In August 2016, Boss Solar attended SPLASH! Pool and Spa trade show to introduce Rhino Solar to the Australian market. Following the success of this show, the team set-off to attend the largest Pool and Spa trade show in the world, Piscine Global.
Held in Lyon France from the 15th to the 18th of November, Piscine Global is the single largest and most important international gathering of professionals from the pool and spa sector globally. With 17,876 visitors, 100 journalists and 596 exhibitors in attendance, Piscine Global was an event not to be missed.
The team at Boss Solar decided to attend Piscine Global to launch their latest innovation in pool heating technology, the Rhino Solar Modular Panel System. The show was highly successful and provided many valuable leads and global contacts.
Following the Piscine Global show in Lyon, Mr. Robert Andrews (Technical Sales Manager) and Mr. Norman Mills (Managing Director) travelled further to oversee the final handover trials of our new turnkey co-extrusion line. Built by the global leaders in extrusion technology, this co-extrusion line will be responsible for manufacturing Rhino Solar.
The handover trials were a success and gave Norman and Robert the confidence to approve the first pilot production run in Europe. This pilot run provided Boss with a substantial quantity of each profile for further processing and assembly in Australia.
With the co-extrusion line complete, handover trial approved and samples produced, the shipping containers were given the green light to be dispatched to Melbourne.
Unfortunately in early January, Europe was battered by a devastating storm which saw snow, heavy rain and strong winds. This huge storms all but halted the rail and road network across Germany. Impacting Europe’s second busiest sea port, the Port of Hamburg. With sea levels rising well over 2 metres above average, the transport network was effectively crippled, resulting in heavy travel disruptions across Europe. Boss was very fortunate that all of the containers holding the Rhino Solar extrusion equipment and samples just missed the worst of the storms and were successfully loaded and shipped out of Hamburg ahead of schedule.
After several months at sea, February saw the arrival of the Rhino Solar extrusion equipment from Europe. Following quarantine inspections, the five containers were picked up and delivered to our Mulgrave based manufacturing plant on the 20th of February.
Following their delivery, the Boss Solar team embarked on the long and complex installation process. By the end of February the three extruders were installed, confirmed and bolted into their final resting positions. March saw the focus turn to the assembly and installation of the downstream equipment, including bolting down and connecting the calibration table, capstan, saw, dump table, tools and associated equipment.
The European machine manufacturers will be sending two highly skilled technicians to assist our team in the final installation of the equipment and to help train our Boss staff. These technicians will be arriving in late April or early May, with the aim of ensuring a seamless transition of production skills and knowledge.
The team at Boss are looking forward to seeing the extrusion line complete and welcoming our European guests.
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