Mon, 08 June, 2020
TWI provided support and advice to our Industrial Member, Ford, for the ultrasonic welding production of textile facemasks.
Ford, at its Dunton Campus, took delivery of two ultrasonic welding machines in order to produce PPE during the COVID-19 pandemic.
TWI was able to help identify potential problems with the production process and offer independent advice to improve the working of the machines, including facilitating contact with Rainbow Ultrasonics who were able to help Ford update the hardware to meet requirements.
Maintaining frequent contact with Ford, TWI helped with a variety of advice on matters ranging from health and safety, component failure, and productivity, including the production of a troubleshooting guide.
As a result of this work, Ford has been able to produce between 60 and 90 general-use, disposable, ultrasonically welded textile facemasks per minute.
You can see more about this work in this short video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WSZmfW8lDw