Taking the best of a bad situation is one way to describe what Italy’s Brianza Plastica decided to do during the global pandemic lockdown. The company, a producer of fibreglass materials for recreational and commercial vehicle manufacturers, decided to have a deep dive into what the market was missing and how it could fill that space.
During that time Brianza Plastica was able to expand its Elycold and Elyplan ranges to 17 different product lines. The company now offers such a wide range that customers should easily find the right material for their needs.
“Our aim is to gradually shift from being a simple producer of fibreglass sheets to a ‘generator of custom solutions’ for our customers,” said Northern Europe Area Manager, Andrea Bollani. “Gone are the days when customers had to make do with whatever manufacturers offered. Our R&D laboratory and team of in-house researchers are at the service of our customers, ready to develop new products tailored to their unique requirements, even if those products are not currently available on the market.”
Brianza Plastica has more than 60 years of experience in the production of fiberglass laminates in sheets and rolls. It currently has four production sites entirely dedicated to GRP laminates production, with both continuous hot-laminating and discontinuous cold-laminating procedures, aimed at meeting the various needs in what is a fast-growing and increasingly demanding market.
The high-impact resistance and dimensional stability, combined with lightness and easy workability, make Brianza Plastica’s fibreglass laminates the ideal material for constructing walls and floors of industrial, commercial, temperature-controlled and electric vehicles for urban deliveries.
A wide and complete range allows customers to choose between Elycold and Elyplan fiberglass laminates.
Elycold products stand out for the near invisibility of the fiberglass – thanks to the cold polymerisation of the material – and for the production flexibility that allows for customised products, even in small quantities.
Meanwhile, Elyplan fiberglass laminates, known for their affordable quality/price ratio, offers sheets and rolls in customised lengths with assurances of consistent quality.
New products
Extra-Glass: this range (offered as Elycold or Elyplan) consists of fibreglass sheets that not only offer enhanced durability, but also enable manufacturers to reduce the thickness of current skins, leading to significant weight savings.
Both Elycold and Elyplan Extra-Glass, which come as rolls or sheets with a gelcoat, are designed to bring together special characteristics in a single product. For example, they have a low weight but a high mechanical strength, thanks to its high percentage of glass content.
These products are suitable for vehicles that require high impact resistance, weight saving and are aesthetically mindful.
Elyplan Anti-Slip: this product is characterised by both its aesthetic and technical qualities. Easy to install and cost effective, it is ideally used on floors to prevent slipping of vehicle loads. The product is available in two different finishes – XT coarse grained and medium grained.
Both products ensure slip resistance, due to the addition of a mineral granulate and both products have passed the abrasion resistance test, ensuring a long-life cycle.
Elyplan Anti-Slip has a standard grey colour and is available in a variety of thicknesses.
Environmentally friendly production
Based on its many years of experience and innovative spirit, Brianza Plastica pays particular attention to both the impact of its production processes on the environment as well as the importance of analysing the entire life cycle of its products – from design to end-of-life management.
In light of this, the company has equipped its production sites with powerful suction systems that purify the air by conveying the solvents, generated during the production process, to a powerful exhaust abatement system. These latest generation systems are self-powered, thanks to the recovery of the heat generated by the combustion of the solvent.
In 2020, Brianza Plastica partnered with a waste management facility to implement methods to reuse its waste and production residues of fibreglass, a composite that historically has few sustainable recycling solutions.
Thanks to the collaboration, almost all the waste coming from the production processes is now destined for use in cement and steel works, in the form of RDF (refuse-derived fuel). This decreases the use of fossil fuels and energy from non-renewable sources, which in turn reduces CO2 emissions into the environment.
This partnership is part of a series of projects that Brianza Plastica has undertaken, aimed at introducing a circular economy model that can be more sustainable for the world of fibreglass laminates production.
