There are three strong points of the product:
(1) Compared with existing wooden products, it does not generate small woodden particles and is unlikely to contaminate assembly lines.
(2) Compared with steel products, it is lightweight (specific gravity comparison: metal 7.8; this resin 1.01)
(3) It exhibits excellent properties of RIM products including: (a) high impact strength especially against low temperature impact; (b) possible for thick molding that significantly improves freedom of design; and (c) lower cost of the metal molds compared with that for injection moldings, providing a large-sized product at a low price.
Automobile seats are loaded, transported, and stored on seat skids (seat palettes) as conveyance equipment by seat manufacturers, and sometimes the seats are brought to the assembly line leaving on these seat skids.
Conventionally, seats have been assembled with various parts on wooden or steel seat skids (seat palettes). However, there were issues on (1) improving assembly efficiency; (2) remove small woodden particles contamination at automobile assembly lines; and (3) the need to reduce weight. Resin Seat Skid was developed to solve these issues and now the company puts on full-scale sale nationwide.
Resin Seat Skid marketed by ZEON Logistical Materials are a new thermosetting resin seat skid which is manufactured by RIM (Reaction Injection Molding) with dicyclopetadien (DCPD; a C5 fraction of naphtha) as the primary raw material. This DCPD Resin Seat Skid is produced by the energy and resource-efficient RIM in which reaction and forming are carried out simultaneously in metal molds. Therefore, strong, lightweight, clean, large-size, and complicated-shaped molded products can be made in an extremely short time with an inexpensive investment in metal molds under simpler conditions. Currently, RIM products are used for various items, including components of housing equipment, construction machinery parts, and bumpers of large vehicles.
ZEON Logistical Materials has already made phased-in sales of DCPD seat skids, and several automobile seat manufacturers are using them. The company accumulated original technology in the process of development and the phased-in sales. For full-scale sales of DCPD (resin) seat skids, the company intends to offer products to achieve higher user satisfaction by combining the resin compounding and molding technologies that the ZEON Group has cultivated for many years and this newly acquired original technology as well as the know-how and design technology in the logistics department of the company.
The company also is forging ahead in the development and sales of not only seat skid for automobile seats (palettes) but also custom-made DCPD seat skids (palettes) with various shapes requested by customers in all industries. These custom-made palettes have unique properties and the company is confident that they will contribute to streamlining the manufacturing and logistics of users, as FA (Factory Automation) palettes for production and inventory management used exclusively inside the plants of each company.
Supplementary explanation
On July 1, 2003, ZEON Kasei Co., Ltd. (President: Takao Fukushima), a wholly owned subsidiary of ZEON Corporation, spun off the operation of its logistical materials business—one of its core businesses—established as ZEON Logistical Materials Co., Ltd., an integrated manufacturing and sales company for logistical materials, to enhance its market presence and further develop the business. ZEON Logistical Materials Co., Ltd. was capitalized at \100 million: 70% from ZEON Kasei Co., Ltd. and 30% from ZEON Corporation.
