Silvertown gets new controls and software for testing via MERL

By Liz White, ERJ staff

Hertford, UK-MERL has won a contract to upgrade test machine control and analysis software for UK rubber processor Silvertown UK.

The Hertford-based materials engineering research group is to develop and install new control software and provide new purpose-designed PC-based control systems to enhance Silvertown's existing test facilities.

MERL said that its staff's expertise in testing materials has extended into new software development for machine control and as far as designing and building new test machines.

Since these machines integrate data acquisition and test analysis with report creation, the development of purpose-made test and analysis software “is a natural progression in the range of services offered by MERL, with our materials scientists and end-users giving direct input into software design,” said a statement from the organisation.

“The new test machine software is modular and can be customised to suit client specifications and existing hardware installations,” said Stephen Bowron, project manager with MERL, adding that the Silvertown software “contains key modules for rubber analysis to BS 903 Part A24 and for creating production test reports directly in Microsoft Excel.”

Burton-upon-Trent-based Silvertown designs, develops and manufactures a large range of rubber and plastics products. The firm intends to use MERL's software in both production testing and for enhancing its internal R&D capabilities.