The Sriperumbudur facility of JK Fenner (India) Limited makes oil seals for automotive and non-automotive applications. Since it is operating in a non-chemical manufacturing operations zone the company has consciously kept away the compounding process, an essential procedure in the rubber industry, confining itself only to the rest of the manufacturing process. Therefore, it is a clean and green plant.
JK Fenner’s plant in Sriperumbudur makes about 250 part numbers from 7 different raw materials including nitrilepoly acrylic, FKM (fluoroelastomers), silicone, EPDM (ethylene propylene diene monomer), HNBR (hydrogenerated nitrile butadiene rubber) and PTF (Polytetrafluoroethylene.) The company makes seals ranging from 10mm to 200mm, weighing from 2gm to 100gm. The plant has about 180 active stock-keeping units. It makes seals for several applications including crankshaft, gearbox, pinion, axles (wheel and hub), valve stem, front fork, shock absorbers and shifter selectors. Besides, it also makes several kinds of ‘O’ rings, industrial seals, boots and bellows.
Fenner effectively follows cellular manufacturing concept
Fenner caters to several customers including Hero MotoCorp, Tafe, Mahindra, Tata Motors, Eicher, Mercedes Benz, HMSI, John Deere, Volvo, Timken, Bosch, Maruti, Bajaj, TVS Motor Company, Wabco and Ashok Leyland.
Typically, any rubber component manufacturing will begin with formulation of raw materials. The Sriperumbudur plant of Fenner carries out only extrusion, curing, spring loading, lubricating, packaging and dispatch. The throughput time to make seals ranges from 8 to 16 hours depending upon the size and requirement.
Cavities ready to be moved to manufacturing operations Inset: One set of Cavity Top, Bottom, Ejector and Core
Sourcing and Storing
Oil seals consist of three parts – the core, spring and the blank, which is other wise called as slug. While the cores and springs are outsourced, the formulations are prepared by JK Fenner’s mother plant in Madurai. The Sriperumbudur plant gets all the raw materials from Madurai, both from its parent plant and the vendors. Though the compounds come in the form of sheets from Fenner Madurai, they are thoroughly inspected and stored in a controlled atmosphere of about 20 to 25 degrees Celsius. As per the schedule, the compounds are warmed in the warming mill and made as blanks or slugs according to the profile of the final component, through the extrusion process. The auto interlock safety system, introduced in the warming mill, nullifies accidents in the milling machine. Even if there is an issue the mill rotates in the reverse direction at the press of the emergency button, facilitating to retrieve the entangled object. These blanks are stored in the supermarket in a controlled atmosphere. From here they are taken for further manufacturing processes. Storage plays a key role in the quality of the end product and it is unique to the Sriperumbudur plant. FIFO -first in first out is followed to maintain the seniority of the material consumed.
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