Up, up and away!

AMFeb21Feature - zund balloon
AMFeb21Feature - zund balloon

Cameron Balloons’ sales director, Nick Purvis explains how the company has digitised its cutting processes with the help of Zünd’s intelligent automation

 

Cameron Balloons has revolutionised its manufacturing process with the purchase of the company’s latest Zünd Digital Cutter – the G3 L-2500.

The Bristol-based company was established in 1971 by Don Cameron as manufacturers of hot-air balloons. Cameron started the company from the basement of his house where he would run production of these bespoke hot-air balloons.

In 1983 Cameron Balloons moved into its current premises in the Bedminster area of the city of Bristol. The factory occupies three floors. Most of the factory space (first and second floors) is devoted to laying out the hundreds of yards of brightly coloured fabric to then be cut and sewn together by skilled machinists.

In 1989 the company received royal recognition ‘The Queen's Award for Export’ and in 2000 was awarded ‘Prince Philip’s Designers Prize for outstanding achievement in design for business and society.’

The company manufactures hot-air balloons in all materials, sizes, shapes, characters and shapes. Most special-shape balloons are made for commercial advertising, but some have been bought privately. Notable amongst these private buyers is the late Malcolm Forbes of Forbes Magazine, who commissioned a dozen or so special-shaped balloons, including a Harley-Davidson motorbike, Sphinx, a bust of Beethoven, a French Chateau, a Pagoda and a Minaret. The company also makes airships, helium balloons and static inflatables. It has been involved in national and international record-breaking balloon flight successes including round-the-world duration, altitude and distance world records.

“Each of our hot-air balloons are built to strict UK Civil Aviation Authority standards and we have to follow the same strict procedures as any other aviation company,” states Nick Purvis, sales director at Cameron Balloons.

Cameron Balloons is today one of the world’s favourite manufacturers of hot-air balloons, with over 9,500 supplied worldwide.

“The company has grown tremendously,” adds Purvis. “We started off with a handful of employees cutting and stitching balloons by hand. Today, we employ around 50 staff who operate sophisticated machinery for production. We have invested heavily in technology over the years to make our bespoke manufacturing processes efficient.”

The hot-air balloons are manufactured using a very fine woven nylon usually weighing 35g/m2 to 100g/m2. The lightweight roll of material is usually cut into symmetrical boat-shaped pieces, the many kilometres of which are required to manufacture a balloon are then stitched together by skilled and expert craftspeople.

“Each hot-air balloon is manufactured to the customers’ exact requirements with an average lead time of 10-30 weeks depending on the complexity of the balloons’ artwork or shape.”

Digital cutting that won’t let you down

Cameron Balloons has been using Zünd digital cutting technology for over 20 years to cut the variety of fabrics which make up each panel.

“The majority of the cutting is done on the Zünd using the rotary cutting tool. We also find the Zünd very beneficial when needing to cut individual artwork or lettering that often form part of any branding on the hot-air balloons.”

Cameron Balloons also uses the pen module to mark the different panels, making their Zünd a very versatile solution. This is the company’s third investment, having bought the original Zünd P- Series plotter in the early 90s to plot patterns and cut fabric panels.

“Our latest purchase was the Zünd Digital Cutter G3 L-2500 in 2019. This cutter has completely revolutionised our manufacturing process. When choosing the extras for our Zünd, we decided to add the Integrated Compact Colour Camera (ICC) to create some sort of automation with our Durst Printer. However, the added benefits have been more than originally anticipated.

“In the past, the material came off our Durst printer and had to be hand cut before being placed on the Zünd cutter. Now thanks to the ICC camera, the cutter can identify registration marks or board edges and cut accordingly. The Zünd technology and the Durst Printer complement each other very well.”

The semi-automated workflow from the Zünd and Durst has reduced the workforce by two people. The material now comes out of the printer and is fed straight to the cutter.

“Since the addition of the Zünd Digital Cutter G3 L-2500 with ICC, the efficiency and accuracy have been the best it can be,” concludes Purvis. “We are now saving around 4% on material usage every year.”

www.cameronballoons.co.uk

www.zund.com

 

Company

ZUND

Related Articles

The journey to digitalisation

Gary Carroll, head of aerospace - Siemens UK & Ireland, believes the message of how digitalisation can enhance manufacturing capabilities for the UK aerospace sector is gaining traction.
6 years ago News

Thinking big with big data

According to AeSCoM’s business manager, Phil Curnock, embracing disruptive technologies and digitalisation are key to supply chain success through the next decade.
5 years ago Features
Most recent Articles

Donite Plastics achieves AS9100 certification

Saintfield-based thermoforming company, Donite Plastics has achieved AS9100 aerospace quality management standard for the design, manufacture and assembly of thermoformed products, further reinforcing the company’s commitment to manufacturing high quality, reliable and safe products for the aviation, space and defence industries.
17 hours ago News

Introducing AI to quality and inspection

The main benefit of deploying AI for quality inspection is significant improvements in defect detection. However, the data generated and stored by inspection systems has the potential to deliver additional benefits, including major improvements in yield. Here, Miron Shtiglitz, director of product management at quality inspection software specialist QualiSense, explores the value of this data in greater depth.
17 hours ago Features

Login / Sign up