Shot and grit blasting have traditionally been underestimated processes. However when they are not done properly, they can immediately turn into costly procedures. Poor surface treatment shortens the life-span of coating, good quality abrasives can be wasted, and moreover the blasted profile may not pass the quality control tests.

This is why at Wheelabrator Allevard, we work hand in hand with customers and show them that shot and grit blasting can be turned into a real value creation step for surface performance enhancement.

With the objective of offering added value to the blasting process of our customers through innovative solutions, we bring a global approach and offer an all-inclusive package. This package involves not only the best quality abrasives adapted to the needs of our customers, but also a customized approach with technical service available worldwide, covering on-site solutions, test-center solutions and e-solutions with training designed exclusively for different needs and different applications. We step beyond the traditional role of a product supplier to a solution provider with a value proposition.

Premium Steel Abrasives

The chain of value proposition starts with high quality abrasives developed to the specific needs of our customers. At Wheelabrator Allevard we believe that every customer is unique and their applications require much more than a standard product offer which cannot answer the challenges of different industries. Therefore we design and develop high performance blasting media in order to offer effective and innovative product solutions for meeting new material and surface requirements. The Premium Steel Abrasive range is the outcome of our expertise and continuous innovation.

The Premium Steel Abrasive range includes:

Profilium: Specifically designed for air blasting surface preparation, Profilium provides improved and accelerated surface cleanliness while ensuring improved coating adhesion and optimum paint consumption through better surface profile quality. In addition to the quality level it brings, Profilium is also cost-efficient. Through its higher productivity, it enables a significant reduction in the overall blasting process costs. Profilium has been tested by the top players of the marine industry all around the world and documented to perform well above the expected levels in terms of blast efficiency, surface roughness and paint consumption.

ProWheelium: A premium product for wheel blasting, ProWheelium is specially developed for surface preparation before coating, painting, enameling and metalizing where sharp surface profiles are required. It is a high performance alternative to hard steel grit used in wheel blasting operation. Customers who have chosen ProWheelium witness numerous advantages such as better profile consistency provided by this ready to use operating mix, and record 30% less abrasive consumption and 20% less blasting machine wear.

HPG: High Performance Grit is specially designed to improve shot blasting performance in foundry applications. It works faster and longer with an unrivalled capacity for removing contaminants achieving brighter aspects. Compared to high carbon steel, HPG enables a 10-20% increase in desanding efficiency. The users’ of HPG enjoy a considerable reduction in terms of blasting cycle time, abrasive flow and throwing speed, all which have an additional effect on consumption and process cost (energy, wear parts etc.) 

Stainium: Stainium is developed for providing optimum performance in descaling stainless steel sheets prior to acid pickling, replacing efficiently S110 or S170 fine shot commonly used in such applications. Today, major stainless steel producers prefer Stainium, since it improves both the quality of blasted surface and the efficiency of the mechanical descaling process. Stainium is not only dedicated to blasting stainless steel coils, but also steel wires and bars. Customers blasting highly resistant scale steel bars with standard shot give testimonials about the accelerated line speed and increased productivity after they switched to Stainium.

Stelux: The newest member of the Premium family, Stelux was developed for the surface cleaning, preparation and finishing of non-ferrous metals, stainless steel castings and forgings as well as granite and marble. Stelux offers a truly ecological alternative to other surface treatment solutions, such as garnet and corundum blasting which generate much more waste and dust emissions, since it is fully recyclable and respects the most stringent health and safety regulations.

WALUE Service Offer: Leading Unit for Expertise      

The best tools can bring expected results only if they are correctly used. This is why technical service is the indispensable component of our value proposition to our customers. Our cutting edge technical assistance, developed and improved every day by our WALUE team through continuous innovations is available worldwide with constant quality in order to ensure that each customer receives optimum care and attention regardless of their geographical location, application or size. WALUE service offer is built on seven steps which are the guarantees of success in the blasting process for our customers. 

Seven Steps of Success

1. On-site technical expertise
The first step of successful blasting is to ensure that blasting machines and equipment are functioning efficiently and able to use the Premium product. This is why our technicians visit customers to test the machinery before the utilisation of Premium products; to confirm that the operation is running smoothly and make sure that the customer can measure the difference compared to standard products. 

2. Trial at the test center
Through rigorous trials at one of our five test centers, the benefits of Premium products are measured and evaluated in a quantitative way in order to determine for each customer the most adapted product and the optimum blasting parameters for their application. According to the outcome of the trials, the best customised solution is offered to our customers with zero risk as it was tested beforehand in real industrial conditions.

3. Cost reduction offer
Cost reduction has been a major concern for everybody. However most of the cost reduction attempts result in downgraded efficiency and poor quality. Through our cost reduction offer we show our customers that cost saving is possible without sacrificing quality. Our WALUE technicians evaluate the real production costs by taking into consideration every cost factor and then measure possible gains and losses throughout the blasting process. Customers are informed from the beginning about the real costs, potential profits and how they can achieve the best results from an economical, technical and environmentally-friendly point of view.  

4. Trial Launch
In order to offer 100% control over the blasting process with proven results, a blasting trial is launched on customer site under real production conditions. During this trial, all machinery and equipment is thoroughly checked and controlled, fine-tunings of machinery performed and optimum blasting parameters recorded. All risks which may originate from blasting media, blasting machinery & equipment, or simply from implementation are eliminated. Thus customers upgrade their blasting process with zero risk and mastered control over the process.  

5. Training operators
Optimum blasting efficiency depends very much on the expertise of operators and the implementation quality. Therefore it is a crucial step to train our customers about Premium product technology and the implementation specifications of each product to gain a deep understanding of the blasting media and process. During training sessions, common objectives are defined and the role and personal involvement of each partner are clearly described. Furthermore relationships are strengthened and a mutual understanding is developed between partners during these training sessions.

6. Monthly check-up and follow-up
In order to ensure that the blasting process runs as smoothly and efficiently as it was designed, every month the customers are visited by our WALUE technicians. During these monthly visits, blasting machines & equipment as well as production parameters are checked and fine tuning process of the machinery performed. Monthly check-ups and follow-ups guarantee the faultless implementation of the process plan determined during the trial stage. 

7. Balance sheet of the trial
The global real costs and benefits are measured at the end of this stage. The productivity, consumption and quality measures determined during the trial period are compared with the real costs in order to show the customer in a transparent way the total costs and benefits achieved.

With a dedication to customer value creation, WA takes a step forward from the traditional abrasive manufacturing and offers customer exclusive products, services, tools and training specially designed to the needs of each customer from numerous industries. By developing new solutions to higher productivity and peak efficiency, WA not only contributes to the overall improvement of the blasting process by adding extra value, but also achieves complete customer satisfaction through constant presence of technical assistance.

For Information:
Wheelabrator Allevard
Asia: +86.21.6468.6677 - 227
Europe: +33.476.92.92.60
South America: +55.11.5574.7272 - 218
USA: +1.800.3580.7468
E-mail: waeuro@wheelabratorallevard.com
E-mail: waeuro@wabrasives.com
www.wheelabratorallevard.com
www.wabrasives.com