Skills training vital to productive purging, says CJP

UK materials distributor, CJP Sales, says that operator skills and training is essential to effectively using purging compounds for efficiency gains.

The Bridgend, South Wales-based company, believes that when undertaking evaluation of how to prevent waste and production shutdown, plastics processors need to take understanding of materials behaviour into account.

Prior to the use of any purging compound, CJP says it is not uncommon for processors to run up huge amounts of scrap production when clearing residue from a colour or material change.

Where a commercial purging compound can, and will, in most cases prevent this, CJP says the use of these products needs to be taken a step further, and this is where training becomes a critical factor.

“Understanding how the polymers behave when processed is an area often overlooked when personal skills are being considered. The skills pool within the UK plastics industry is exceptional in terms of design and development, engineering and polymer selection,” explained Connor Benyon of CJP.

“However, there is a grey area in truly understanding what is taking place within the processing equipment and what is happening to the polymer when processed, as well as why polymers are different and what correlation this has to scrap rates.”

CJP, which hasbeen the UK distributor for Dyna-Purge (Shuman) since 2008, says through using its own technical skills to offer training to on-site operatives it is helping customers reap the ‘true’ benefits of purging compounds.

“We don’t just sell our customers Dyna-Purge and move on,” Benyon continued. “We train the staff on site how to understand both polymer behaviour and the importance of machine maintenance through short, straight forward site visits and training sessions. This is hugely important for solving this area of the skills gap.”