Design
The process begins on paper. Schneller works with you to employ the best, most innovative decorative solutions while paying close attention to visual and spatial ambiance, brand experience, comfort and safety, durability, and cost-effectiveness.
With years of design experience and the latest graphic design software, we turn your ideas into engineered decorative surfaces, utilizing:
- MAC & PC environments
- Integrated color labs for custom matching
- Standard Pantone®, RAL or NCS color matching systems
- Libraries of art elements
- Color and pattern creation
- Material sampling
We employ some of the top designers in the United States, Europe, and Asia, who constantly visit airlines to help stimulate their creativity and stay up-to-date on the most popular paints and Pantone® colors. Once a design has been sampled and verified by a client, the order is placed and sent into production…
Technology
We rely on a vast array of cutting-edge technology and know-how to produce solutions that meet all of your expectations for form, function, and regulatory compliance. Our designs can employ any number of application-specific materials, from standard materials to special lines, like bulletproof resins and even a fibrous glass material that comes out thick as cardboard when treated.
Our capabilities include:
- Custom compounds are formulated in batch sizes from development to production quantities. Our advanced color matching capabilities allow us to create color and texture formulations down to the last detail, ensuring each batch is identical from the first to the last.
Engineered Materials |
Custom Adhesives |
Acrylic solutions
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Flame-retardant
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Flame-retardant inks and coatings
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Pressure-sensitive
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Nitrile rubber
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Solvent-based
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Pigment Dispersions
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Water-based
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Silkscreen and rotogravure inks
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Permanent
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Solution vinyl
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Removable
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Solvent blends
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Heat-activated
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Water-based emulsions
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UV curable compounds
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Plastisols
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Organisols
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- Precision coating processes are the most versatile for applying precise coatings of varying viscosity and thickness, particularly for coating a wide array of substrates. This includes roll and knife-over-roll coating for products with widths up to 65 inches. Film-coating thicknesses can range from 0.0005” (1/2 mil) to 0.25” (250 mil).
Standard Coatings |
Standard Substrates |
Acrylics
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Paper
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Epoxies
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Fiberglass
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Nitrile rubber
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Polyester
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Polyesters
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Vinyl
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Vinyl
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Custom substrates
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Urethanes
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Pressure-sensitive adhesives
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Heat-activated adhesives
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Flame-retardant adhesives
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- Advanced printing is ideal for photo quality murals, special colors and patterns with superior texture retention, as well as realistic wood grain, marble, and granite prints. Using digital, flatbed screen, continuous screen, and rotogravure printing systems, we offer optimal graphic effects and resolutions. We can print with either solvent-based or water-based inks for virtually any substrate, including:
PVF
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PVDF
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PVC
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Polyester
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Paper
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Acrylic
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- Lamination & Embossing allows for multiple ways to adhere and texture a wide array of materials, from sheets that are thin and flexible to thick and rigid.
Press Sheet Lamination and Embossing |
Continuous Lamination |
Embossing |
Flexible sheets/films & rigid sheets
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Cost-effective choice for thin, flexible laminations
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Wide variety of stock textures for press and continuous laminated products
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Virtually unlimited product offerings
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Numerous texturing choices
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Smooth matte finishes to custom designs
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Finish size up to 60"x130"
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Wide array of attractive surface finishes
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Custom textures for specific customer designs
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Press pressure up to 500 psi
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Thermal (heat-induce) lamination
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Unique laminates that retain texture for thermoform-grade continuous films
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Minimal print distortion
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Wet lamination
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Lamination of multiple layers of dissimilar materials
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UV lamination
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Pressure-sensitive lamination
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Finish widths of up to 60" with texturing
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Lamination of multiple layers of dissimilar materials
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Once the correct materials are prepared, our technicians employ the printing process that gets you the most cost-effective and efficient results…
Equipment
From silkscreen, to roll print, to picture-perfect digital printing, Schneller has the equipment and infrastructure in place to deliver innovative products that set the standard for aesthetics and durability. We work with a broad range of products to cover the interior surfaces in passenger compartments of all commercial aircraft:
- Film laminates: Ceiling, window panels, and bins
- Fiberglass reinforced laminates: High-abuse areas
- Thermoplastic sheets: Seat shrouds and in-flight entertainment housing frames
- Floor coverings: Slip-resistant and non-textile
To get you the best possible end product, we employ the most appropriate printing process depending on your project. We specialize in four printing processes:
- Flatbed silkscreen: Uses a flat, rectangular fabric mesh screen that is good for short to medium runs. Best when used with design thickness of 3 pixels at 300 dpi, and an overall registration tolerance of 3/32” (0.09375”). Ideal for fine designs.
- Rotary screen: Uses a hollow cylinder with a metal screen that is typically nickel. Can run either single prints or random multiple prints at a 25.25” repeat. Ideal for printing a wide variety of designs.
- Rotogravure: A very high-quality process that allows for fine detail by using a steel cylinder with copper-plated surface, in which small recesses (cells) carry the ink. The surface is then plated with hard chromium to improve its wearing properties, and the image is engraved using either a diamond-tipped tool or a laser. Ideal for long runs with high-quality images, fine details, and halftones. Roll sizes have a circumference of either 18” or 24”.
- Digital: Uses a 720dpi ink jet printer with a four-color process to achieve extremely high resolutions. Ideal for low-volume prints with multiple colors that are designed to tight registration, such as pictures or murals. Digital prints are not recommended for thermoformed parts.
After the printing process, your order moves to its final stage…
Quality and Inspection
Each product is put through our rigorous certification process and is tested extensively for flammability, toxicity, and smoke density. We ensure that they meet all necessary air travel certifications and standards, and are compliant with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations. Our fire safety labs are FAA certified for:
- OSU Heat Release Chamber, ASTM E904
- NBS Smoke Chamber, ASTM E662
- Toxicity testing using the colorimetric tube sampling method
- Vertical burn
- Horizontal burn
Click here for a complete list of our certifications. (link to a page with all certifications)
Items are individually inspected for any imperfections. Any item that doesn’t meet Schneller standards does not ship. Once the product meets final inspection, it is rolled or cut into identical-sized sheets then shipped to the customer. Installation workshops and training sessions are available to airlines on-site or at the airline manufacturing facility.
Facility
Our nearly 165,000-square-foot headquarters in Kent, Ohio, is a state-of-the-art production, engineering & technology facility that is fully equipped to produce solutions that meet all of your expectations for form, function, and regulatory compliance.
From custom compounding of complex polymer formulations, to high-performance coating, curing, printing, laminating, and embossing, our extensive capabilities establish us as the industry leader in developing and producing highly customized and innovative products and applications that are aesthetically pleasing and functional.
Our world-class manufacturing plant is certified to ISO 9001:2008 with Design & AS9100 Revision C.