Timbermark exhibited at the PPMA Total Show at the NEC in October 2019 and met with a range of visitors interested in the printing and marking options offered by the company.
One such visitor was Leafield Marine, a Wiltshire-based designer and manufacturer of valves and inflation systems for products including life rafts, inflation boats and marine evacuation systems.
Leafield’s Operations Director is Ian Mountain. He explained what prompted Leafield to attend the exhibition:
“Due to the military and safety requirements of our market we are required to demonstrate full traceability of our products. We had manually written a date code on the rubber seal for many years, so there was scope for improving this process to both increase the batch traceability but also add a more professional feel to the coding as well as adding some branding.”
Branded valve components, marked by the Sojet Elfin 1
After investigating several different solutions such as stamping and laser marking, the Leafield team chose the Sojet Elfin 1 printer they had been shown by Timbermark.
Ian commented, “The E1 printer appeared to provide the level of solution appropriate to our relatively low volume, non-automated production station.”
The Sojet printer installed at Leafield Marine
The order came through as Britain was locking down to prevent the spread of Coronavirus, so Ian and Timbermark’s Colin Stewart discussed how they could best implement a self-installation of the system. Ordinarily, Colin would visit the site to install the equipment and deliver training to the operating team. With new Covid regulations in place, this was no longer possible and Ian was assisted to install the system remotely.
Thanks to the low-maintenance and user-friendly nature of the operating system, this was not as daunting a prospect as it might have been.
Ian said that installing the system was pretty straightforward.
“Setting up the system was relatively simple once the operating process was understood. Although Covid prevented face-to-face support, Timbermark were readily available on the phone and on WhatsApp during the brief setting up stage.
“Within a couple of hours playing with the system parts were being marked successfully.”
And he believes the investment has been well worthwhile. “What was once a significant time consuming experience has been transformed into a quick, in-line activity, easily paying back the cost of the system in a few months.
In addition to the time reduction in the assembly process, the ability to add both a batch code professionally to the assembly and a company logo, has significantly enhanced the look of the final assembly.”
Timbermark is unable to attend PPMA Total Show in 2021, but plans to exhibit there again in 2022. In the meantime, the full range of printers they supply is available to buy direct online at www.t-mark.co.uk.