Valves & Flow Control
How does a RotaVal rotary
valve reduce changeover
times by 75%?
R
otaVal’s Fast Clean rotary
valves have transformed
production efficiency for A
Schulman, the international
manufacturer of plastics, resins
and masterbatch. With a simple,
ergonomically efficient mechanism
for cleaning the valve at product
changeover with only a single tool
required, RotaVal Modular Fast Clean
valves require only four minutes per
changeover, a reduction of up to 75%
over A Schulman’s previous equipment.
A Schulman have gained an incredible
2-3 hours of production time per month
at their Gainsborough production site.
Cleanliness in production and the ability
to guarantee that no material residue
carries over when products change is
a critical factor in A Schulman’s highquality manufacturing process. At the
same time, production pressure in a
busy factory is ever-present, and it is
vital that downtime is minimised. At
every changeover, the process is purged,
and that includes dismantling and
cleaning the rotary valves. A Schulman
identified that this was a bottleneck in
their production processes and contacted
RotaVal for a solution.
RotaVal’s Modular Fast Clean valves
are easy to work with, with patented
RotAlign and bottom mounted sliding
rails the valve rotor to slide out to be
easily cleaned then slide back in with
the minimum of fuss. All the operator
needs to do is release the air supply and
undo a few bolts, easily accomplished
with a single spanner. As Michael Ingall,
A Schulman’s Production Manager, put
it, “The previous gate valve used a lot of
tools and was time consuming. With the
aid of the RotaVal quick release we have
saved a lot of time and money” He was
echoed by Production Supervisor Richard
Hodge, “Time saving is 12-15 minutes
and, with the amount of changeovers we
have, it’s a fantastic saving.”
Time saving is not the only one benefit.
A Schulman have also identified that
they are enjoying better quality control,
with no operator errors. Richard Hodge
went on, “A fantastic invention in what
we do. Less risk of injury, it’s so swift to
do, and clean.”
Minimal downtime, with better quality
control. Increased productivity that’s
safer and easier for the operators. Also,
savings can seriously mount up – a
site with 20 Fast Clean valves and ten
changeovers per week would see an
improvement of around 2600 production
hours.
For more information and a video filmed
at A Schulman showing exactly how
easily Fast Clean technology works in
practice, see RotaVal’s website
www.rotaval.co.uk
Made in Britain
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PECM Issue 22