Southbourne Rubber invest in state-of-the-art Zünd digital cutting technology

Founded in a small village between West Sussex and Hampshire, from where its name derived, Southbourne Rubber (SBR) has been prominent in the manufacture of industrial rubber (precision rubber and silicone components) since the 1970s.

With sustainability and renewable energy being hot topics, Southbourne Rubber were keen to lessen their impact on the planet and looked into new ways to achieve this. In 2021, Stephen Wilde visited the Advanced Engineering tradeshow at the NEC in Birmingham, where he came across the Zünd exhibition stand. Stephen said “ I was very impressed with the Zünd Cutter, especially the footprint, flexibility and ability to cut a wide range of materials with just a simple tool change. Furthermore, the Zünd cutter would support our ongoing efforts of reducing our carbon footprint by minimising the amount of rubber and silicone material wastage. The Zünd digital cutting system uses sophisticated nesting algorithms, programmed to maximise material yield, which in return reduces the amount of waste. I decided to follow up with Zund UK and book a product demonstration, so we can test our own materials.”