Ecodek - More Than Just Manufacturers
At Ecodek we are not only manufactures of the UK’s premium WPC building components, but we also have a Research and Development Centre based at our manufacturing facility in Wrexham, North Wales. As such, Ecodek have been heavily involved with several Horizon 2020 development projects – more on this later.
Research and Development at Ecodek
The Ecodek Technical Team is seven strong, with numerous specialist skills including Engineering and Design, and we have both a PhD Polymer Engineer, and a PhD Organic Chemist.
Ecodek is fully committed to continuously improve our products. R&D activities at Ecodek are managed by the highly skilled technical team. To support these activities, we have a fully equipped laboratory onsite, to ensure that the quality and integrity of our products are never compromised.
The team are constantly sourcing and trialling process materials, looking for better and more ‘eco-friendly’ sources in order to create stronger and even longer lasting products.
Our onsite lab allows us to continually monitor product quality. Production samples are taken daily and tested to European Standards. Incoming raw materials are closely monitored for conformity to ensure only the highest quality. Additionally, the materials are also tested before trials to ensure they can be processed in our WPC specific equipment.
As our business expands, the team are also working to develop new profiles to further expand Ecodek’s offering.
An example of a ‘win’ achieved following in-house R&D work includes the development of our Advanced Technology boards – reducing the thickness and weight of the board while maintaining the strength and properties of the board. This in turn led to the development of our Heavy Duty board, slightly thicker and heavier, but allowing greater spans.
Horizon 2020 – EU Innovation
At Ecodek we are fully committed to our environment, which has led us to get heavily involved in several European projects within the Horizon 2020 platform, the largest innovation platform in Europe. We are exploring alternatives to raw materials, such as wood fibres, cellulose (from waste products), bio-polymers, biodegradable polymers among other waste stream and eco-friendly products.