Sustainable on all fronts: Deventer Profiles

C2C Silver, QRM, regranulates and biobased pilot

Deventer Profielen Breda, part of the Roto Group, is the world's first and only manufacturer of sealing profiles to be Cradle to Cradle certified. The Cradle to Cradle product program helps us to design and produce our products more intelligently, says Marketing Manager Sharon van der Linden: "C2C ensures ever better product quality and a reduction in environmental impact and safety costs in our production chain." Quick Response Manufacturing (QRM) also makes production at Deventer Profielen sustainable. And it ensures very high delivery reliability. This is clearly visible in the revamped welding frame department.

Getting C2C certification for a sealant profile: why should you? A seal is ultimately only a small component in a building. And seals are not prescribed in specifications. Yet several years ago Deventer Profielen set out to obtain C2C certification for the seals it produces. With success: Deventer Profielen has been C2C certified since March 2015. In July 2019, they received the C2C Silver recertification.

Finetuning durable seals

Committing to sustainable seals was not a market-driven development but came out of the company itself, says Marketing Manager Sharon van der Linden: "We started on our own initiative to be transparent to our customers and suppliers, but mainly to ourselves. This stems from the DNA of our company and from the fact that we test and measure the performance of our seals. A seal profile is not aesthetic: everything is about functionality and performance. And those are measurable. We are constantly optimizing our profiles. Because a small change can be crucial when it comes to whether a solution works, doesn't work or works better." The Cradle to Cradle product program helps Deventer Profielen move forward with this, Van der Linden underlines, "The bar is raised every time with the C2C certification. So we have to design and produce our products ever more intelligently. That ensures ever better product quality and a reduction in the environmental impact of our products." Using the right raw materials is an important part of this, Van der Linden said, "The better the raw materials, the better the final product."

Healthy raw material

For the C2C Silver certified seals, Deventer Profielen uses TPE (thermoplastic elastomer) as a raw material. That material is free of chemical components that can damage health or the environment. Furthermore, it is reusable, thus suitable in circular applications, and the seals are produced sustainably. Sharon van der Linden: "Our seals can be used in all window frame systems and fit in well with circular designs and applications. Recently for example in Greenhuus, the ecolodge project on the Kabbelaarsbank at the Grevelingenmeer. The client explicitly chose Deventer Profielen from the environmental aspect and because of our C2C certification."

Regranulate

Deventer Profiles has the ambition, now and in the future, to be the most environmentally conscious developer of sealants. The use of regranulate from its own waste material stream also fits in with this ambition. Frank de Jongh, Production Leader at Deventer Profielen explains how far Deventer Profielen is going in this direction: "The raw materials we process are thermoplastics. These lend themselves to reuse. We have mapped all waste streams within our company. We CLOSE UP 2 I 2019/6 know exactly what waste of raw materials we have on an annual basis. We put those kilos back into use as regranulate, which we mix with new material."

Biobased raw materials

At the same time, Deventer Profiles is conducting pilots with biobased raw materials. Frank de Jongh: "We started this from within ourselves as well. For us, sustainability means getting rid of silicones, getting rid of mineral oil-based products, more environmentally friendly raw materials. We are looking at the opportunities of profiles based on linseed oil, starch or PLA, for example. By shifting parameters such as temperature and the flow rate of the material through the mold, we investigate whether and which bio-based material is suitable for making profiles. Can we extrude it, how is the springback, how does a bio-based material score in cycle and other tests?"

QRM brings peace and efficiency

Within Deventer Profiles, by the way, sustainability is not limited to raw materials. The production itself is also done in a sustainable way, says Jean-Paul Batenburg, Manager Customers, Markets and Logistics: "We combine QRM and lean working within our company. QRM is all about optimizing business processes and matching production to customer demand. We reduce order lead times by minimizing internal waiting times and transfers. By default, 70 percent of our capacity is fully scheduled, allowing us to produce with the remaining 30 percent, efficiently and flexibly."

On cross-training

That effectiveness from QRM saves time, time that Deventer Profielen invests in training its employees. Batenburg: "Our people learn each other's competencies and skills through cross-training, with which they become increasingly effective within their own teams. The idea behind this is that employees become all-rounder, which gives them more responsibility and makes them feel more involved. We put a lot of time and energy into our people. In return, as a bottom-up organization, we get input and involvement. That, too, is sustainability."

High delivery reliability

Quick Response Manufacturing (QRM) provides customers of Deventer Profielen with important advantages, says Jean-Paul Batenburg: "We have short delivery times and offer flexibility. If we say we will deliver welding frames within four days, we will. Our delivery reliability is very high thanks to QRM." Welding frames are a distinctive quality of Deventer Profielen, Batenburg underlines: "To relieve our customers, we weld the corners of our profiles on request. Processors thus save a lot of time when assembling seals. Moreover, Deventer provides a warranty on the complete frame including the corners." In the welding frame department, 16 ladies work in three shifts. Batenburg: "That's 16 of the total of 49 people in our company. We recently expanded and modernized the welding frame department as part of QRM. This allows us to serve our customers even better."

More information about Deventer Profiles? Check out: deventer-profiles.com