Improvement in yield of grade ‘A’ foam at Kurlon ltd., Dabaspet

Abstract

Kurlon Limited was established in 1962. The company manufactures foam products, foam, and rubberised coir mattresses required for home furnishings. By sales value, rubberised coir mattress would become their major product, with ~45% of Kurlon’s sales coming through it, followed by ~30% PU (Poly Urethane) foams, ~12% spring mattresses. The company has the following manufacturing facilities. A) Rubberised coir in Yeswantpur(Bengaluru), Bhubaneshwar, Gwalior. B) Poly Urethane foam manufacturing facility at Dabaspet(Bengaluru), Roorkee(Uttaranchal), Jhagadia(Gujrat). C) Spring mattress manufacturing at Peenya(Bengaluru) and Jhagadia(Gujrat) D. Sofa Unit at Dabaspet. Objective of the study:- The present study would be focussing on the Dabaspet plant in Bengaluru. The Dabaspet plant produces PU Foams through continuous casting of foam blocks. Foam can broadly be categorised into 2 grades based on price – Grade A and Grade B. Grade A is high quality foam, Foam is sold at around Rs. 250 / kg, while grade B foam is obtained when odd size foams are cut from standard blocks of foam. Grade B foam is sold at Rs. 125/kg. Therefore, profits from foam are determined to a large extent by the quantity of grade A foam sold. Hence, it is important to raise the yield of grade A foam, which forms the basis of this project. Currently, the yield of grade ‘A’ foam is around 80%. The objective is to raise it to 85%.