Largest slabstock plant in South America:
Grand opening of QFM plant at Piero S.A.I.C. in Argentina
In May 2017, the Argentinian group of companies – Grupo Piero, market leader in mattresses and upholstery, officially opened its new factory. The focus of the event was the new QFM slabstock plant. This continuous production line from Hennecke provides comprehensive production options thanks to integrated NOVAFLEX technology and MULTIFILL equipment and is the largest slabstock plant in operation in South America. The new investment replaces an almost 40-year-old UBT Hennecke plant.
Grupo Piero is a specialist in flexible foam applications and is well-known far beyond Argentinian borders for its first-class mattresses and furniture foam. The company has relied on Hennecke's plant technology for almost four decades. The new factory in the South American city of Buenos Aires allows Grupo Piero not only to expand its current production capacity, but also enables the company to expand its existing product portfolio in future. Despite poor weather conditions, over 500 invited guests from the fields of business and politics attended the excellently organised inauguration celebrations.
In awarding the contract, the Argentinian company's aim was to configure the slabstock plant for as many production purposes as possible. The plant primarily produces high-quality ether foam for mattresses and furniture. To this end, Hennecke also equipped the machine with state-of-the-art NOVAFLEX technology and MULTIFILL equipment. However, Grupo Piero anticipates enhanced future growth within the local automotive industry and would like to be in a position to also produce ester foam economically for automobile applications.
The NOVAFLEX technology replaces traditional blowing agents such as methylene chloride with CO2 and thus allows targeted manipulation of the foam's performance characteristics, or the production of entirely new foam types. NOVAFLEX technology is therefore impressive in both environmental and economical terms. The high production stability and reliability of this process reduces production costs incurred and therefore significantly improves competitiveness. With NOVAFLEX-MULTIFILL technology, manufacturers can reliably incorporate solid materials into CO2-blown foams. Here too the focus is on the flexibility and modular design of the NOVAFLEX system and of the QFM technology.
Continuous slabstock lines from Hennecke are the first choice for manufacturers for the efficient processing of all typical commercial raw materials in almost all density ranges. These plants can run production lengths smoothly and their limitation is only dependent on the capacity of the block storage. The combination of various technologies provides an opportunity for PU processors like Grupo Piero to adapt plants to their individual market or environmental requirements.
