Handle knives polishing

For the cookware industry

THE COMPANY

The client is a French manufacturer of high-quality cookware, tabletops, and appliances, specializing in professional-grade products for kitchens worldwide. With almost two centuries of experience, the company has devoted its craftsmanship to achieving the best quality, durability, and reliability in all its products. This organization polishes the knives with the built-in handle, which is an added value. During the manufacturing process, both the handle and the metal parts are produced simultaneously, enhancing efficiency and convenience.

THE PROBLEM

Traditional polishing of knives presents several challenges. Firstly, it is a highly time-consuming process. Achieving a consistent and uniform texture and quality across different parts of the knives is difficult, and manual polishing becomes problematic in hard-to-reach areas, resulting in uneven results. Moreover, the final quality of the polish is closely linked to the skills of the individual polisher, leading to variations in the end product. Additionally, the traditional abrasive polishing methods are expensive and demand significant resources, making them cost-inefficient. Finally, these procedures expose operators to noise, dust, and toxic labor environments, further complicating the traditional approach.

Before adopting GPAINNOVA’s Dry Suspension electropolishing system, the customer used to perform manual abrasive polishing with polishing discs and tapes in manual workstations. This traditional approach was not cost-efficient as it required significant resources and was labor-intensive. Additionally, operators were exposed to noise, dust, and toxic labor environments during the manual polishing process. However, with the adoption of GPAINNOVA’s Dry Suspension electropolishing system, these challenges were addressed effectively, offering a more efficient and environmentally-friendly solution.

THE GOAL

The customer aimed to enhance the productivity and quality of their knives while reducing the manufacturing cost. The client needed to polish the pieces to achieve higher quality and a longer lifespan for their knives. The polishing target was to achieve a mirror surface finish. It was essential to preserve the original design of all the knives since they are laser engraved.

THE SOLUTION

GPAINNOVA successfully achieved the desired technical specifications for the metal surface while minimizing both process time and cost. These specifications included high-gloss polishing of the knife surfaces while preserving their original geometry, laser engraved letters or signs, stamped logos, or notches.

The DLyte solution allows the company to save resources and time. In fact, it effectively replaces the previous traditional process, which involved multiple manual polishing stations. With a processing time of 40 minutes and an estimated additional 4 minutes for loading and unloading the holders, the total process time is 44 minutes per batch of 48 pieces. Operating a single shift (8 hours) yields a daily production of 523 knives, and assuming 250 working days in a year, the annual output reaches an impressive 130,750 units.

TECHNICAL BENEFITS

01. Geometry and tolerance preservation & homogeneous results across the piece
02. Stable results among different batches within the electrolyte lifespan
03. Longer lifespan for treated parts
04. Logo, name or signs preserved
05. The handle remains unaltered

OPERATIONAL BENEFITS

01. Reduced footprint
02. Time and cost reduction
03. Exposure of workers during process and maintenance
04. Handling and storage of media
05. No need for multistep processes
06. Easy waste management