, near Cranberry, in Pennsylvania, where we are based, working several days on three-shift basis together with our customer and his Japanese OEM, to ine-tune the plant prior to the delivery and installation in the factory. We added to this plant, a few months later, a third chemical ' s feeding line allowing for the use of an HFO( Hydro Fluoro Ole in) blowing agent. Another signi icant plant was supplied in the same period to another major Tier One supplier: a 40-presses carousel able to hold eighty moulds, this unit runs at 15 m / min speed. A complex“ wet side” provides the formulation that produces automotive seating in this plant. Temperature control was a key requirement for this customer, and we installed extra heat exchangers to the high-pressure dosing unit to provide maximum constancy of performances. A dedicated software was written in Italy to easily program the pouring robot and to keep historical records for each and every shot, to provide quality control. We also regularly supply a world leading car maker ' s US factories with robotised foaming lines to inject a foam against NVH( noise, vibration and harshness) in the pillars of their vehicles, directly in the assembly lines. We are specialised in this technology, providing proven solutions for both types of the trend-setting formulations: the 24:1 ratio supplied by Dow – which now has a 16:1 ratio version available – or the most recent 2:1 ratio type, based on a prepolymer. Special mixing heads must be used in these plants, due to the very tiny diameter of the injection holes drilled in the car pillars. We can supply either a TRIO7 or an LN5 model, as we did recently in a sophisticated unit installed in the assembly line of a powerful hybrid sport car. For a major supplier of lightweight interior panels we have recently supplied innovative equipment for the spray application of Polyurethane binder over a glass- ibre-wrapped honeycomb paper. We developed specialised equipment for any type of these BayPreg-like formulations, providing numerous advantages over our competitors: faster cycle time, thanks to a lower number of passes of the mixing head; much less overspray, thanks to the perfectly triangular shape of our spray; a clean work place, thanks to our airless spray system; customised distribution of foam in the part, thanks to a smart control of the head. And we can prove it all in USA, in our Cranberry lab!
CN
CN: That is quite an interesting collection of automotive references. Any signi icant recent activity in other applications? PS: As I said before, rigid foams for insulation cover at least 35 % of our sales. We – as Cannon – supply the world leading producers of white appliances. Refrigerators for domestic and commercial use are made in North America with Cannon foaming plants since decades. We just supplied four dosing units to make insulation panels for refrigerated trucks, a business that we see expanding in the USA. We recently supervised the supply to Haier of four different production units manufactured in Italy and in the USA: two major foaming plants for c a b i n e t s a n d d o o r s, a n d t w o l a r g e thermoforming machines for their plastic liners. Two custom-speci ied high-pressure metering units, servicing multiple Cannon FPL SR 18 and 14 mixing heads, have been made by Cannon USA to provide the required chemicals to the cabinet and the door foaming plants, that were made in Italy. We provided the installation service for the whole l o t o f e q u i p m e n t, i n c l u d i n g t h e l a r g e thermoformers made in Italy. One thermoforming specialist, with a vast experience in pressure forming applications, works for us in North America, cooperating daily with Cannon Ergos in Italy.
CN: Do you carry other joint projects in the USA with other Cannon companies? PS: Many, with various levels of intervention, and not only in the USA! Both Cannon Ergos and Cannon Viking have a number of historical customers in North America, with whom they keep a preferential line of dialogue, very much dictated by the innovative solutions they are jointly developing. That is the case for some recent con idential projects developed in the Carbon Composites ield, and for some special thermoforming jobs. In these cases we supply marketing assistance, logistic support, Service and installation aids. It ' s always a strength for Cannon to be directly present in a country, and we represent in this case a part of the solution.
Our specialists also spend time and resources abroad to support other Group Units working at projects for which we have matured speci ic skill and experience. For some special applications we developed our own technologies and equipment that we have even been able to export to China. We follow up all the transplant jobs of our US customers when they relocate their plants, in Mexico or in the Far East. Think Global, Act Local – we have not invented the slogan, we just apply it successfully since almost 40 years!
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