R&D is our oxygen

It’s driven by a passion for customer support and delivered through continuous investment in the company’s world-class fume and dust extraction research and development (R&D) facility.

Now the company is going even further, with the opening of a new state-of-the-art R&D centre in 2018.

Of course, high quality facilities such as clean rooms and advanced equipment are great enablers, but it is BOFA’s 16-strong team of chartered engineers, technicians and support staff who really make the difference.

They are drawn from a wide range of industry backgrounds – from air movement and filtration through to aerospace and civil engineering – but all combine to channel mechanical and electrical engineering expertise into new product development and blue sky thinking.

The success of this rich diversity is demonstrated through numerous patented technologies, including the iQ (Intelligent Operating) platform, which has transformed fume and dust extraction system effectiveness while lowering the overall cost of ownership.

At any given moment, the R&D team will be working on a diverse range of projects, utilising in-house skills but also collaborating with health institutes and specialist university departments to apply latest academic research. Through this multi-faceted approach, new technology concepts emerge, unique or novel extraction solutions are developed to meet specific customer needs, and existing system architectures are pushed into new applications.

The projects currently underway include:

• A new range of woodworking dust extraction units, which will expand the BOFA product range and open up potential new markets.
• A completely new concept for a ‘self-clean’ filtration and control system, based on pulse-jet technology originally developed for power generation.
• Enhanced functionality for BOFA’s iQ2 platform, including fieldbus and Cloud connectivity, which will enable single point remote control of BOFA extraction units across multiple sites.

The new R&D centre will also be the focus of research into new materials and processes, enabling BOFA both to provide its customers with detailed analysis of airborne contaminant size and make-up for any given operation, and to inform the development of the systems of the future, with an increasing focus on nanoparticles.

And the inspiration behind BOFA’s R&D ethos? Complete commitment to customer satisfaction by solving the challenges of today while simultaneously anticipating the needs of the future. In this way, BOFA will remain at the forefront of innovation, delivering systems that offer productivity gains while optimising workplace safety.