DMM TURNS TO RÖSLER TO RAISE THE BAR FOR SURFACE FINISHING CONSISTENCY
Rösler’s plastic finishing media delivers improved control and repeatability for leading Welsh manufacturer of climbing and professional safety equipment
DMM Engineering.
Rösler has strengthened its long-standing relationship with DMM following the successful introduction of its plastic finishing media into the manufacturer’s production process for aluminium carabiners and connectors.
Based in Llanberis, North Wales, DMM is internationally recognised for premium equipment used across climbing, tree care, rope access, work-at-height and rescue applications. As the UK’s only hot-forging manufacturer of climbing and safety hardware, manufacturing quality and process consistency are central to the company’s reputation.
DMM Engineering.
Following extensive comparative trials, DMM selected Rösler plastic media in place of the competitor product it had previously been using. What began as a consumables evaluation became a broader process-optimisation exercise, with the focus on achieving the right finish more consistently and in a commercially sensible cycle time. The resulting gains have been tangible: a better finish alongside materially lower media consumption and shorter processing times.
For DMM, the significance is therefore not simply that one consumable has replaced another. It is that the finishing process as a whole is now working harder for the business.
Stuart Sissins, Technical Director at DMM, comments, “For us, it’s about getting a consistent finish on the parts in a sensible cycle time. We need the polishing and deburring process to remove what it needs to, without damaging the component, and give us repeatable results from batch to batch. Working with the Rösler team to select the right media has helped us reduce our media spend by around 50%, while also reducing cycle times by up to 30%. We’ve also achieved a better finish, with media shape being an important part of that.”
These figures underline why media selection cannot be treated as a simple purchasing decision. Shape, size and material all affect how the media reaches the component, how aggressively it acts and how effectively it produces the required result without compromising the part.
The DMM project also illustrates a broader truth about mass finishing: the machine is only one part of the process.
DMM Engineering.
Media geometry and composition, compounds, machine type, process parameters and the characteristics of the component all influence the eventual outcome. Rösler’s strength is its ability to consider those variables together, combining equipment knowledge with extensive in-house consumables expertise and practical application support.
Sissins adds, “It’s about how the whole process works together. Their team has helped us look at media shape, size and material, alongside compounds and machine type, to optimise the process for our parts. That practical support has made a difference. There’s still more we can improve, and I believe Rösler has the right team to help us keep making those improvements.”
For Rösler, that ongoing optimisation is fundamental. Surface finishing is not approached as a machine sale or a consumables transaction in isolation, but as a process-engineering challenge in which the right combination of technology, media, compounds and expertise must deliver a repeatable and economically attractive result.
The DMM results show the value of that approach in measurable terms. A change that might appear relatively small on a purchasing spreadsheet has cut media spend by around half, reduced cycle times by as much as 30%, and improved the finished component at the same time.
In manufacturing, the best finishing process is not simply the one that works. It is the one that keeps getting better.
