Since the commissioning of its rubber injection moulding and compression moulding machines, Multotec has been able to offer a host of solutions relating to the production of heavy and light duty rubber screen panels in all shapes and forms. Such has been the local and international market demand for these products that over the past four years the company has quadrupled its production capability in this area. Underpinned by a heavy investment in moulds, Multotec has dramatically improved its speed to market and enabled highly competitive pricing.

“We continually improve the performance of our rubber panels by building on our understanding of the compounds that work best in specific applications,” Roy Roche, Multotec’s Vice President: Screening Media, says. “And, as the leading screening media solutions provider in the African market, we’ve significantly improved our capability to produce rubber trommel panels.

“Through local and international collaboration, our experience in producing rubber panels for diverse applications around the globe has grown in leaps and bounds and the world market has recognised this capability. Fifty percent of our rubber panel production in 2013 went into Australia’s iron ore industry, while our overall turnover from rubber solutions has multiplied five times in the past four years.”

Multotec supplies these products on a made-to-order basis, producing about 500 different items for rubber screens alone, with repeatable and consistent quality.

The company commissioned a second injection moulding machine in 2013, which is capable of producing rubber screen panels up to 10 kg. This machine features a twin cavity system that makes it possible to produce two products simultaneously and incorporates a cold runner system.

“Rubber is gradually coming into its own as a viable alternative to polyurethane screen panels in certain applications,” says Roche. “It offers a cost effective solution in sticky dry applications that require relatively fine aperture sizes.

Multotec’s injection moulded rubber screen panels were traditionally used in primary, dry screening applications, however, the commissioning of the second machine represented a significant investment by bringing the injection moulding process on-site to manufacture screening media for smaller aperture applications in a size range up to 50 mm. This technology has broadened Multotec’s product range well beyond polyurethane panels, allowing the company to produce a range of modular injection moulded rubber screen panels that complement its compression moulded line-up — effectively presenting a full solution to the mining industry.

For each application, Multotec prepares custom-made moulds to suit both the rubber compound and the application and Roche says customers who are using these products are extremely satisfied with their overall performance. The company is now expanding progressively into rubber injection moulding as the market for these products opens up.