From the moment raw material enters our building, Flexo Concepts® measures, analyzes and controls every step of the process of turning the polymer stock into high-precision, performance doctor blades.
Our Doctor Blade Innovation Lab is where ideas are born and developed by our R&D department. But it is our manufacturing folks who are responsible for bringing the concepts to life on the production line.
Quality control is a core value of our manufacturing team. Being able to execute blade fabrication day after day with high precision and repeatability is critical to our customers’ success. Printers have to be able to trust that every shipment of our TruPoint® doctor blades will deliver consistent performance – every time, in every application.
Tight tolerances and high dimensional standards
We establish and strictly maintain tight tolerances on all our cutting, beveling and finishing machines and set high dimensional standards for our doctor blades. To make sure our products meet these requirements, Flexo Concepts’ quality assurance team uses certain measurement techniques and analytical tools. Among them is statistical process control, or SPC, a method for managing and monitoring a process using data analysis.
10-Point inspection
We also apply a 10-point inspection, where blade material and tip table dimensions are measured in real time at various points in the manufacturing cycle. We certify:
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- Material thickness
- Material width
- Material cupping
- Material camber (deviation from a straight edge)
- Tip table height
- Tip table thickness
- Tip table width
- Tip table length
- Tip table depth
- RA value (surface roughness)
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Our engineers plot their measurements on a graph to see if they fall within pre-set tolerance limits. If there is a variance, the process is tightened up, and any deficient product is thrown away. This rigorous inspection system cuts down on variability in the manufacturing process and protects against blade irregularities.
Track and trace
To bolster our quality program, we track and trace every aspect of production: from raw material, to operator, to machine, to boxed shipment. If there is an issue down the line, our staff is able to easily go back and pinpoint the problem and correct it right away.
Flexo Concepts wants to help its customers be the most efficient organizations in their industry, and that starts with delivering products that they can count on. It’s important to us that our doctor blades increase the performance, quality and output of the printing press, its operator and the company as a whole. By putting systems in place to guarantee the consistent production of superior doctor blades, we make sure that our customers get exactly what they expect so their customers get exactly what they expect.
