MOORSELE SITE READY FOR THE FUTURE
Thanks to an investment of 3.5 million euros and the hard work of all employees, E-MAX Profiles’ production site in Moorsele (Belgium) has been transformed into a benchmark for safe, reliable, and stable production of high-quality, sustainable aluminium profiles.
Transformation with a view to the future
E-MAX acquired the Boal Belgium plant in Moorsele in 2017 with a view to expand the production of X-ECO, a premium-grade, sustainable aluminium. ‘As we expect a considerable increase in the demand for sustainable aluminium profiles, we’re also investing in our sustainable billet foundry in Kerkrade (the Netherlands),’ explains Dave Debosschere, Director of Production Extrusion at E-MAX. ‘Of course, this means we’ll also have to increase our profile production capacity.’
To achieve this, the machinery and production process needed to be overhauled. ‘The plant’s production line was from 1998,’ says Dave. One of the first steps undertaken by E-MAX was to replace the production line with a brand-new one, focusing on automation and safety. The company also created a physical connection between the new production line and the packaging line: employees used to use forklifts to move the profiles from one place to another, but this is now done automatically.
‘The actual physical transformation took about three weeks between the end of 2019 and start of 2020. It took us around another six months to iron out issues and train staff,’ Dave explains.
Many advantages
The new production process offers numerous advantages. With manual work now minimized, there is less chance of damaging the profiles. And as a result of closing the production chain, the process is more manageable and the return higher. The work process itself is safer as well: the risk of industrial accidents is significantly lower thanks to the closed line and new machines that comply with the applicable safety requirements. The production process is also now more reliable and manageable. ‘We can now offer our customers even more supply security, from an already impressive 90% to now over 95%. As E-MAX Profiles’ Moorsele factory can now produces small, lightweight profiles from 120 grams per running metre, we’ve been able to expand the range of what we can offer,’ says Dave.