ERASE NOISE LEVEL ON FACTORY FLOOR
CATERPILLAR EASES NOISE LEVEL ON FACTORY FLOOR USING SONEXVALUELINE™ PANELS AND A SONEXCURTAIN™ ENCLOSURE
At the Caterpillar Production Facility in Brooklyn
Park, Minnesota, workers make a variety of heavy
equipment used for road paving. Before they are
released for sale, each of the enormous cold
planers, soil and asphalt compactors, road
reclaimers, and other machines, is driven into the
building to undergo a rigorous set of final tests.
|
Noise from the machines' 750 horsepower diesel engines reverberates through the plant during testing. Employees working in the area wear hearing protection, but it doesn't ease the strain caused by exposure to the constant commotion. Several workers went to the plant's safety and protection manager, Larry Narikawa, for help. "I was hearing a lot of complaints from people working out there that the loud noise was really annoying," says Narikawa. "Even though they all wear hearing protection, it was still very loud. It was hard for them to talk to each other without yelling." |
|
Narikawa contacted Mary Beth Carlson of Heartland Acoustics, LLC, an pinta distributor. " Because of the heavy equipment, the noise in the testing area was very significant," Carlson recalls. "With concrete floors and metal decking in the facility, there was nothing to absorb the sound that was causing the reverberation problem."
Using several barrier-backed curtain panels, Carlson created a 30' x 60' ceiling-mounted enclosure that workers could drive heavy equipment into for testing. The enclosure was to descend from the ceiling, but not come all the way to the floor in most areas. "This worked really well because it didn't get in the way of the cranes and it took up very little space," she says, as she describes how the noise bouncing off the ceiling is contained by the curtains, which come down about 12 feet, and still leave room below for the workers to move machinery freely. "
In a huge factory like this, it is important for them to maintain product flow and to be able to change that flow when they need to," Carlson continues. "These curtains act like a wall, yet they're flexible enough that if they change the flow of the room they can unhook the curtains and reconnect them to create another area somewhere else."
The barrier-backed curtains are designed to absorb and contain noise. But Carlson knew that in this situation, she needed to take sound absorption one step further. She recommended using SONEXvalueline panels, in natural willtec® foam, on the ceiling. "When trying to control noise, it's important to contain it first and then work on absorption," says Carlson.
Carlson knew that pinta products were the perfect choice for the Caterpillar site. "I didn't recommend other options," she says. "SONEX is what I chose to go with because I knew it was best fit. The curtains were perfect. The panels did exactly what I needed them to and they were economical. The entire installation looks great and doesn't detract from the facility at all."
"People are really happy about the new enclosure because they don't have to yell anymore," says Narikawa, "Now they can just talk normally."
Carlson credits Narikawa and Caterpillar for helping to make the project such a success. " We'd been talking about doing this for a long time," she says. "Then, late last year, they decided to go ahead with the project. Caterpillar requested that the installation be finished by the end of the year, which didn’t give us a lot of time. However, the ease of installation when working with SONEX products, combined with the teamwork of Caterpillar staff, proved once again that even a large installation like this is possible with quick and easy turnaround."
To speak with a Memtech Acoustical consultant about SONEXvalueline panels, SONEX Curtain Enclosures and willtec® foam, contact Memtech Acoustical
