Connecting people
Welcome to Sobinco
When entering the Sobinco building, you will instantly notice that this family run company loves modern art. The reception hall resembles an art gallery and invites you to snoop around. It breaks the ice and makes you feel at ease.
When you present yourself at the reception counter, you wil be warmly welcomed by our staff.
From idea to finished product
R&D and Engineering comprises of 40 engineers who are responsible for designing the hardware for aluminum windows, doors and sliding doors, as well as for the development of all moulds, tools and machines for production.
After launching the product, the team of R&D and sales are available to the client for technical support.
Test lab for fittings
Sobinco has an extensive testing facility where tests are continuously conducted on new as well as on existing products. In particular, these are cycle and strength tests on windows and doors. This enables us to test our products and window systems for their durability in combination with our customers’ systems.
In addition, the windows and doors are also subjected to corrosion-resistance tests, break-in tests, and air, wind and water tests that simulate the most extreme weather conditions. All tests are conducted according to the latest European or country-specific guidelines and quality standards.
Piecework, quality and an eye for detail
Sobinco has a large mold-making workshop with high-tech CNC machines.
The molds are high quality steel tools with which parts can be cast, sprayed or punched in different divisions of the company. Every year, we make about 200 new molds and smaller production tools. All prototypes, needed to test the new models, are also made here.
Piece work, quality and attention to detail characterize mold making.
Pure craftsmanship
In the department for gravity casting of aluminum alloys, we use 5 melting furnaces and 5 casting machines.
Here are mainly made handles and pivots for pivoting windows. In addition, they also cast the door handles and other handles for turning windows and tilt-turn windows. The cast pieces also undergo some post-processing operations such as grinding or polishing.
Preparing for coating and anodisation
After the gravity-casting the castings undergo some post-processing operations before they are coated or anodised. The sprues and runners are sawn off and afterwards the pieces will be linished either by hand or automatically.
Pieces that are to be anodised have to be polished first in large rotary drums. The polish, mixed with sawdust, is thrown around in the rotary drums.
Deburring and polishing
Injected and sawn parts are deburred and the sharp edges are removed. The combination of grindstones, soap and water and the high frequency at which the vats vibrate, causes a spinning movement so that the chips spin around – and thus polish – the pieces. With this technique, we obtain parts with the right roughness. This is important for the following processes, such as powder-coating or assembling.
Over 450 RAL colour options
In the finishing department, the pieces are given a powder coating (> 450 RAL colours) according to the customer’s desired colour. The pieces are attached to coating hooks and go through an automatic chemical pre-treatment to get a conversion layer to bind the final substrate firmly and make them corrosion-resistant. After the coating the pieces go in a conveyor oven or a chamber oven. The painted pieces then are collected, checked for quality and released for assembly.
We process 8,000 pieces and we make an average of 100 colour changes per day.
50 shades of anodisation
Anodising consists of the artificial application of a corrosion-resistant layer which can be coloured. This is done by having a direct current flow through the piece in an acid bath, which produces a hard, scratch-resistant layer on the surface. We are able to anodise profiles up to 6 meters and small parts in various colours.
Plastic
In the plastic molding department plastic granules are sucked into a machine and then melted so they can be injected into the mould. In total, we have 300 kinds of plastic parts , like rollers or end caps.
We have 5 injection moulding machines to manufacture more than 2 million plastic pieces each year.
Zinc
The material that Sobinco processes is a zinc alloy. It is melted at a temperature of 430°C. The molten material is then pumped into the mould by means of a hydraulic-driven cylinder. After the injection, the pieces are manually or automatically broken off the sprues in the spinning drums next to the machines.
The department has a total of 12 machines. IIn full production, we’re able to inject an average of 100,000 pieces per day and we process 550,000 kg of zinc alloy per year.
The right shape in one go
The Press department has 30 excenter and hydraulic presses where aluminum and stainless steel parts are stamped out or reshaped – for example, for parts of locks or invisible hinges.
Speed, flexibility and great precision
In the CNC milling department, we have 8 machines to further finish cast or injected parts or aluminum profiles and to make variants based on customer specifications. We do this by milling, drilling and/or tapping away parts. The pieces are placed in specially designed devices. Then, the machine is started up and runs through a pre-programmed cycle. Thanks to such high-tech machines and our calibrated devices, we can do precise series in this department.
Each year, more than a million pieces are processed.
Meticulous and precise
Incidentally, besides several saws, you also see several automatic machines, specially designed for a number of our most common products, namely the visible window hinges. We start with an aluminum profile of about 6 meters. Via sawing, drilling and milling processes, this profile is transformed into the desired product.
In the warehouse are 450 kinds of aluminum profiles, ready to be sawn, drilled or milled.
Turning and milling complex pieces
Sobinco has 45 lathes to lathe and mill complex pieces. We start with 3-metre long rods and make nearly all of our non-standard pins, rivets (small axles), small wheels and screws for our products. The materials that we use are diverse: stainless steel, aluminum, special lathing steel, brass, etc.
In total, this department produces some 550 different pieces, at an average of 50,000 pieces per day.
Lifesavers
The maintenance department is responsible for the maintenance of both the building and the various machines, jigs, automation systems etc.
Urgent technical interverventions, breakdowns or failures, smaller reviews of large maintenance work?
Our maintenance experts stay alert and keep things running.
To measure is to know
In addition to production planning and management, the quality service regularly performs measurements on semi-finished products, incoming materials and parts which include size measurements, layer thickness, material hardness, corrosion formation, and so on.
All of these measurements are important in keeping the high quality of our products at a constant level.
High-level puzzling
In the large assembly department, all of the products are prepared for the warehouse. Many parts are assembled by riveting, a connecting technique in which material is flattened and several pieces are connected to each other.
Finally, screws are screwed into place and the various basic pieces are packaged to make complete sets of products.
A range of 550 different products are mounted.
Large stocks and fast delivery
More than 5,000 kinds of semi-finished and finished products go to the warehouse. Large stocks combined with swift order processing, gives us the ability to deliver in very short timeframes. Every day, a huge number of Sobinco products head off to all parts of the world.
Sales & marketing
The strong commercial team of Sobinco is available to clients every day. A sales strategy is built for the Belgian and export markets.
Sobinco’s sales department is staffed by a team of enthusiastic and reliable specialists. They know the products inside out and are able to guide you personally through our impressive collection. Likewise, our internal sales team is well known throughout the sector for its extensive know-how and transparent communication.
The marketing department supports the sales team by creating useful marketing tools to help sell our products.
Implementing and connecting
Our IT specialists are responsible for a solid and secure infrastructure, fitting devices and applications and focus on a service-minded organisation. They implement, optimise and monitor the ERP-system and PLM & CRM package to ensure a smooth operation.
Correctly calculated
The accountancy department monitors the debit and credit control, financial reports, balance sheets and annnual reports, the payroll process and taxes.
Developing and optimising human capital
As a strategic partner to the management, the HR department translates the company goals to an HR strategy concerning staffing, profiling and adapting the configuration of the company.
Safety and prevention
Every organisations needs to apply the highest safety, health, environmental and quality standards to protect our employees and environment.
The prevention adviser creates a healthy and secure work environment and monitors the compliance of the statutory basis. Internal and external audits keep us alert.
The EHS & compliance department is also responsible for obtaining, managing and maintaining certificates for our products.
