Laporan lawatan ke Lembaga Getah Malaysia

IRPEC, Lembaga Getah Malaysia,Sg.Buloh. Lembaga Getah Malaysia (LGM) or also known as The Malaysian Rubber Board(MRB) is the custodian of the rubber industry in Malaysia. It was established on 1st January 1998 and has become the pillar of three well established agencies which are the RRIM, MRRDB and MRELB. For the last 78 years,it has contribute significantly to the development of the rubber industry. The MRB was actually established to assist in the development and modernization of the Malaysian rubber industry in all aspects from cultivation of the rubber tree, the extraction and processing of its raw rubber, the manufacture of rubber products and the marketing of rubber and rubber products. Meanwhile, the International Rubber Products Exhibition Centre Malaysia (IRPECM), is designed to promote and encourage the manufacture of rubber products in Malaysia apart from exposing and educating people on rubber.

Pavilion Map of IRPECM

Our visit in IRPEC was guided by En. Hairulshamusim . First of all , we were brought into the meeting room for briefing and Q&A session. He explained us on how IRPEC was established, history and development of rubber, how to apply a joint venture research with LGM and also job opportunity offered by LGM.

The students are focusing on the talks given by En.Hairul

Next, we took our tour in the exhibition centre.The exhibition centre is divided into 6 pavilion. The first pavilion displays the historical development of rubber in term of processing and manufacturing technology from the 1700s to present. One of the information that caught our attention was how Charles Goodyear accidently developed a better properties raw rubber through process of heating rubber and sulphur. The product of the process was named vulcanized rubber;the process has been used since 1839 until present. The second pavilion displays the Malaysian Rubber Industry Scenario. En.Hairul Said that pavilion 2 aims to convince investors to choose Malaysia as the ideal choice to invest in the rubber industry. Pavilion 2 displays a wide range of natural and synthetic rubber as well as various types of compounding ingredient used in rubber products manufacturing.

The third pavilion displays major rubber product sectors. There are 5 major sectors which are tires and tubes, industrial rubber goods , general rubber goods, footwear and latex products. The products displays are manufactured locally and overseas. Pavilion 3 gains attention from us as we can touch and hold the samples displayed. We are able to see different types of tires ranging from bicycle tires to aircraft tires with various thread design.

Pavilion 3 exhibits major rubber product sectors.

Next, pavilion 4 shows information on research and development of rubber. It shows information on selected research projects, latest development in manufacturing technology and the services available in RRIM. The fifth pavilion shows industrial application of rubber. There are a few item displayed that we have seen during the Medical Rubber Product and Doshin Rubber factory visit such as medical tubes, marine dock fender, seismic rubber bearing and Apollo suits. The exhibits are items used

in various industries such as medical industry, military, the sport arena, the maritime industry, the aerospace industry, the engineering fields and automotive industry.

Industrial application of rubber in Pavilion 5.

Last but not least is pavilion 6. Charted data on the economic, information and future vision and commercial aspects of the rubber industry can be obtained via touch-screen computers. There is a model representing the Rubber City concept which will be built in Kedah.

The students circling around the Rubber City model while listening to the officer.

As we finished our visit at the exhibition centre, we went to the tire testing lab which is located next to the exhibition centre to see the mastication, compounding and colouring of rubber by using two roll mill.Firstly, the officer explained the type of rubber, ingredients and colour pigment that will be used. Another officer , shows us the mastication process and the colouring process by using master batch. At the end, everyone obtain a piece of green coloured rubber.

Gummi Metall Technik Sdn Bhd, Kuala Kangsar.

The Gummi Metall Technik (M) SDN BHD was formerly known as Rubber Metall Technik(M) SDN BHD. It is fully owned by German company associated with GMT Group , headquarters at Buhl, Baden Germany. GMT Malaysia specialize in producing rubber to metal bonded products, plant facilities for compounding and custom-tailored rubber compounds. The range of products are mostly applied to Railway, Marine, General Engineering and Construction and currently developing in areas of Silicone for aircraft and Oil & Gas applications. The first section that we went was the laboratory section. There are two laboratory; Laboratory 1 designed to test the properties of compound for research and development purpose and test of final product in term of hardness and dimension while laboratory 2 is designed for suspension of Earth Quake Bearings.

