Success Story with Adria-Mobil
We can gladly state that the implementation of Openair-Plasma® treatment combined with the automated adhesive application process has generated great benefits for our construction process. Not only has pretreatment become an environmentally friendly, fast and reproducible safe process, also the bonded joints have become stronger and more secure. On top is the very notable cost-saving effect we have experienced as a result of the large reduction of adhesive made possible by this combined automation solution.
Adria-Mobil goes back to 1965 when the company’s first caravan was manufactured in Novo mesto in southern Slovenia. Adria is one of the leading European manufacturers of caravans, motorhomes and mobile homes.
Our motto “Living in motion” does not only relate to the mobility of our customers by using our products. It equally stands for the spirit of innovation in our company. We are aware that sustainability is an essential condition for the development of our operations – especially with regard to the manufacture of environmentally friendly and yet cost saving products. The implementation of the Openair-Plasma® process sets the perfect example:
Adria’s products are produced with the target to reduce weight in order to lower the fuel consumption and to prolong the lifetime of the vehicle. Instead of using screws to fasten windows, doors, lamp frames, roof vents, chamfers and other components, these parts are bonded to the supporting structures. Up to 2011 the necessary pretreatment of the plastic components’ surfaces had been carried out manually and conventionally by using a primer as adhesion promoter. The introduction of Plasmatreat’s Openair-Plasma® technology in 2012 opened up a new dimension of innovation in our production. We suddenly became able not only to carry out an environmentally friendly pretreatment but to automate at the same time both the pretreatment and the bonding process in a most cost-saving way.
Plasmatreat’s jet technique makes it possible to be joined by an adhesive jet system which meant that two processes can be steered by one robot only and can be carried out in immediate succession in a fraction of time. The principle is simple: Once the robot has finished guiding the rotational plasma nozzle RD1004 along the defined surface section it will stop and pull up the plasma jet. The adhesive jet is let down instead and is steered exactly along the same path the plasma has taken just seconds before. After the application of the adhesive the part is taken off the station to get bonded to the walls or ceiling of the motorhome or caravan.
