Application Case History No. F-001

® ™ Frekote WOLO allows Tub & Shower Manufacturer to Increase Throughput by 30%

Decreased downtime between parts increases profitability

BACKGROUND

Fibres Lyster, located near Quebec, manufacture over thirty different types of showers and other Reinforced (FRP) composite products. Fibres remains Canada’s market leader offering its customers over thirty years of fiberglass molding experience. Figure 1 illustrates one of thirty showers manufactured at their Lyster, Quebec facility.

PROBLEM

Manufacturing fiberglass showers and tubs is a complicated process. Before the resin process Figure 1: Completed Shower Stall

can begin however, the surface of the mold must be polished and coated with a mold release agent The continual process of applying wax to the mold that allows easy removal of the finished product caused wax build-up, which often created from the mold after curing. imperfections in the glossy finish and resulted in a 5% scrap rate. Fibres Lyster had to repeatedly polish their molds which took hours to complete and created a SOLUTION bottleneck in the production line. Fibres’s previous process included the following steps: Fibres Lyster turned to the expertise of the local ® Frekote Specialist to solve their critical bottleneck 1. A rag was used to apply a thin even coat of wax issue. Frekote® WOLO™ as shown in figure 1 was to the mold surface, covering 3 to 4 ft2 sections at specified for this job because of its quick cure time a time. and multiple releases of components.

2. The surface was then buffed to a glossy finish. Frekote WOLO™ is a semi-permanent mold

3. To ensure complete coverage of the mold release, which creates a layer between the mold surface the technicians had to repeat steps 1 and and the part. It is applied via a Wipe- On / Leave- 2 at least 3 to 4 times. On application process. 4. They then had to wait one hour until the final wax coat was cured.

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Application Case History No. F-001

Frekote® WOLO™ allows Tub & Shower Manufacturer to Increase Throughput by 30%

Decreased downtime between molding parts increases profitability

SOLUTION (continued) This type of release agent allows for multiple pulls with only a single application verses the traditional sacrificial mold release agent, which only allows for very few releases per application. In addition to the product performance Fibres was very impressed with the hands on training for all technicians received by the local specialist.

Frekote mold preparation process:

1. Frekote® PMC™ is applied to the mold to remove all contaminants, including the existing wax build up.

® 2. After the mold has been cleaned, Frekote Figure 2: Frekote® PMC™ wipes are used to remove FMS™ is used to seal all porosities that exist in contaminants from the molded surface. the mold. FUTURE IMPROVEMENTS 3. Frekote® WOLO™ is then applied as stated in the Technical Data Sheet. Fiber Lyster is currently evaluating Loctite® Speedbonder™ Acrylic Adhesive for several new FRP RESULTS bonding applications. The use of this adhesive on their composite assembly line will help further increase the Frekote® WOLO™ offered Fibres Lyster the integrity of their products while reducing costs. following benefits when applied:

• Create bond layer on mold. By creating this barrier Fibres Lyster can expect a 20% increase in the life of the mold. • Multiple releases. By converting to Frekote® WOLO™, they observed a 30% increase in production. • No contaminating transfer. Telegraphing is eliminated by using this process. • Low build-up. Eliminating wax build up put an end to their scrap rate. • Faster application process. By reducing the number of times wax is applied daily to the mold, this greatly reduced Fibres Lyster downtime. Figure 3 Frekote® Mold Release Products By eliminating the continual recoating process with the wax-based release agent, the use of Frekote® WOLO® polymer release agent has increased their throughput by 30%,