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The story about the problems of adhesion in a furniture factory

Have you experienced problems with finishing? Here is a story about an adhesion problem that occurred in a furniture factory. 

There was a quite big furniture factory; he is furniture manufacturers who now export its products abroad. The factory was located in Indonesia and sent about 40 containers of furniture products to overseas, mostly to US. This factory has been in operation quite long, already more than 10 years he operated to be a furniture manufacturer; it meant that he had quite a lot of experience in dealing with furniture.
One day he got order to make the furniture to fill a hotel rooms. It was the first time he manufactured furniture for the hotel project, since he mostly made furniture for regular products that were sold to the resellers. According with the amount this project was not much, only about 2 containers only (around 800 products with about six items). It was small amount compared to average 40 containers per month its total exports.
Handle furniture for a project was a little different than making furniture for a regular market. The short production time and the many changes and revision in the sample product were the biggest problem that must be faced. But with his experience as a furniture factory that has been in operation long enough then eventually he were able to finish all products with good and timely. Finally he completed the entire job with good results. Everything about production, shipping and payment has been finished and he had already started to forget about that project.
Until then about nine months later he received massage that the furniture that he had sent to the hotel was got problem. The finishing of his furniture that has been sent and installed him in the hotel was easy to peel off. The finishing layer of furniture finishes were very easy to peeled and rubbed off with just a little ruing on the surface.
This problem was become quite serious case, and then subsequently conducted an investigation into the product. The factory called the finishing material supplier as the other site to joint the investigation to find what the problem was. His finishing supplier was a quite big and credible company. He was a company with high experience not only in handling the finishing materials but also in the process of finishing furniture. He not only sold the finishing material but he also made the finishing system for the color. So the investigation was conducted involving several parties, the finishing supplier, the manufacturer and the furniture buyer. Finally everybody agreed that there was a failure of the finishing in the product.
The paint company continued his investigation to find the cause of the problem. After several tests it was found that the system of finishing used for the products was very risky to be cause problem. The finishing color for the product was rather difficult; it was a solid color with the applications quite thick glaze to create the grain effects. Because the application of glaze was thick, then the process proved to be high risky of the glaze that was not quite dry. Especially when considering that the finishing process done on a production process which was always in a hurry due to meet the deadline.
The furniture factory then made new products to be sent to replace the defective product. Meanwhile, the finishing supplier made new finishing system that was better and suitable for that furniture and the production line in that factory. Some sample was made and some testing was done to ensure that the new finishing was completely safe.
Finally, the entire process of the replacement of the furniture was completed; all the damaged furniture has been replaced with new product.
Fortunately the furniture was just small amount, so that not too many losses to bear. 

With this story I want to share that dealing with finishing material is something that is not easy. Finishing material is a chemical that we never know the results before we do the application and view the results. The problem sometimes appears after several months had passed. That is way we need to make sure that we follow the direction that is written in the technical data, such as the drying time, the mixing ratio, the expired date, etc.
Sometimes we have to do a unrecommended process to produce a certain finished look, but after it was done must always be followed by some test on the finishing result. The finishing test may different to the different product, since it may need different specification. When we make a finishing system especially in the factory, we also have to make a process that is suitable and safe for the production line in the production. 


DeFelsko PosiTest Pull-Off Adhesion Tester - "AT"
ISO 4624:2002, Paints and varnishes - Pull-off test for adhesion 


2 comments for "The story about the problems of adhesion in a furniture factory"

  1. Interesting blog. It would be great if you can provide more details about it. Thanks you.

    Furniture Manufacturer

    ReplyDelete
  2. wisno furniture finishingAugust 7, 2010 at 3:05 AM

    Yes Sir
    I try to make it.

    Thanks a lot

    ReplyDelete