Since its arrival as the new Comforsa’s Director General in January 2018, Reca Vidiella has made one of his top priorities the reduction of the vibrations caused by the new heavy forging press in Comforsa 7. The vibrations were felt by the neighbours living in the surrounding dwellings, which led to discomfort and the impossibility to continue the manufacturing during night and weekend shifts. Mr. Vidiella declared that “Respecting the local area and integrating our industrial activities into the local community is one of my top priorities”.

Immediately after its appointment, Comforsa’s management team and Quality Department started working on a technical solution to the vibrations. They considered different options and finally chose the most innovative solution, which is the one that can guarantee the most successful outcome.

The technical solution implemented has already been used in the United States and uses shock-absorbers made of stainless-steel wires and does not require shock-absorbing oils. The main advantage of this option is that the system can absorb shocks in an exponential way rather than just linearly, as it would be the case with more traditional solutions. Both the shock absorbers and the elevation and assembling system have been designed for the particular needs of the machinery used in the Comforsa 7’s plant.

The works have taken place over the summer productive brake in August, since it has been necessary to lift the main forging press of 8,000Tn so that the bespoke shock absorbing system could be set up underneath.

The outcome has been as successful as expected and the reduction in the level of vibrations has been confirmed by two different official measurements, one from the private company ECA (AV Ingenieros) and the other from the Environment Department of the Government of Catalonia (Generalitat de Catalunya). The results of both measures are around a Law value of 70dB, which is as very good result as it is 5 dB below the maximum levels allowed by the regulations.

Comforsa considers this outcome a success and a benefit for the whole community of the town of Campdevànol. Comforsa is now awaiting the approval of its application to extend the working shifts to nights and weekends, which would create new job vacancies. At the moment, there are only two shifts that employ about 15 people.