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WF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
SATRA CELEBRATES NEW
FACILITIES IN ASIA
Leather and footwear research and
testing organisation SATRA has set up
a new testing facility in Guangdong
Province in southern China.
Based in Dongguan, an important
manufacturing base for multinational
brands in China as well as domestically
owned companies, the new footwear
testing laboratory is fitted with a range
of equipment for carrying out tests on
safety shoes as well as general
footwear.
Two temperature-controlled testing
areas have been installed – one for
general preparation and testing and the
other environmentally conditioned for
more precise testing requirements.
SATRA chief executive, Austin
Simmons, said on making the
announcement: “SATRA sees the
establishment of its own independent
laboratory as a major benefit to
members and customers based in
China. The facility is a wholly owned
subsidiary of SATRA and is staffed by
experienced technologists, many of
them on secondment from the UK
[where the organisation has its
headquarters].”
Steve Rose, general manager for
SATRA in China added: “Not only does
the new laboratory represent a
significant step forward in what we can
do locally, it is also a shop window for
test equipment where potential
customers can see the machines
working for themselves and undertake
training in their use.”
At around the same time, SATRA
announced that it has opened a new
liaison office in Indonesia. The move
comes after the organisation saw
business in the region grow by more
than 50% over the past five years. The
office in Surabaya will offer services to
customers in Australia, Bangladesh,
Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia,
New Zealand, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri
Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.
DOW SAYS NEW
POLYETHER POLYOL
PRODUCT IS CUSTOMER-
DRIVEN
Dow Polyurethanes has launched a
new polyether polyol product, Voranol
223-060LM. The company describes it
as “a cost-effective, high-performance
polyol” and presents it as “a viable
replacement in select traditional
polytetramethylene
ether
glycol
(PTMEG) applications, with the
additional advantage of easier
processing due to its low viscosity”.
According to Dow, there is
6
WORLD FOOTWEAR | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012
Products
&
Services
DESMA 2012 HOUSE FAIR BEATS RECORDS
Footwear machinery supplier Desma has said the 2012 House Fair event at
its headquarters in Achim in northern Germany attracted visitors from all
over the world, with a record total of more than 500 delegates attending over
two days in mid-September.
The company had a series of technical highlights on display at the event.
Among them were ready-for-market processes for standard and specialist
applications including rubber direct-soling with light PU midsole, direct
soling with bi-density rubber soles, production of moulded part soles with
integrated orthopaedic gel-cushioning and PU boot production with and
without placed rubber soles, plus upper design with colours and laserwork
for logo and inscription.
One of the newest technologies on show was IMC, in mould coating. Bjorn
Dormann, head of DESMA’s technical team said this new process will offer a
wide range of design possibilities to footwear manufacturers. He said: “We
have improved haptic and optic. What is really great is that using a PU
coating, applied automatically, we can produce a mono-sole shoe with two
colours. This gives totally new possibilities for sports and casual shoes.”