According to the Office of National Statistics the metal fabrication sector in the UK accounts for around 10% of all manufacturing jobs and roughly the same percentage of gross added value.
Many of the participants in this industry are small or medium sized businesses which need constantly to look for process improvements and cost efficiencies to sustain margins and guarantee future development. As part of its tesacohesion policy of customer service, leading adhesive tape supplier tesa has produced a useful range overview listing its most popular products, which can contribute towards these goals.
Analysis on the use of double-sided tapes throughout many of the major industrial sectors – Automotive, Aerospace, Construction, Paint and Manufacturing, for example – shows why they are now the solution of first choice. Apart from their ease of storage and use, tesa tapes often improve the speed and efficiency of the manufacturing process. In terms of end results, the use of double-sided tapes offers distinct aesthetic benefits, with no weld marks and heat spots or unsightly mechanical fixings such as screws or rivets. So far as performance is concerned, tapes are dependable and offer excellent stress distribution across the surface of bonded parts with no weak points.
tesa’s new overview of its tapes for the metal fabrication market includes their filmic, high density and general purpose foam tapes, together with a range of masking tapes and other general purpose grades. The most recent additions are from its ACXplus offering, a high resistance product, tesa ACXplus 707x which has been developed with demanding outdoor applications in mind, able to resist temperatures up to 220°C and cold shock down to -40°C. Also tesa ACXplus 706x, designed for use on hard-to-bond materials such as powder coated or plastic parts, and able to compensate for the varying thermal expansion of different substrates.
The tesa Metal Fabrication Assortment Overview is available to download online here.