Ideas are the first step in the Nordic Manufacturing Procedure. Our customers throughout the US and Canada are always seeking better ways of improving their products and ours to meet the growing needs of the underground electrical industry. This quest for better and more cost effective products brings us to the drawing board, namely, computer aided drafting known as CAD. Our engineers gather the necessary information for designing the Nordic product to meet the exact specifications outlined by the customer. 
    Sometimes existing Nordic products are reinforced, modified, or new products are simply manufactured based on the application desired. Figure 1. depicts a standard Nordic male mold for a box pad.
After the drawin gs have been compl eted, the actual manufacturing procedure begins. First, the Nordic design team designs the wood male plug based on the CAD drawing. A female plug will be made from the male wood plug and become the pattern for the future fiberglass male molds.  Once the male mold is fabricated from the female plug, it is taken to one of the many Nordic plants where it is coated with wax and a fiberglass part is made from this unit. The mold is waxed to keep the sprayed on resin and fiberglass from sticking to the fiberglass mold. The waxed mold is then sprayed with resin and chopped glass by a machine called a chopper-gun. One experienced Nordic plant person sprays on the resin and chopped glass to a uniform thickness throughout the part's area. After the initial spraying, the fiberglass is rolled out by a means of a aluminum corrugated roller which helps release air from the fiberglass.  Once rolled out, the Nordic crew applies a layer of woven roving and wraps it around the entire part from side to side and top to bottom. Woven roving is a continuous filament which adds more strength to the product than one made out of plain chopp ed glass (see figure 2). 

After this layer is sprayed with resin and rolled out, another layer of chopped glass is applied and rolled out. The woven roving is sandwiched in between the chopped glass. See Figure 3.
After the part has had some time to cure, it is popped from the mold and weighed. On the inside of every box pad, you will find the weight, the month and year of manufacture, and the initials of the operator who produced the part or box pad. Nordic plant personnel produce thousands of box pads each year. One of the ways Nordic makes sure each box pad is uniform in thickness is to measure it by the use of 1/4” stainless steel depth gauge. A plant person simply pokes the gauge into the wet fiberglass to see if it conforms to the desired thickness. Our engineering department has found that a layer of chopped glass, then a layer of woven roving, and yet another layer of chopped glass (see figure 4) combines for a unit with virtually the same required depth each time it is made.
Next a person attaches the part to a chain hoist and weighs it. Over the years, Nordic has calculated the weights of each particular unit by surface area calculations. From this point the person who weighs the box pad also checks it for a flat top surface. If the unit is below the calculated weight or if the top surface isn’t level, the sprayer will spray an extra layer of fiberglass on the insufficient areas to bring the unit into conformity. 
     After being weighed, it goes to the sanding room, where the sander sands the edges of the flange and the downturned lip around the top opening. This person also makes sure the sidewalls and top are free of any stray glass by lightly sanding them. The top surface will also be rechecked with a straight edge to ensure a straight level mounting surface. This operation allows the person to go over the entire box pad. If the person finds fault with it, it is sent back to production. If it is acceptable, it goes on to the painting area of the plant.  The paint or surface coat is hand-painted or sprayed so that the entire product is carefully coated to guard against Ultra-Violet attack.  

This surface coat contains a NPG Isophthalic UV stabilizer that will provide maximum protection from UV light. Our products have gone through extensive weathering and UV tests. The weathering test data results from DSET Laboratories using the EMMAQUA test method show the results of the equivalent of two standard ultra-violet light years. These tests depict no change in Fiber Show or Fiber Bloom. It also shows no worse than a “Good” rating on General Appearance and Color Change. An alternate test for UV resistance can be the ASTM-70 test method with a maximum of change of 2.3 MacAdam Units after one thousand hours of exposure in a model 65WR Atlas Weatherometer.
After the surface coat has been applied, the box pad is once again gone over completely and inspected for irregularities. (See Figure 5). If no irregularities are found, it continues on its journey to the perso n who will install the floatin g nut asse mblies. These floating nuts are used for helping to hold down a transformer or cover. Once the floating nut assemblies are installed, it moves to the shipping department where it is labeled with a shipping label and palletized. 
The product has reached its “end of the road” journey at Nordic Fiberglass. It is now time for it to begin its path to a destination in the US or abroad and fulfill the purpose it was designed for.
Each of Nordic Fiberglass’s products accomplish a purpose for the underground electrical industry. To guarantee this accomplishment, we incorporated a THIRTY YEAR WARRANTY that warrants our fiberglass products for a period of thirty years against failure due to loss of strength through degradation when used under normal environmental conditions. Acts of God are excluded.
 We believe that the thousand of products produced each year will be the thousands of products still doing their job thirty years from now.