DEMM Engineering & Manufacturing
A welding solution to suit the way you move
Family- owned Melrose Kiwi Concept Chairs is all about moving. For over 25 years, they have supplied mobility products, and in particular are a major brand for wheelchairs – now the largest manufacturer of chairs in NZ and Australia. Providing customised wheelchairs for both children and adults, their Christchurch based manufacturing plant requires extensive knowledge of physical and cognitive disabilities, product capabilities and maintenance, insurance, health funders and rehabilitation requirements. With six full time welders and other staff involved in the huge number of chairs manufactured each week, they also need effective fume extraction.
As the company has grown, Melrose decided to centralise their extraction system but wanted the flexibility for each extraction point to cover two bays. Matt Darnbrough, Southern Territory Manager for NZ Duct+Flex visited the site to see how best to achieve effective fume extraction with the workshop’s activity.
NZ Duct+Flex’s own installation team have installed hundreds of the blue and yellow European sourced fume arms for welding fumes, and here six 4m reach 160mm arms were used, as well as a mobile FumeCube to give Melrose all the flexibility needed as specialist work is carried out in different parts of the workshop.
“Our suppliers have been around for decades and their products have been tried and tested and enhanced over this time. No other company can offer what we offer in NZ, a source of LIPLOCK modular ducting components, fans, filtration units, all manufactured by the same Danish company (JKF Industri), guaranteed to work as a system efficiently and effectively, “says Sales Manager Geoff Ebdon. ”All our fume solutions are also sourced from another major European supplier.”
Annette Melrose confirmed that all is running really well, doing what it ’s supposed to do: improved air quality for staff.
With their own install team, NZ Duct+Flex are fit ting these products every day. For static fume solutions, the fume arm range is very robust with metal tube arms and hoods, external hinging meaning the debris being exhausted cannot cause the hinging to wear or become jammed, ie LOW maintenance. The company carry all fume arms in stock available for immediate delivery from 75mm dia with a one metre reach up, to 160mm dia with a 4m reach. Fume Arms can be driven by the fume arm fan range or as in this case, for larger workshops with a centralised system a JKF fan can be used. For Mobile solutions there is a choice of a one- arm or two- arm fume cube unit – a solid but compact mobile unit with pre- mesh filter for sparks, pull out cartridge filter and fan all in one unit.