Bespoke Cardboard Tube Manufacture

Stell’s extensive ‘tooling library’ helps Icopal achieve a 25% waste saving

BMI Icopal is one of the UK’s leading manufacturers of roofing felt and various associated roofing materials and systems. They have been a Stell customer for over 20 years.

A significant industry issue – faced by Icopal and by their customers in turn – is the impact of roofing felt rolls being damaged in transit. As rolls are usually stacked on their ends, there can be significant wastage on a roll due to end damage.

To address this issue Icopal invested in new winding machinery.  The new machinery required a new size of cardboard imprint core to be produced and Stell worked closely with the machine company to develop a bespoke size of tube.

“We have an extensive ‘tooling library’ that we have built up over our 150 years of manufacturing cardboard tubes,” commented Sam Stell, the fifth generation of the Stell family to run the business. We have a huge variety of spindles as well as other tools which, combined with our extensive technical knowledge and experience, means we often have a solution sitting ready and waiting to help solve a client’s problem.

“We were able to supply Icopal with a bespoke solution with minimal initial outlay in terms of design and tooling manufacture. Combined with the reduced wastage levels of more than 25%, we’ve be able to help them save a considerable amount of money. Not only do Icopal use Stell tubes for all of their roofing products range they also trust us to manage all their stock levels for them.”