USA/UK

Factory

KONG FACTORY, WHERE IDEAS AND PRODUCTS ARE BORN

The entire production cycle, from design to packaging, takes place within the 10,000 square metre factory in Monte Marenzo (LC) Italy, where each piece of PPE is tested piece by piece and sold worldwide.

We can proudly say that we are first and foremost manufacturers:

  • Our staff carry out their daily activities with passion, to produce quality systems that guarantee maximum safety
  • our robots test 100% of the connectors by pulling them at about 70% of the marked load
  • our operators check 100% of the products by assessing their perfect functionality and appearance

This is Kong!

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Production

Mechanical processing

Bending, plastic deformation, cutting and other mechanical processing are carried out with machines and tools tailored specially designed by our technical department.

Bending

Numerous bending machines shape metal bars into an embryonic version of the carabiner.

Plastic deformation

Powerful presses mould the semi-finished products, imprinting the contours necessary to increase the strength of the products and giving the characteristic shapes of each model.

Heat Treatments

Annealing, quenching and the ageing of aluminium alloys, steel and manganese bronze are particularly delicate production stages, carried out in automatic electric ovens with forced ventilation.

CNC machining

Some components are machined from solid material with numerically controlled tools that allow complex shapes to be obtained from blocks of raw material.

Turning

Carabiner gates and sleeves are produced from bars machined on automatic lathes; finished parts complete with threading, knurling and assembling holes come out of these machines.

Surface treatments

In this department, rough components are given a surface finish, removing sharp edges by tumbling and improving the aesthetic finish by sandblasting and polishing.

Water and laser cutting

These machines make it possible to cut flat components from a sheet; water cutting does not overheat the material and thus avoids burns and plastic deformation, laser cutting is used when smaller tolerances and greater production efficiency are required.

Assembly

The finished components are assembled manually or with semi-automatic machines before moving on to final check, packaging and then to the warehouse.

Laser marking

Laser technology makes it possible to reproduce lettering, marks and symbols with extreme precision, removing 3 to 4 microns of material.

Textile department

Factory sector that deals with the design and production of textile products such as slings, lanyards and webbing.

Checks and tests

3 Sigma sample checks

Connectors - and most of KONG's products - are classified as Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), requiring strict design constraints, checks at every stage of manufacture, and certification by external laboratories. Many products are checked by destructive testing on samples taken systematically from each production batch.

Tested PIECE by PIECE

All connectors are tested piece by piece, pulled by robots at about 70 per cent of the marked load, and checked by highly qualified operators for functionality and appearance.

Dynamic tests

There are two towers at Kong where falls from height are simulated and the loads to which the devices are subjected are measured.

Static tests

During the design phase and with sample checks for each production batch, the devices are broken by slow traction following the parameters set by the reference standards.

Controls on raw materials and semi-finished products

Strictly locally sourced, raw materials are checked on entry to verify that the mechanical characteristics are as required. At random for each batch, semi-finished products are checked before proceeding to the next stage of processing.

Warehouses and Packaging

Raw Material Warehouse

Raw materials are mainly bars, sheets or blocks of aluminium, stainless steel, carbon steel and brass, but also wood, plastic and composite materials. On receipt, checks are carried out before the material is stored in special warehouses.

Components Warehouse

Semi-finished products are produced and stored in this special warehouse. This makes order processing faster and more efficient. An automatic warehouse has recently been installed to speed up the picking of components.

Packaging

After being assembled and checked, the products are carefully packaged and taken to the final warehouse. Much attention is paid to the ecological aspect of packaging, and in recent years we have adopted a green policy using recyclable and environmentally friendly packaging.

In-house Printing

The advantage of having in-house printing machines is to reduce large quantities of paper waste. With this system, we are able to print the necessary amount of manuals "on demand", always up-to-date and in the languages required for sales in a given country.

Finished goods warehouse

Finished products are stored in this multi-level warehouse equipped with lifts; awaiting order and subsequent shipment.

Experience

Training centre

Kong is organised with a UNI EN ISO 9001 certified quality management system for the design and delivery of training services within the vocational education and training system, with particular reference to safety in the workplace.

Showroom

This is the showcase of our company. A real 400 sqm exhibition, where customers and visitors can view and touch the quality of our products.

Museum

In 2016, a small museum was set up in the company with the aim of collecting the memories of projects that were real 'Case Histories' for the company, keeping them alive as a stimulus and source of pride for employees in front of customers and visitors.

Kong airfield

Built in 1986, the airfield is private but for public use, as it is the only one in the province of Lecco. Often used to test our products dedicated to the aeronautical world, it is home to the "Volo Club Lecco Kong" and the "Pilota per Sempre" flight school.