Watch the testimonial video on Vetex in Belgium, a producer of medical laminate

VETEX in Flanders, producer of medical laminate, has started using a measuring system from Hammer-IMS for measuring production quality. "The two-head M-Ray measuring system that Hammer-IMS installed on the VETEX lamination line ensures continuous monitoring of the grammage of the material," says Noël Deferm, CEO of Hammer-IMS.

Patrick Rigole, CEO of Vetex: "The new technology from Hammer-IMS fits perfectly into VETEX's sustainable corporate policy. We are moving away from a radioactive source to a more sustainable technology. Tests have shown that the measurement accuracy is just as good or even better than the radioactive source we use. And cost-wise it is a competitive technology."

Noël Deferm: "The new measuring system is equipped with automatic data logging. This allows VETEX in the future to look back at historical data, so that they can improve the quality for their end customers."

Philip De Bie, Operations Manager of Vetex: "In general, VETEX has embarked on the path of more and more data capture and data-based decision making. We said to see this project as a sort of pilot project to roll out to the rest of the productions later. Specifically for medical laminate, it must be avoided that excessive coating, which results in poor comfort, reaches the customer. Through data capture, it is possible, by means of a printer, to indicate excessive coating sections with an arrow. These sections can then be read during the inspection and removed there."

Noël Deferm: "Thanks to the new measuring system, it is possible for VETEX to better monitor the quality of their product and look at process optimization itself. This allows them to improve their process in the future and possibly reduce costs by also reducing the amount of scrap.

Jo Cinjaere, Maintenance & Engineering Manager of Vetex: "The measuring machine itself has therefore very quickly provided us with new insights regarding a control on the production machine, especially the temperature control. In this way, the best possible quality can be strived for, which is very important for medical laminate. We can continuously adjust the temperature so that we obtain a much more accurate machine setting and a much more accurate machine run. In this way we actually obtain a perfectly even course of the runs throughout the product. In addition to quality improvement and extra guarantees, this is important to guarantee correct adhesion. Also, it enhances the surgeon's sense of comfort because there are no thicker or thinner layers and you get a nice, comfortable and light feeling."

Philip De Bie: "The machine is easy to operate intuitively. It can very quickly see the trends of the layer thickness over the length of the product and over the width. The operators are now effectively more triggered and we see that they are more triggered to obtain a stable circulation over our production."

Noël Deferm: "Thanks to the constructive collaboration between Le Clair & Meert, VETEX and Hammer-IMS, we were able to successfully complete this project."

Jo Cinjaere: "Before we finally came to a final decision, we had the opportunity to visit a customer of Hammer-IMS. This customer had been using the technology for some time. That made us decide fairly quickly to proceed with the purchase of the project. Also in the run-up to and during the practical implementation of the project, we were able to experience a very good and pleasant cooperation with the project manager of Hammer-IMS. He was then able to pass information back and forth through very close contact so that everything was perfectly prepared. As a result, the installation, implementation and training went smoothly."

Noël Deferm: "At Hammer-IMS we certainly look forward to being able to do similar projects in the future, together with Le Clair & Meert and VETEX."