Curtain maker adds operator comfort
to quality principles
Application: debris removal from cothing
and footwear
British Velvet is one of the last UK manufacturers of premier
quality curtains. Quality and environmental best practice
is the benchmark by which the company stands by, and operates
a three phase quality check throughout manufacture. However,
the company has now turned its attention to operator comfort,
installing ACI’s JETBLACK Blow Gun at its Padlam, Lancs,
plant as Patrick Saunders, Operations Manager at British Velvet
explains.
‘Minute airborne fibres are produced throughout the
manufacturing process, that gets on the clothes of all who
work there. Over the years we have used a variety of methods,
including Velco-type brushes and compressed air, to remove
excess material from clothing and allow operatives to go home
as they arrived, but nothing seemed to work & meet Health
& Safety standards until we purchased the JETBLACK Blow
Gun from ACI’, adds Saunders.
‘We have fixed it to an exit point from the weaving
& sizing rooms, and have an on/off operated foot switch
and an airflow speed controller for ease of use. The gun has
already received approval by all our staff in the removal
of ‘fly’ from footwear and clothing, and our intention
is to purchase another three or four units too install at
major collection points - in the preparation area, the canteen
area & finished inspection - but eventually have them
stationed at every exit point’
‘A quality product is only as good as the process and
the people that attend to that process. In that doctrine lays
the need for both attention to quality and worker satisfaction.
The JETBLACK Blow Gun has now solved a long-standing problem
and helped achieve the latter.’ concluded Patrick Saunders.
