Protak Group - Manufacturers of adhesives and suppliers of furniture fitting to the manufacturing industry. Protak was established in 1988 with a commitment to service and excellence. This has led to steady growth, initiating rapid expansion, to the point where Protak are one of only a small number of adhesive manufacturers producing both water based and hot melt adhesives in the UK. The range of adhesives were, in the early years, imported from Europe. In 1995 production was set up in the UK. During the first year after the dispersion plant (Factory No1) was formed, the sale of these products doubled which led to the decision two years later to set up the hot melt unit (Factory No2). This new factory development utilizes some of the most modern production techniques in Europe, enabling Protak to supply exactly and promptly a complete range of industrial adhesives. Quality has always been of paramount importance to us, but it has also been the flexibility in our manufacturing process that has enabled Protak to fine-tune our products, so that each customer can receive precisely the type of product required. Housed in Factory No.1 is is our purpose built laboratory. Having achieved ISO 9002, the laboratory services the research, development and the quality control requirements of our adhesives. It is impressively equipped and includes rotary viscometers, to measure viscosities, thermocell units for viscosities at high temperatures, and ring and ball apparatus for testing melting points. There are two ovens, one for low temperature work, the other a muffle furnace for ash value testing. Determinations of this type call for precise weighing so there are two electronic balances ~ one to an accuracy of 0.001 gm, the other to high precision weighing down to 0.0001 gm. The ovens are also used for ageing, creep, peel and other tests on glues. Factory No.1 also houses the dispersion plant which comprises of two complete units, one for vinyl emulsion adhesives and the second for polyurethane dispersions. To cope with waterborne products, the entire plant is made from stainless steel, including the valves, pumps, filters and begins with vertical storage tanks for the base emulsions with connections for road tankers. The daily output of finished product in a single shift, is around 5000 litres. Factory No.2 produces hot melt adhesives. The old methods of making hot melt products ~ dictated by the supply of raw materials in chopped ribbon form ~ entailed blending in a heated Z-blade mixer followed by discharging onto a chill table and cutting into granules on a kibbler. This has been superseded by a modern method (Protak being one of only two adhesive installations in the UK using this system) which is faster and ensures better blending. With the raw materials supplied in the form of powders, fine granuals or pastes, the procedure now is to blend them in a single mixer, then transfer the mix to a screw extruder which heats the powder blend to melting point and forces it through the extrusion chamber ~ thus ensuring intimate mixing. Finally, the hot mix is chilled and passed through a pelletising head which forms it into round pellets. A typical production line requires two operators which can produce about 3000kg per single shift or something approaching 1000 tonnes per year. The compact plant is easy to run and is ideal for making trial batches of only 200-300kg as well as for large scale production. The range of adhesives we can offer covers many different fields of industry and comprise some 200 formulations,with at least 50% of these in regular use.