In Laboratory 1, one of the lab officer demonstrate the testing process of rheological properties and tensile strength by using Gotech Rheometer and Testometric Tensometer respectively. The operation of the machines are the same as the machines provided in UiTM Perlis. Next, the officer shows the determination of load-deflection characteristics by using Zwick Universal Testing Machine. The characteristics of the rubber parts can be observed from the loaddeflection curves such as stiffness, force at required deflection, hysterisis, flexibility and bonding strength. A latest technology machine named 3-axis dynamic test machine is located in laboratory 2. The officer said the machine is specially designed for testing the suspension of Earth Quake Bearing. The machine runs for more than 48 hours and the officers in charge will take turn to observe the test. Then, we went to the production section.

Facilities provided at Gummi Metall Technik

There are three separated production building plants for Moulding, Compounding and Metal Treatment. In compounding plants, the officer shows how mixing compound by using Calendering machine is done. The calendering machine is of two-storey in height and has a separate cooling system. The cooling system use water to cool down the hot compounded rubber. In moulding and vulcanization section, the moulding process will only begin once the Research and Development department gives permission. The dimension of the die will be check before running the process in a large scale. If the dimension is correct, then the process will be run. If the dimension of the die is not right, it will be sent to the metal treatment section. In metal treatment section, a technician will repair the die in 1 – 7 days. One of their best moulding machine is Maplan Press. This injection press can cater a total volume of 6 litre of compound per shot. It is one of it’s kind in Malaysia and will be ideal for the production of Railway and Engineering products.

Inspections are done a few time in each production (refer manufacturing process flow chart). Inspection is done by sampling process. For example, if there are 10000 pieces of products, 1000 pieces will be sampling for inspection in laboratory 1 by the RnD team. The inspection will determine whether the compound or products can go through the next stage or reworks. The final inspection is slightly different from the regular inspection where all the products will be

physically checked by the operators in final inspection section instead of laboratory 1. If there is flaw, it will be marked and then rejected. If the product is flawless, it will proceed to packaging before shipping.

Gummi Metall Technik manufacture wide range of customized rubber component. They specialize in the production of anti-vibration mountings. The products include :    

Chevron Spring. Trifflex 2, Sandwich Plate for Railway applications. Bellow, Bushings and Grommets for automotive Applications Machine Feet, Buffers, Isolators and Mountings for Engineering application. Bridge bearings, Earthquake Bearings and Barings Pads for Construction application.

Examples of products manufactured by Gummi Metall Technik (M) Sdn Bhd

Gummi Metall Technik Manufacturing process flow chart

Suggestions All in all, the trip was very educational in seeing the various rubber product manufacturing processes but it will be more interesting if we can also see the rubber production process. En. Hairul from IRPEC did suggest us to visit Kilang Getah Palong 8, located in Felda Palong 8, Negeri Sembilan. He said, the factory is one of the biggest in peninsular that used hightechnology machine and all of the process are done under one roof starting from collecting raw material until the packing process. Apart from that, after receiving souvenir from Gummi Metall Technik Sdn Bhd, we started to notice and to think about the tested rubber of Mooney viscometer and Rheometer and the tested plastic sample waste from our physical testing lab. We never used to think about how those things can be made into a creative keychain. Conclusion The three-day trip was packed with information and knowledge to explore with Medical Rubber Products on day one; Doshin Rubber Products on day two , then joint tour with polymerians from UiTM Shah Alam in IRPEC and Gummi Metall Technik on day three. Everything goes smoothly according to the schedules. The students are able to relate the theory learned and the industrial practices through the trip. Apart from that, various types of elastomeric materials and products used in industry were identified. Besides, the students are now able to describe the production process of rubber based products. Last but not least, the students are exposed with the industrial working environments as well as the job opportunity offered for Polymer Technology students.

References Centre of Excellence for Natural Rubber. (n.d.). Retrieved June 1, 2015, from International Rubber Products Exhibition Centre: http://www3.lgm.gov.my/irpec/ Go Beyond Limits Make Dream Reality. (n.d.). Retrieved June 1, 2015, from Doshin Rubber Products (M) SDN BHD: http://www.doshinrubber.com History and development of rubber. (n.d.). Retrieved June 1, 2015, from Official Portal Malaysian Rubber Board: http://www.lgm.gov.my Welcome to GMT portal. (n.d.). Retrieved june 1, 2015, from Gummi Metall Technik (M) Sdn Bhd.: http://www.gmt.com.my Welcome to Medical Rubber Products. (n.d.). Retrieved June 1, 2015, from Medical Rubber Products Sdn Bhd: http://www.medical-rubber.com.my