A 14-member team comprising door manufacturers from ASEAN region, led by Nitin Vaze of Sleek Boards, made a visit to Sauerland factory in Germany

 The fourth educational trip from ASEAN region, having door manufacturers from India, Malaysia, Singapore, and Philippines visited the Sauerland factory in Gotha, Germany.

They toured the massive factory and witnessed the fire test of all 100 per cent engineered material door which exceeded 63 minutes and halted due to paucity of time. The factory showed the most economical way to make the fire rated doors, lighter in weight with no additives or inorganic fillers.

Later they visited two leading door factories where they saw that none of the door manufacturers use any flat pressed board as infill or filler board in door manufacture due to its swelling in thickness property which can be a great disaster in life, durability and finishing of the door.

Sauerland started supplying in fill or the tubular filler boards to the ASEAN door industry in 2007 and has deeply impacted on the use of timber use and has grown in its use in internal doors and main doors. Although the product is in use for over 63 years globally and exported to over 77 countries with approximately 100,000 doors being made daily, the ASEAN region is yet decades behind in the specifications with timber infill whilst rest of the world is already manufacturing the modern and eco-friendly door.

Key improved properties in doors with tubular in fill are:
• Sound insulation: Extruded tubular and solid boards offer a wide range of   sound insulation results for light weight construction as well as high end solutions.
• Fire resistance: The board being produced by extrusion method the particle direction is predominantly vertical to surface which in case of exposure to fire provide a low rate of burning. Sauerland offers full support for safe fire door manufacturing.
• Construction: The density in solid areas i.e. walls of board is minimum high 500 kgs/cu.m. Further the arch principle as in case of construction of dams or bridges give high impact resistance.
• Thickness tolerance: Critical thickness tolerance of +/-0.1 mm in the board gives rid of telegraphing as the board calibrated board gives a beautiful surface finish and a good bond between the skin and the board.
• Weight reduction: Tubular boards as an engineered product ideally suits light weight strategy, value feeling in handling the door and high technical performance.
• Low emission: All products are E1 norm for formaldehyde emission. Lower levels are also possible against special production runs.
• Straightness: The tubular structure also helps the door to maintain straightness under climatic variations.
• PEFC/FSC certified: Save the tree for reducing climate change is the mantra at Sauerland. All its products are certified with PEFC. It can also cater FSC requirements.
• Swelling in thickness: Almost zero thickness swelling in Sauerland board compared to flat pressed board/timber infill ensures long life for door.

The visit was of great learning and education for the several door manufacturers. “The visit to Sauerland and other door manufacturers was an eye opener in terms of how decades behind India is to manufacturing good quality doors,” remarked Amit Jindal of A. K. Lumbers Ltd.

Sharing his experience Pankaj Chandak, Managing Director at Prestige Interio Concepts Pvt. Ltd. said, “I learned about tubular boards and my perception towards it has changed.

Swar Shah, Managing Director of Sujako Interiors Pvt. Ltd. has termed the educational trip as ‘beautiful and very informative’. Whereas Alan Yap, Director, Weng Meng Industries Malaysia said, “Visit to Sauerland factory actually really make me more convincing to promote more door using tubular core to housing project markets.”

Door manufacturers were also impressed with the fire test organised. Commenting on this, K C Lee, Director of Ivory Pearl Malaysia said, “The technical information shared to us was also very informative and we have a better understanding of the Sauerland hollow core door core and its application. We hope to put some of this to good use in the near future.”

The tubular core presentation was very informative particularly on fire protection, sound/acoustic insulation and how the core may swell or expand if it ever occurs. Also stressed was the importance of thickness precision to avoid telegraphing and how extrusion method provides impact resistance. “Equally enlightening is the actual production in our tour at door factories,” adds Charlie Lu from Philippines.