“Our new foam system has opened up a wealth of new opportunities to produce foam parts for seat components such as cushions, armrests and headrests,” says Jens Findeisen, Managing Director of soft trim. “Now we can also manufacture off-tool shaped foam parts on an industrial scale, with optimal capacities for pilot series and small-scale production. After such a busy period setting up and testing the machinery, we are delighted to move into the production phase.”

Along with its investment in the new industrial foam system, soft trim also invested in a new workshop to house it. The facility also provides storage space and a place to manage the logistics of making the shaped parts.

“It took a lot of time and energy to build the workshop and set up the new machinery,” adds Marco Oelmann, Project Manager for foam parts at soft trim. “However, the extensive testing was essential to ensure that we could deliver the highest quality that meets OEM standards right from day one.”

The foam parts that are fitted to cars are subject to a wide variety of requirements: They must correspond exactly to the dimensions and densities determined by the carmakers and be flame-retardant and robust while offering a high level of comfort. Manufacturing such foam parts requires the right mixture of raw materials, the correct temperature as well as the necessary pressurisation. “All of these factors have to be harmonised with the new tools and refined using our software,” Oelmann explains. “This is the only way to get exactly the product you want.”

All foam parts soft trim produces undergo comprehensive quality assurance checks to ensure they meet the necessary standards. soft trim also assesses the geometry, compression hardness, hysteresis, density and indentation hardness of each batch and meticulously logs all the results.