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Today
Special Feature
Polyols for improved HR slabstock foams
K.Pickin, Corporate Business Development Manager, PCC SE
High resilience (HR) foams have
been utilized by the furnishings
and mattress manufacturing industry
for decades, with several polyurethane
raw material suppliers offering
various solutions. The key property
driving the adoption of these types of
flexible foams compared to standard
foams is superior comfort at the
same foam density. However, despite
their long history, wide adoption
and the expertise of competent
foam manufacturers these HR foams
types have not been fully optimized
in terms of, for instance, yield and
physical properties.
Introduction
In recent years there has been
a significant increase in the
manufacture of HR foams in Europe
and, as expected, HR foams are now
attracting the attention of many foam
manufacturers in North America and
Asia. Foam manufacturers in India
who are seeking to expand their
foam range into superior comfort,
high quality applications will find
this development particularly
interesting. In discussion with
customers, especially in relation to
future developments, PCC Rokita, a
subsidiary of PCC SE headquartered
in Duisburg, Germany, was made
aware of the potential improvements
that customers would like achieve
with their HR foams.
Thus improved HR foam technology
became a key element in PCC
Rokita’s emerging product expansion
strategy.
With this knowledge the research and
40 p o l y u r e t h a n e s t o d a y
development experts then set about
developing new materials to enable
the production of a range of superior
HR foams featuring:
• High comfort factor
• Excellent durability
• Class leading shape retention
• Low odour
• Wide density/hardness range
• High yield
Rokopol iPol – a case history
In addition to the usual in-depth
technical expertise and production
know-how of different high resilience
foam technologies, to improve the
final foam and in turn mattress
comfort properties, a study was
undertaken to provide a genuine
understanding of the needs of the
whole supply change. In this case
study, within the section of the supply
chain involving polyols producer to
end user there are essentially four
key levels:
1. Polyols producer
2. Foam manufacturer
3. Mattress manufacturer
4. Retailer/End user
Traditionally the supply chain
is viewed as a flow of materials
going, in this case, from polyols
supplier to foam manufacturer
to mattress producer to end user.
Information usually follows in the
same direction. However adding a
flow of information in the reverse
direction from end user to mattress
producer to foam manufacturer to
polyols producer gives an insight in
to the needs throughout the supply
chain. With this valuable information
it is possible to target exactly what
should be improved to meet the
needs of each level in the chain
and ultimately add value for every
member of that chain.
The supply chain needs analysis for
Rokopol iPol is illustrated below:
d e c e m b e r 2 0 1 1