Own flocking materials business

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Currently, surface flocking technology has become widespread. Flocking is, in fact, the application of a pile (microfibres up to 1 mm long) on ​​a specially prepared — with a thin layer of glue applied — fabric or other substrate by electrostatic spraying.

Flocked fabrics are mainly used for covering furniture, car seat covers, as well as for soundproofing special rooms - sound recordings, etc. Flock, in principle, is an imitation of velvet, velor or suede, but at the same time flocked fabrics are much cheaper than these materials, and in properties (softness, strength, brightness, velvet, paint fading and abrasion) far surpasses them.

Flocked fabrics and paper are in high demand, but their production in Russia is almost unknown. It is this factor that makes the flocking materials business one of the most profitable and profitable, at least in the segment of production of decorative coatings and decorative fabric materials.

Moreover, it is possible to open a business for the production of flocked materials without regard to the territorial proximity of adjacent enterprises, that is, using flocked fabrics in production - foreign goods will in any case be more expensive than sending domestic goods even to the most remote region.

Technology and equipment for the production of flocked materials

As already mentioned, flocking is performed using an electrostatic field. It looks like this: the base for flocking (fabric, paper, other similar materials) moves along the machine, where an adhesive composition is applied on its surface with a thin layer.

Above the machine is a hopper with consumables - flock - of the required length. The hopper is equipped with a dispenser (dispenser), evenly pouring flock on the base.

Then, an electric field is created above the base, in which the electrified fibers are straightened vertically and, close to each other due to the effect of electrostatic attraction.

To obtain a more stable and (or) visually attractive surface, an additional, or as it is called according to the technology, final coat can be applied, which acts as a varnish that protects the flocked coating from rapid abrasion and also gives it a greater gloss.

Then the finished product is sent to the drying chamber. As you can see, the main factor of quality products is not only and not so much a good flock, but a good adhesive mixture, on which the wear resistance of the material ultimately depends.

For small and medium-sized industries, a hand-held apparatus for applying flock is usually used - because of its low cost (unit cost - only 15-20 thousand rubles) and ease of use even by an unprepared worker.

In addition, the so-called mini-flocators at the cost of about 6 thousand rubles, but they are more suitable for applying flock to small items of complex shape: car steering wheels, figurines, toys, jewelry boxes, inner cavities of caskets, safes, etc., or for applying logos and emblems for finished textiles (for example, T-shirts), chevrons, rugs, coasters, flags, pennants and other promotional products.

In principle, the choice of equipment for the production of flocked materials entirely depends on whether your company will also provide services for flocking customer products (you should immediately warn that the profit from this will not be too large - after all, services are much cheaper than own production, although you can’t not to admit that it’s not small enterprises, especially in the context of the beginning of the formation of a business, any profit is not superfluous) or not. In principle, striving to expand the field of activity is always useful, and the costs of two or three manual apparatus for applying flock are not so high.

For products of large sizes (for example, doors), as well as rolled materials (paper, fabric) and full-sized decorative plates (plastic, cardboard, ICE and chipboard panels, etc.), high-performance automated equipment is used - flocking units.

The cost of such equipment depends entirely on productivity, usually measured in linear meters per minute and the maximum width of flocked parts, and ranges from about 90 to 180 thousand rubles.

Of course, the list of necessary equipment is not limited solely to flocking machines. It is also necessary to purchase a drying chamber - from 275 thousand rubles. and compressor - about 30 thousand rubles.

With the apparatus for gluing (if manual flocculators are used), it is somewhat more complicated: it is selected for the product that needs to be flocked, so it must be selected carefully. In principle, this moment is the most significant minus in the manual type of production: often the transition from one type of product to another can cause significant equipment costs. That is why producing flocked materials is much more profitable than providing the corresponding service.

Prospects for the flocking materials business

It would seem that the most obvious step in the development of a business for the production of flocked materials will be the provision of services for flocking finished products of the customer. However, this is not so - most common products require different methods of applying glue and drying - so you either have to use the manual method of applying glue and often use the drying chamber almost empty - to dry one or two small products, or purchase additional equipment specifically for the flocking area customers.

In this regard, it is much easier and more profitable to open a new direction that is directly related to the products: for example, if only flocked fabric is produced, it is better to open a sewing workshop for covers for car seats and furniture ties; when producing flocked plates, also offer sound insulation or room decoration services, etc. For small enterprises, the manufacture of small souvenirs, stationery, etc. is often promising. products, especially in the case of an effective sales base.

Pavel Biryukov

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