Background
The Impol Group produces semi-finished rolled products at three sites in Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia. The company is Slovenia’s biggest producer of flat rolled products and it serves markets as diverse as automotive, pharmacy, food and beverage, construction and renewable energy. At Impol’s plant in Slovenska Bistrica, thin and thick foil products are some of the most important products.
Innoval has been working with Impol for over ten years and we’re proud to have them as a long-term client. Recently the technical team at Impol contacted us to help them improve the quality of their feedstock to further increase the world-class quality of their foil products. Consequently, two of our light-gauge product experts, Vicente Martin and Dan Miller, visited the site in Slovenia for three days.
How we were involved
Prior to their visit, and in common with many of our improvement projects, Vicente and Dan requested some process data to provide background information, and to help them understand what had already been explored by Impol’s staff. This ensured Vicente and Dan were well prepared to focus on the key issues during their time on site.
At the plant Vicente and Dan assessed the quality of the incoming coils, including their packaging.
They then conducted a thorough process audit by following the material flow through the plant, concentrating on key areas where defects might originate. In addition to this, they reviewed the automation of the cold mills.
Outcome
Following the implementation of Vicente and Dan’s recommendations, which resulted in changes to the software of the control system amongst other things, the team at Impol observed a step change in the quality of their foil products.
Services Involved
- Aluminium Rolling
- Process Improvement
- Foil Packaging Training Course
This case study appears as an article in the 2020 edition of ‘innform’; the newsletter of Innoval Technology.
Client Quote
Dan and Vicente create an interdisciplinary team that allow us to make step changes in quality. It is not possible to get the same value from a single person so Innoval always brings different skills together. It is an outstanding capability that we can’t find anywhere else.
Dr. Darja Volšak, Technology and Development Director, Rolled Products & Foils, Impol
