The automotive industry places the highest demands on machines and personnel. With its special doors for the automotive sector, EFAFLEX offers manufacturers and suppliers, among other things, maximum security, high availability, speed, robustness, durability, and high opening and closing cycles. Regardless of whether the door is used indoors or outdoors, in the production areas, in the climate chamber or on the production line. It is not for nothing that EFAFLEX counts well-known German and international groups among its customers. The door specialists find an efficient solution even for the most unusual conditions.

There is hardly an industry that is not affected: disruptions within logistical processes can cause delays in the process or even failures of an entire production. Such incidents, in turn, harbor both a cost and an image risk for the respective company. With the EFAFLEX special doors for the logistics sector, customers contribute to making all processes in their company efficient, smooth and low-maintenance.

The world food market generated over 8 trillion US dollars in 2020, but what impact did the global pandemic have in the short term, and what trends are likely to remain as we enter into a recovery state? Here we look at the factors influencing consumers and producers alike.

India is expected to have a popuation of 1.4 billion by 2025, surpassing China. This will create an upsurge in demand for housing, public transport, and infrastructure with the government planning to build 100 airports and 20 million affordable homes. If you are an architect working in India, and want to work smarter, faster and more accurately then BIM (Building Information Modelling) is a must for you!

These are highly critical, even life-threatening situations: Oxygen and explosive matter mix in the air and with just a single spark, the combination explodes. Fires and pressure waves caused by explosions repeatedly cause major damage in factories. Special safety regulations therefore apply in hazardous areas: among other things, equipment, machines and all installations must be designed so that they prevent sparking from the outset. EFAFLEX manufactures roll-up and spiral doors for indoor and outdoor use especially for this purpose that meet these strict requirements – a reliable solution for every commercial area.

The car park doors from EFAFLEX attractively set the scene for multi-storey and underground car parks. Today car parks are no longer purely functional, but ideally attractive places that are safe and secure for their customers to use. EFAFLEX is making a major contribution to this development with its highly customisable high performance doors specifically manufactured for the parking sector. This success story began in 1995 in the Netherlands where the first EFAFLEX car park doors were installed in a multistorey car park in the city of Arnhem. More car parks and other cities around the country have followed. Today, the world market leader for high speed doors, manufactures the bespoke parking systems for customers from numerous nations – far beyond Europe's borders too.

If oxygen and explosive matter mix in the air, a single spark is enough to ignite the combination. Therefore in endangered areas, special safety regulations apply, including with regard to the condition of devices, machines and all built-in components. Specifically for this purpose, EFAFLEX manufactures roller and spiral doors for indoor and outdoor use that meet the strict requirements - a reliable solution for every commercial area.

Gas, steam, mist, dust: in combination with air, these and other flammable substances can ignite. There are correspondingly endangered areas in many industry sectors, including pharmaceuticals, mining, petrochemicals and metal processing. In order to guarantee comprehensive safety in these explosive atmospheres (French: Atmosphères Explosives, or ATEX for short), Europe-wide guidelines apply. According to these regulations, the EFAFLEX specialists manufacture both roller doors (EFA-SRT® EX) and spiral doors (EFA-SST® EX ) for individual use.

Safe solutions for explosive areas

"There are two ways of being confronted with explosive atmospheres: explosive gases and an explosive dust-air mixture," says Klaus Manlig, Head of the EFAFLEX Sales Academy. “These two areas are dealt with separately in the EU standards. We have developed a suitable solution for each of them. ”In order to cause an explosion, three components are required, as the expert explains. First: oxygen. This is always present in sufficient quantities in the air. Second: an explosive medium. The third component is an ignition source - a single spark is enough.

“As a rule, we have no influence on the oxygen content or the medium, but we can make sure that the ignition source is missing. To put it simply, this is how our special doors are made,” explains Manlig.

Efficient interaction of all components

The construction of the explosion-proof EFAFLEX door systems includes mechanical as well as electrical precautions, so that a spark cannot occur at any point to trigger an ignition. All the elements work together, as Manlig describes. “In addition to the mechanical, both the electrical and electronic components in our doors are equipped with the appropriate ATEX certificate. These include the pulse generator and other safety systems. Everything that is built in or attached directly to the door is safe." In the control cabinet, which is installed outside of the potentially explosive area, all of the components installed and attached to the door are connected.

Custom features for all purposes

The door systems for these demanding applications are fundamentally different because they are precisely adapted to their areas of application, explains Manlig. The roller shutters, for example, are equipped with a certified black, non-transparent ATEX special curtain and all-round modern technology. Emergency provisions are also provided: if the power fails, for example, they can be opened quickly using a hand lever.

Proven EFAFLEX quality and individual production

What the two door solutions have in common is their inherently high opening and closing speed and their durability, as Manlig says: “Our doors are very robust and reliable. You can realise millions of openings. In addition, they are designed in such a way that they do not injure anyone when driving up and down and do not cause any damage to vehicles underneath, for example. ”The development of these systems took about a year together with TÜV SÜD. Each individual door is manufactured in-house in accordance with the guidelines as well as customer-specific. Manlig: “The customer tells us which dangerous situation prevails, indoors or outdoors. We build the door system according to these parameters, which is available in various dimensions including bespoke sizes. "

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Parking garages, parking lots, park-and-ride, city parking, central transport hubs: As varied as parking systems are today, the requirements for their security are complex. Protection against burglary and vandalism, separation of public and private space and maximum efficient use of space resources - all these components are becoming increasingly relevant. As a reliable solution for entrances and exits, EFAFLEX offers parking system doors that can be used safely and quickly and in various spaces. EFAFLEX has just won the strict tender, review, and approval process for the "FUN²" project in the Chinese provincial capital of Harbin. In China's northernmost province, the specialists have now installed twelve parking system doors for the new Harbin FUN2 shopping mall.

New entry for our EFAPROTECT Series and Serie S

Last year, the topic of “automation” shaped the social debate about the digital future of industry. Fears that machines could take on too many tasks and replace people in the long term were also shared by well-known people in Silicon Valley, e.g. Elon Musk.