Foam rubber production as a business: list of equipment, description of manufacturing technology, nuances of business organization

When choosing the direction of your future business, it is better to give preference to the production of those products that are in high consumer demand - regardless of the season and the state of the economy in the country. This includes the production of foam rubber. Investments in starting an enterprise will be impressive, but with the right approach, the investment will pay off very quickly. Study the issue thoroughly to take into account all the nuances.

How to open a foam rubber production plant in Russia?

Our business assessment:

Starting investments – from 1,000,000 rubles.

Market saturation is low.

The difficulty of starting a business is 6/10.

Equipment for the production of foam rubber

In order to start making foam rubber, you need to have:

• machine (automatic) for foaming;
• thermal chamber;
• machine for cutting blanks;
• dosing apparatus;
• configuration block (form);
• related materials (couplings, hoses, etc.).

In order to organize a full-fledged line, you should purchase additional devices: a waste crusher, a machine with which you can curl sheets, and a film packaging machine. The above types of equipment can be ordered separately, or you can purchase a complete line.

Application area

Foam rubber is used as:

• insulating material for heat and sound insulation;
• shock-absorbing filler;
• packaging material for fragile goods;
• padding in the manufacture of upholstered furniture;
• material for the production of household goods (various sponges, mops); sports equipment and equipment (trainers, punching bags, helmets, gloves, bandages, etc.);
• filling for soft toys.

Currently, foam rubber manufacturers in Russia are quite in demand. Taking into account the widespread use of this material and the growth trends in its consumption, it is necessary to consider the direction of business for the manufacture of these products. Today, domestic production of foam rubber cannot fully cover market needs, so it is imported from other countries.

The volume of this material, even with a small mass, turns out to be large, which can negatively affect the final cost of the product after transportation. Given this state of affairs, it is necessary to open our own factories producing these products in our country and expect high profitability from them.

Necessary costs for the production of foam rubber

A set of equipment that produces 12 m3 of material in one shift costs around 300 thousand rubles. If you order a line that includes all devices for producing foam rubber of various brands and is capable of producing up to 30 m3 of foam rubber per shift, you will need 1.3 million rubles.

There is an option in which you can order a mini-factory in China. The production volume of such a line is at least 50 m3 of finished material per shift. The issue price is 1.6-1.8 million rubles. This option is more profitable. To effectively build the process, you will need 7 employees who will work 8 hours per shift. Capital costs for organizing a line for the production of foam rubber will amount to approximately 1.78 million rubles.

Those who decide to engage in this activity need to register an individual entrepreneur. Find a suitable room where the workshop will be located with a total area of ​​200 m2. Find buyers among enterprises and firms that produce furniture and other goods that use foam rubber.

Line load is closely related to customer demand for upholstered furniture. The largest revenue will be generated during the peak time of furniture sales (autumn and from February to April). The rest of the time there will be a decrease in revenue due to seasonal customer demands. There are very few orders in January, this is primarily due to the holidays. This is the best time to perform equipment maintenance.

Profitability and business prospects

The main difficulty on the path of a novice entrepreneur who has decided to start producing polyurethane foam may be the lack of money for equipment. However, if you have 20 thousand dollars, you can already launch a full-fledged production, the profitability of which is 15-20%, taking into account all expenses.

The advantage of the business is its versatility - the clients of the mini-factory can be both construction companies and manufacturers of furniture and car seats. In addition, with virtually no additional costs, you can organize the production of small finished products: sponges, rugs, window insulation and other household goods, with which you can go directly to the market.

While there is a supply shortage of polyurethane foam in Russia, opening a plant seems like a win-win venture, but the situation may change within a few years. Considering the relative simplicity of the production process and the almost complete absence of risks, there are all the prerequisites for quickly filling the niche and tightening competition among manufacturers.

Production of foam rubber in video instructions

How much can you earn from producing foam rubber?

Revenue is best calculated assuming that the line is 50% loaded. When producing foam rubber with parameters of 20 mm thickness and density 25 kg/m3, the price for large orders will be 150 rubles/sheet, and the retail price will be 250-270 rubles. As a result, we can create the following table.

When producing a sheet of foam rubber, the cost will include the cost of raw materials for production and the energy used:

Thus, after making approximate calculations, you can see that even with a payback period of 12 months, you can regularly receive high income even with 50% line load . With 100% operation of the equipment, you will be able to recoup your costs within six months. Therefore, it is very important to take care of ways to sell products in advance.

Composition and brands

The main chemical components of the PU foam formulation are polyesters and polyesters: isocyanate, as well as a surfactant and a catalyst. All components have a rather specific odor and are a liquid with different consistencies in shades from transparent white to dark brown.

