News

KITMAN THULEMA LAUNCHED A NEW ECO-FRIENDLY FINISHING TECHNOLOGY

Tallinn, 15.09.2015, www.kitman.ee - Significant improvement in the quality of finishing, increases in overall productivity, and most importantly – through the phosphate free pretreatment of components – the environmental impact is reduced.

In August, Kitman Thulema activated a new powder technology-based finishing line. The new technology will allow the introduction of a number of significant changes affecting the quality. Significant improvement in the quality of finishing, increases in overall productivity, and most importantly – through the phosphate free pretreatment of components – the environmental impact is reduced.

The pretreatment is designed to clean all dirt, grease and particles from the treated material before finishing. In addition, pretreatment gives the coating a favorable adhesion surface and improves the corrosion resistance of the components. Traditionally, in the capacity of the pretreatment and coating, on the metal parts of the furniture to be installed indoors was also used the so-called ‘iron phosphate’ process. However, we have eliminated the use of phosphates! Phosphates have had adverse impacts on the environment because they contain large amounts of phosphoric acid or phosphate. Phosphates cause strong eutrophication of water bodies, and therefore, the EU has banned the use thereof, for example, in household detergents. Iron phosphating also produces a lot of sediment, which should be treated as hazardous waste. The new technology and method does not contain phosphates; the detergent surfactant is completely biodegradable – thus we are able to minimize the burden on the environment.

We will use the new technology in the production of the various parts of tables and office furniture, shelves, school furniture and upholstered furniture.

We introduced the new finishing line with the help of the EAS program “Support of a large investor for an industrial undertaking” in the course of which an investment was made in Kitman Thulema production technology in the volume of 3.24 million EUR, of which the EAS support amounted to EUR 800,000, the remainder was self-financed by Thulema.

Ilo Rannu
Chairman of Board