ALBO Türen GmbH was founded back in 2007 in Ense, North Rhine-Westphalia, as a specialist in doors for interior use. What started out as a team of four employees has now grown into more than 20, each of whom makes a vital contribution to the company’s success. In return, ALBO considers itself responsible for maintaining the health and safety of all employees to the best of its ability. This includes reducing employee contact with emissions from adhesives containing diisocyanate to avoid possible irritation or respiratory illnesses (see interview on p. 20). “The decision to use Jowat’s monomer-reduced (MR) hot melt adhesives was an obvious one for us,” emphasises purchasing manager Sonja Stöber. “After all, these make a significant contribution to occupational health by keeping our colleagues fit and well, which is very important to us.”
Craft meets high-tech
The Jowat adhesives are used in applications such as coating the door blanks with HPL laminate or real wood veneers. ALBO has been purchasing several hot melt adhesives and the associated cleaners from Jowat for some time now. But what’s new is that it is now using Jowatherm-Reaktant® MR 609.93 for some processes. The conversion to the non-hazardous adhesive took place in 2020, and quite smoothly too without any fluctuations in quality. As for the transition to other new Jowat products, this is already well underway: Thorsten Albers from Jowat’s technical sales department is already working hard with his colleagues on converting ALBO’s bonding processes further still.
Faster to the finish
The door manufacturer also benefits from innovations at the process level, as production manager Matthias Kurth reveals. “The initial strength of the adhesive is higher than the one we had before, so we can achieve the desired result more quickly when bonding veneers.” This process stage has a special history at ALBO, as certain types of veneer were initially difficult to bond. Together with Jowat, the bonding process was examined in detail so that all shortcomings could be successfully remedied. Even the bonding of metal and leather as a special embellishment on the doors is no longer a problem these days. “Jowat has been our competent adhesives partner for years,” Matthias Kurth summarises. “Ever since we founded our company, our business relationship has always felt like a partnership.” This fruitful cooperation looks promising for the future, too, as ALBO continues to expand its range of decors. And with an experienced adhesives expert like Jowat by your side, the door should also be open for new ideas.
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