CAP-2 Group, the Challenges of White Molding
Founded in 2012
Location : Sant Esteve Sesrovires, Spain
Tell us about yourself
- CAP-2 Group initially a provider of industrial cutting solutions, now specializes in the production and molding of various parts in rubber and silicone.
- We offer a complete 360° service, covering molding, cutting, deburring and verification.
- Our current market is very diversified, including multiple sectors such as automotive, medical applications, sanitary systems and engineering.
Focus on the workshop
REP: How many REP presses do you have in your plant? What are the presses in question?
CAP-2 Group: We currently have 2 REP vertical presses in our workshop, a G4 and a G7.
REP: Why this choice of models precisely? What advantages and characteristics can we attribute to them?
CAP-2 Group: These models are perfect for the type of production we are currently carrying out.
The presses are:
- Fast and efficient, for optimized production,
- With optimum level of rubber loading capacity,
- Easy to use and handle by the operator.
These presses, still in perfect working order, are descended from Generation G4, launched in 1978, and Generation G7, introduced in the early 90s.
Focus on the production
REP: For which use(s) and type of production do you require REP machines?
CAP-2 Group: Our main production with these machines is the injection and compression of rubber and derivatives.
REP: To what extent are these machines a real advantage for you in terms of productivity?
CAP-2 Group:
- These REP presses help us improve our production, as they are a very dynamic type of machine
- Rubber waste for injected parts is very low, which helps us to be more efficient and meet our environmental commitment.
REP: What aspects do you consider essential to maintain optimized production?
CAP-2 Group: For us, the most important aspects of optimized production are:
Vulcanization stage
The fact that our machines are efficiently optimized at this part of the process helps us reduce and control production times and costs.
Rubber Load
Capacity
With a big loading capacity of 3.5 kg of rubber for our G4 and G7, we can conceptualize and produce with efficient, time-saving molds.
Easy to use
The fact that these machines are so easy to handle means that we can reduce our operators' training costs, while improving ergonomics and quality of their workspace.
Focus on the finished product
REP: What do you think defines a high-quality part?
CAP-2 Group: The quality standards we impose on ourselves can be grouped into 3 points.
The final product must:
- Perfectly fulfill the desired technical function and be functional when released for production,
- Have a perfect visual appearance and meet our customer's standards,
- Offers the best relationship between quality/price.
REP: What's the biggest challenge you've come up against?
CAP-2 Group: If we had to pick just one telling example, we'd surely say that of white natural rubber molding.
Indeed, injecting a very light-colored compound, which is more sensitive to dirt and defects, with equipment that is used to running on a black or dark mixture, seemed very complex!
Finally, after a few tests and adjustments, and a purge of the previous compound, production was able to start without a hitch or blockage, and in large series. Challenge taken up and results validated!
"As part of our Kaizen methodology (daily continuous improvement, for everyone, everywhere), we decided to take this production process to the next level. We're delighted to share with you a milestone that has improved our productivity : the transition from compression to injection molding of white natural rubber!"
REP: How is your part different from the competition? What are its main advantages and specificities?
CAP-2 Group: One of our main competitive advantages is our ability to adapt to our customers' needs. That's why we can offer very small production runs as well as very large ones, in all types of rubber and silicone, always maintaining a good quality/price ratio.
Another of our advantages is that we are molded tube manufacturers and, thanks to our integrated cutting service, we obtain high-quality, economical flat gaskets, compared with other manufacturing systems such as molding or single-cutting of flat gaskets.
We are also ISO 9001:2015 certified, enabling us to achieve and maintain a high and stringent quality standard.
REP: How do REP machines help you achieve this optimal result?
CAP-2 Group: Today, our G4 and G7 machines help us achieve these results by saving production time and material costs when using certain compounds.
"Recently, as part of the continuous improvement process, the production and quality departments set the goal of eliminating the compression process previously carried out for natural rubber in order to switch to an injection process, thus optimizing time and resources."
REP & you
REP: How long have you been a REP Customer?
CAP-2 Group: We've been working with REP presses for 4 years now!
REP: What made you come to REP more than to any other company?
CAP-2 Group: We chose REP presses on the recommendation of our partners. We work with customers and suppliers who manufacture with these presses and are more than satisfied, so we too have joined the blue workshop family!
Future projects
REP: What are your future goals and challenges to complete?
CAP-2 Group: Our future project is to be able to migrate and convert the rest of our current compression manufacturing to injection molding.
Our second objective is to maintain and pursue our sustainable commitment to the environment, in order to obtain ISO 14001 certification. It is important to us that the machines we use in our manufacturing process respect and enable us to comply with these standards.
"Overall, we'd say that our experience has been very positive, and has enabled us to improve our production processes. Thank you to the teams who make these projects possible!"
CAP-2 Group recommends REP's teams and services with a score of:
