A story of unknown origin credits automotive inventor Henry Ford as saying “If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have told me a faster horse.” Much like Ford’s vision for quicker transport, KLINGER Belgium is transforming industrial filtration by improving processes that others accept as mandatory. Adhesives manufacturer Henkel in Brussels, Belgium, worked with KLINGER to implement self-cleaning filters in a collaboration that is saving the company 38,000 Euro annually and creating six tons less waste per year than the old method.
Contacts mentioned in the article:
David Wallenus, Key Account Manager of KLINGER Belgium
Solving a sticky problem
Industrial adhesives are a vital but challenging product. Ingredient viscosities allow particles to easily adhere to filters, requiring frequent cartridge replacement. Filter housings must then be cleaned with pyrolysis, a time consuming and expensive process. Further, this work is done manually, with staff donning personal protective equipment to avoid chemical exposure. Waste disposal is cumbersome and expensive, requiring special handling to ensure environmental and personnel safety. Despite these downsides, the process has gone unchanged for so long that manufacturers often see it as immutable.
“It’s one of those cases where the old methods worked. So, if you go to a customer, they say, ‘Everything works fine’ because they don’t know there’s a better way. They were used to having this amount of waste, so it was not conceived as a problem.”
David Wallenus, Key Account Manager of KLINGER Belgium
Reducing waste and maintenance at Henkel
Despite the industry standard, KLINGER Belgium believed there was room for improvement. With Henkel’s blessing, they created a system of self-cleaning filters that fit the existing infrastructure without a need for modifications. Now, timed scrapers rotate around the filters, carrying away build up for discharge into a receptor. After monitoring the new system for a test period, staff adjusted the scraping and discharge timers to optimize for viscosity, preventing the material from congealing before it can be removed. This has allowed Henkel to reduce hands-on maintenance from once every week to once every three months, and has eliminated more than 700 disposable filters from the system. The decrease in filter material used also creates fewer CO2 emissions during pyrolysis, helping Henkel to lower their carbon footprint.
Building a scalable system
With this system up and running, KLINGER Belgium has proof of concept and is ready to scale. A second production line is now under retrofit, this time with a different adhesive. A third project is also planned for a facility in Antwerp. At each site, the KLINGER team is carefully monitoring the system during fitting and after return to production. Customizing the metrics for each adhesive formula is key, which takes live testing and fine-tuning.
Though this upgrade is a clear win for the innovative Henkel team, it may take time for more traditional companies to come around to a new filtration process. As David points out, “It’s really a process change, not a one-on-one change” Despite the obstacles involved when making enterprise-wide alterations, KLINGER is confident that the results speak for themselves. With long term monitoring, the Belgium team is gathering plenty of data to prove that Henkel’s new system is sustainable and cost effective. Further, verbal feedback has been nothing but praise.
“The collaboration with KLINGER has resulted in a sustainable and efficient solution. The system fits in well with our objective of reducing waste streams and improving processes.”
Carl Anckaert, Head of Maintenance & Engineering at Henkel
“It’s very rare for a project to be so unilaterally positive that you don’t have any drawbacks,” David says. “The cost advantage is clear, the safety advantage is clear. It rarely happens that way, so it’s a very nice thing to hear.”
