Battling the virus with help from ITC

The switch from sign making to producing face masks at Swansea-based Valley Group arrived when Richard Dawson, a director of the company received a telephone call from a lifelong friend and well-respected doctor and clinical lead at the Hywel Dda University Health Board, who said its existing supplier of face masks had exhausted its capacity, leaving 10,000+ staff in desperate need of protection.

One critical factor for Valley Group was the cutting of 0.5 mm thick PETG face visors, which had to be free from burrs and sharp edges. However, the company has been a customer of ITC for more than a decade, so when it came to cutting thin plastic sheets on its Biesse Klever routing machine, ITC recommended the Clearcut 180 series of solid-carbide, single-flute, down-cut routing tools. Valley Group’s router runs at 24,000 rpm with a feed rate of 10 m/min. With demand rising, the company is aiming to start a second shift so it can increase production from 700 to 1400 masks per day.
For further information www.itc-ltd.co.uk