Rotational moulding specialist - Francis Ward

ARMA Conference, Sydney, Australia Jonathan Wurr - MD of Francis Ward - travelled to the other side of the world to take part in the ARMA Conference in Sydney, Australia. During the conference he shared his experiences and views on a daily basis.

Day One

"It is my first time in Australia and it was fabulous of Leisa Donlan of ARMA to arrange some activities for some of us to get a feel for Sydney on Saturday. Feeding a bilby (a small marsupial) at the Zoo was fabulous, and the ferry from the Zoo across the harbour as an introduction to the city was something that will stay with me forever. At the conference proper, Bloys Rijkmans of Vanglobe Matrix spoke about crosslink PE. I wonder if we can make UN-approved drums from it, as a back-up alternative to our current certified material? Bloys reminded me that it CAN be recycled as a filler in other processes, but not back into mouldable PE as it is a thermoset. He talked about some of the quality problems that can beset XLPE parts, something for us to be aware of now we are one of the few UK rotomoulders to work with crosslink. Italian Marco Serralunga talked about his eponymous company that designs and manufactures rotomoulded outdoor furniture and flowerpots. The emphasis is on design and he uses different processes to create those designs, most recently rotomoulding. I loved the 'mistake' mouldings that mimic Murano (an island in my favourite city of Venice) glass vases. Marco explained how ‘Italianness’ allows him to make uniquely 'seductive' products that justify

rotomoulding prices. He creates some truly beautiful moulding that he exports to 58 countries - we even saw them in the street on a tour of Sydney yesterday. See some of his work at www.serralunga.com. Last night's food was in a local restaurant serving Brazilian meat feasts at your table. 'All you can eat' always suits me, although I am always put off by the sight of dozens of chicken hearts on a skewer. Despite the tiredness from my travelling, I managed to network in the bar until a decent time of night before I finally succumbed to jetlag."

Day Two

"Last night's food and entertainment were provided courtesy of Price Plastics. I always wanted the free run of a bowling alley. The place was open just for the ARMA group, especially as we were given a handful of tokens to play in the arcade area. I was devastated to find that the Splat the Rat was out of order, but was beaten time and time again by Shaun Mullen of AS Sheet Metal on the basketball game. Bowling seems to be a theme at rotomoulding conferences and after my shambolic performance in Poland, I was delighted with a more credible score of 148. On return to the hotel I was pleased with my self-control by avoiding the bar and doing a final run through of my presentation before my grand entrance into rotomoulding speaker circuit!! After breakfast overlooking the ocean, the morning presentations kicked off. I was impressed with Bob Dunne's talk about employee motivation. It was good to be reminded that a lot of the things that we do automatically for health and safety and organisation of the factory also affect the motivation of employees. Bob talked about cameras in his factory - I cannot help but think that I have failed in my culture if cameras are deemed necessary, but I can begin to see some of the benefits that can be shared between employee and employer. Oliver Wandres of Maus presented on the Rotocooler internal water cooling system, something we will definitely be looking into. I will look forward to comparing the Maus system with La Plastecnica's system from New Zealand when Rory presents tomorrow. I was fascinated by Melro's presentation on small parts. The presentation was called Australia's smallest rotomoulded part. They described a project to make a tiny medical tank with a weight of 300g and dimensions of 180 x 130 x 56mm. What was most amazing was that the part had 10 inserts moulded into it!! They then admitted to fooling us by announcing a tiny milk spout that weighs 40g as the 'real' smallest part. I was on after coffee break and was really pleased with my presentation on rotolining of steel containers. In fact I have already had some interest on introducing our lined IBC containers into Australia. The afternoon was given over to Qenos, an Australian PE manufacturer. I enjoyed the presentation on the polymerisation process and the way that catalysts affect the process. We visited their plant in the afternoon. It was like the old days when I used to work on refineries. There was a mighty big extrusion and compounding line in operation there! I am looking forward to the Gala Dinner tonight."

Day Three

“I had been awarded the ‘premium’ speaking slot of 9am the morning after the gala dinner, so I needed to get as much energy as possible into the room. Fortunately, I managed to get a few laughs into my serious topic of how we designed a special annular container for the UK nuclear industry. Ron Kliene excelled himself with this design all those years ago. At the end of my presentation, I reminded everyone that next year's ARMO is in Nottingham in the UK next year. My Robin Hood themed poem seemed to go down well! The conference wound up after lunch and we prepared to take our 'rock and roll' rotomoulding talks on to our next gig in New Zealand. The Australian arm of the Rotational Moulders Association seems to be strong and healthy. The market is very geared towards water tanks (there are 5 million rotomoulded water tanks in Australia) but I did meet moulders who were doing innovative and interesting products as well as those massive tanks.

The moulders at the conference constituted 80% of the polymer converted in the country. If the UK can manage to have such good representation we too can go from strength to strength.” Francis Ward Contract Moulding +44 (0) 1274 707030 http://contractmoulding.francisward.com/