As a result of mixing these component elements, foam is formed, which is 90% filled with air. Depending on the proportions of the starting substances, as well as the presence of fire retardant additives, the final product differs in its technical characteristics of softness and elasticity:

Step-by-step plan for starting a foam production business

First of all, a novice entrepreneur should register an individual entrepreneur or LLC. The next stage will be the preparation of organizational and production plans, as well as a preliminary estimate of the project. An important factor is familiarization with production technology, since this will save time on organizing a business and money on purchasing equipment and training staff. In addition, your business plan must include the following items:

• Finding and renting suitable premises.
• Purchase of necessary equipment, consumables and raw materials for production.
• Personnel selection.
• Advertising campaign, concluding agreements with suppliers of raw materials and the sales market.

Feasibility study

How to make money from the production of foam rubber? The feasibility study for organizing the production of foam rubber consists of the following components:

1. Type of ownership - individual entrepreneur, individual entrepreneur is registered independently.
2. Tax system – simplified taxation system, tax base “income minutes expenses”, 15%.
3. Production premises - a rented workshop with an area of ​​at least two hundred square meters.
4. The main clients are private companies and large organizations that produce upholstered furniture.

Payment form: when drawing up an agreement for the supply of goods for an amount of more than one hundred thousand rubles, payment is made only by bank transfer. If the amount to pay is less, payment may be in cash. Payment for shipped goods may be deferred from thirty to sixty days. It is possible provided that you work with regular, trusted clients, and the purchase price must be more than one hundred thousand rubles.

Banking services: in working with clients and suppliers, the company has a current bank account for an individual entrepreneur. To cover the delays in payments that arise as a result of goods shipments with deferred payments, the bank can issue a loan amount in the form of a short-term loan (overdraft) in the amount of three hundred thousand rubles.

Principles of trading: the activities of the production workshop for the production of foam rubber are closely related to the sales of upholstered furniture. The main revenue comes from the autumn-spring period (approximately from September to April), since during this period sales of upholstered furniture are maximum. From May to August and in January there is a usual seasonal decrease in the number of sales and, accordingly, profits. January is the best time to do technical repairs and maintenance of machines.

Production features of the enterprise:

1. The number of service personnel is seven people.
2. Production work schedule: eight hours (shift), twenty-three shifts per month.
3. One team is working.
4. The total financial cost of launching such polyurethane foam production is five hundred thirty thousand rubles.

Methods for making this material

The production of foam rubber can be carried out in two ways: this is a periodic method, which is used for small and medium volumes of production of the specified material, and a continuous method, used for the production of large volumes of products. Let's look at them in more detail.

• Continuous method. With this method, a pouring machine feeds a certain amount of components into a flow-through mixing head, from there the resulting mixture is poured onto a moving conveyor, where the liquid foam rubber is foamed. Next, the layers of material are cut into blocks of the required length. Then they are kept for 3 days, as a result of which they are cooled. At this stage, all chemical reactions are completed. After this, the blocks are cut into finished sheets of the specified material of the required thickness. This technology produces high-quality foam rubber, but its use will require large production areas and a large investment of money. However, with the right approach, it can produce up to two thousand tons of this material per year. It is more profitable to produce a small amount of foam rubber using another method described below.

• Periodic method. In this case, the production of foam rubber includes such processes. First, a mixture of liquid chemical reagents to obtain a block of the specified material is dosed in a mixer of the required volume. Then it is quickly mixed in a special foaming machine. After this, it is poured into a mold whose walls open. Inside this container, a chemical reaction occurs to form foam. The resulting block of foam rubber is kept in the mold for some time. Then it is removed and moved to a special place where it is kept until fully prepared. A day later, the foam block is cut into pieces of the required thickness on special machines. After this, the resulting material is ready for sale.

Using this technology, elastic foam rubber is produced, which is mainly used for the production of upholstered furniture. This process is economical in terms of equipment costs and does not require large areas for this action.

Today, the production of this material allows us to obtain different grades, differing in their physical and mechanical characteristics, color and other features, such as super-softness, fire resistance, high rigidity and others.

Requirements for premises when organizing this production

Most experts agree that the optimal area for starting production can be 200-250 m2 (this should include work rooms and household premises). The optimal ceiling height is about 3 meters; there must be good ventilation and water supply, because during the production of foam rubber substances toxic to humans are released into the air.

Another important requirement is constant compliance with the temperature regime in the room. The temperature of the area in which the blocks are poured must be constant - 18 degrees Celsius. At a lower temperature, the product manufacturing process is technically impossible. Next, you need to select equipment for the production of foam rubber.

