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Exhibitor Profile: Norton Streamlined Norton Saint-Gobain Abrasives plans to significantly raise the profile of its Norton cutting blades and related machinery within the hire industry. Alan Guthrie reports from its head office in Stafford. Although part of the mighty Saint-Gobain construction-related products group, which reported a turnover of €41.6 billion (£28.9 billion) in 2006 and claims to be one of the world’s top 100 companies, Norton has kept a somewhat low profile in the hire industry in recent years. The manufacturer of abrasives, diamond blades and related machinery has undergone numerous operational changes in the UK while the Saint-Gobain UK Abrasives division, of which it is part, decided on the best way to assimilate the many companies and brands acquired by its parent. Saint-Gobain’s stated aim is to be among the top three companies in any market it operates in. The original Norton Company was founded in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1885 and steadily grew to become a global force, establishing its European diamond tool manufacturing facilities in Luxembourg in 1963. In the early 1980s, Norton developed the laser welding of diamond segments to the steel core of the blades, creating a joint that was stronger than either the segment or the steel. With conventional, brazed blades, the heat generated in dry cutting can melt the joint, causing the diamond segments to separate from the steel centre, but the new laser welded blades could be used for the dry cutting of a wide range of commonly encountered construction materials Streamlined brands “Saint-Gobain’s purchase of Norton for $2.4 billion in 1991 immediately made it the biggest abrasives manufacturer in the world,” states Fraser Pratt, Sales Director - Distribution with Saint-Gobain Abrasives UK, which was formed in 2001 as an umbrella for Norton and many other related acquisitions, including names like Unicorn, Flexovit and English Abrasives. “At one time, we had 38 brands in the UK, which had to be streamlined. This has now been reduced to four principal ones.” In June 2006, Saint-Gobain Abrasives UK moved from the former Norton site in Leicester to a 47-acre facility in Stafford. This had previously been the home of Unicorn Abrasives, and now includes a factory producing abrasives for the aeronautics industry, requiring scrupulous standards of precision and cleanliness. It also acts as the UK headquarters for all the abrasives brands, and this centralisation is the springboard for a concerted campaign to reintroduce Norton products to the hire industry, as well as for new launches of equipment and consumables that will be unveiled during the Executive Hire Show at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry next February. Norton laser-welded diamond blades will obviously feature strongly on the Saint-Gobain Abrasives stand, such as the Duo Extreme, designed for cutting a wide range of construction products, including very hard materials. It has 15mm high segments for long life and these are designed so as to optimise the angle of attack for fast cutting and debris removal. Arrow-shaped gullet slots permanently indicate the correct direction of rotation. Particularly popular for use with 13hp floor saws is the ZDH400WG, which has 5mm high segments and is suitable for cutting concrete and various building materials. The 4x4 Explorer blade has 10mm laser-welded segments with a patented ellipsoid gullet design to enable it to cut materials ranging from reinforced concrete, cobbles and granite, to asphalt, steel barriers and scaffold poles. New Clipper tile saws Norton has just added three new machines to its line-up of Clipper tile saws, designed for a wide range of users ranging from do-it-yourselfers to professional builders. The table-top TT 180 BM weighs 14kg, has a 550watt motor and accepts a 180mm diameter blade. A tilting table enables mitre cutting. Designed for professional users, the 800watt TT 200 EM has a 200mm blade and a 460mm by 360mm table, and is supplied with a water recycling tank. The 900watt TR 200 E overhead tile saw come ready assembled, featuring folding legs and transport wheels. Weighing 33kg, it has a 200mm blade and is designed to cut materials as hard as porcelain, marble and granite. Norton’s two existing saws, the 250mm-diameter TT 250 G and 200mm-diameter TT 200 B have now been upgraded for higher productivity and performance. At the Executive Hire Show, Norton will launch an updated derivative of the popular C99 floor saw, first introduced in 1999 and offered in electric, petrol and diesel versions. Fraser Pratt describes the new model, the CS 451, as a next-generation machine, and designed to produce particularly low levels of HAV. It accepts a 450mm diameter blade. Norton has submitted all the machines in its Clipper range, which also includes masonry saws and a wall chaser, for HAV testing at OPERC (the Off-road Plant and Equipment Research Centre) based at Loughborough University. The results will be published in a booklet that customers can consult as an aid to product selection. During EHN’s visit to the Stafford headquarters, Saint-Gobain Abrasives also previewed another new product that will be launched at the Executive Hire Show. No details can be published until after the unveiling has taken place, but if it gives the performance in real life that was shown in a video presentation of the product, it should certainly raise eyebrows and interest hire fleet buyers. • T
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6222 Executive Hire News › Archives › January/February 2008 › Exhibitor Profile › Streamlined Norton
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