Nuances and features

The raw materials used in the production of foam rubber are chemically active substances. When certain conditions are created, they begin to interact with the release of toxic substances that have a harmful effect on human health and the environment. For this reason, the production of foam rubber falls into the category of environmentally unsafe production.

Stabilizing additives that ensure the preservation of the foam effect, as well as catalysts that accelerate the process, interact under the influence of air and moisture, and decompose into safe components that can be easily disposed of.

Since the production technological scheme is directly related to the occurrence of complex chemical processes, when ensuring production it is necessary to comply with the requirements of safe activities. Control over its parameters rests with the workshop manager or the technologist. The room temperature should not exceed 18˚C. It must be equipped with a ventilation system that ensures the removal of harmful gases from the work area.

The workshop premises are equipped with a treatment facility. It should protect the atmosphere from pollution due to the neutralization reaction. After air vapor passes through the system, the emission contains a minimal amount of pollutants. The remaining liquid mixture is not allowed to be poured into the sewer. They must be collected in a separate container and transferred for disposal under an agreement with a company specializing in this type of activity.

Sequence of material production

The production of foam rubber occurs in this way:

1. A certain dose of the required mixture of liquid chemical reagents is placed in the mixer.
2. A special machine foams and mixes it quickly. The quality characteristics of foam rubber products largely depend on this mixing mode: its density, compression and rupture stress, deformation under load.
3. The resulting mixture is poured into special movable molds. They must have folding walls. Here the formation of characteristic foam occurs, rising to the edges of the mold.
4. The workpiece is kept for the allotted time (about 15–20 minutes).
5. Then the mold is disassembled, and the block itself is transported to the final formation room. Here the cooling process of the resulting product is carried out.
6. After 1-3 days, the blocks are cut into sheets with a thickness of 5 to 150 mm on special horizontal band saw machines.

Methods for producing foam rubber differ in their characteristics. For example, with a continuous method, mixed reagents are poured not into special forms, but into a moving conveyor, where the foaming process already occurs. There, solid layers of foam rubber are cut into blocks of a certain length, and after curing they are divided into sheets of the required thickness.

When producing this material, waste is inevitably produced in the form of small pieces that cannot be sold. These elements undergo a recycling process, and recycled foam rubber is obtained, which is successfully used in the manufacture of furniture, for example, for filling armrests of chairs.

Foam rubber: key properties

This is how foam rubber with a set of standard properties is produced. There are seven in total:

1. Density.
2. Rigidity is the load-bearing capacity, the weight that foam rubber can withstand without sagging or creasing.
3. Permanent deformation - or how the volume of a material changes after applying and removing a load.
4. Elongation - how far a material stretches under an applied force.
5. Breaking force - after what force it breaks.
6. Elasticity is the ability to return to its original shape after deformation.
7. Breathability.

Manufacturing process

The technology for producing foam rubber is difficult to implement, due to the need to perform each production cycle on separate equipment intended only for a specific operation.

To obtain high-quality commercial products, it is necessary to ensure quality control and compliance with standards of intermediate products at each stage of production. Its implementation is carried out in accordance with the algorithm:

• preparation of raw materials;
• weighing the components of raw materials and mixing them in appropriate proportions;
• loading the composition with constant stirring into the hopper of foaming equipment;
• preparing folding forms and filling them with the resulting solution to a level determined by the height of the finished material;
• waiting time to ensure that all components of the mixture undergo a chemical reaction;
• ensuring the cooling of the material under certain temperature and humidity conditions for three days;
• cutting the material in accordance with the format of the finished product;
• storage of foam rubber.

The quality of the finished product is influenced by the parameters of the source materials and their ratio. According to the technology, in order to ensure a complete chemical reaction between the components in order to ensure the basis of the material and its porosity, it is necessary to comply with the dosage. The technology does not allow errors at this stage of activity, since any discrepancy will cause a change in the standard characteristics of the foam rubber, its rejection and financial losses. The weighing process must be implemented on electronic scales that provide high accuracy of measurements down to grams. All equipment must be tested and have a small error.

Cutting the finished product

Each enterprise approves its own production technology. Its difference may lie in the peculiarities of the process and in the recipe, which requires a different ratio of raw materials. It is worth noting that only the content of secondary components that give the finished product specific properties can be adjusted. Basic raw materials such as polyisocyanate and polyol are essential elements of the mixture, without which foam rubber cannot be made. When preparing a composition using any technology, these two substances are taken in constant proportions, regulated by regulations.