Each tested condom gets a shot of lubrication and flavouring before it is sandwiched between two pieces of foils ― Picture by Yusof Mat Isa More KUALA LUMPUR, June 13 ― Condoms, thanks to the advancement of technology, come in various types.
You may be surprised to know that the world’s largest condom manufacturer with the production capacity of five billion condoms yearly is head-quartered in Port Klang, a 45-minute drive southwest of Kuala Lumpur
Karex, which began as a small family business in 1988 in Johor, is now the global leader in condom and lubricant manufacturing with operations across Malaysia, Thailand, United States and United Kingdom
Every day, the company produces millions of condom in dozens of varieties for broad range of clientele including governments, non-governmental organisations, brand owners and retailers in over 130 countries around the world
Every day, Karex produces millions of condoms in dozens of verities for a broad range of clientele in over 130 countries worldwide ― Picture by Milad Hassandarvish More Karex also has various brands under its portfolio which include Carex, ONE, Pasante and bespoke condom label called TheyFit
They also have a whole menu of flavoured condom including teh tarik, durian and nasi lemak
But have you ever wondered how does a giant condom-maker like Karex churn out millions of condoms every day to keep up with the global demand?
To better understand the processes, Karex granted Malay Mail access to see what goes on within the walls of its fascinating Klang factory, where about two million condoms are produced daily
Clad in lab coat, disposable bouffant cap and shoe cover, we headed to the production line to check-out the thorough manufacturing procedure
At Karex, there are four major steps to making latex condoms: dipping, testing, foiling and then packaging it to be shipped out all over the world
A long row of cleaned cylindrical glass formers are dipped in liquid latex and ammonia mix to get their first coating ― Picture by Yusof Mat Isa More Dipping
The process starts with a vat of milk-like latex and ammonia mix, which has a pretty strong and distinctive smell
The ammonia is typically used to stop liquid latex from clotting
To turn the liquid latex into rubbery condoms, a long row of cleaned cylindrical glass formers, which come in different sizes, are dipped into latex to get their first coating.
The formers are rotated to ensure the latex is evenly spread around the glass rods
After the first coating, the formers will travel through a hot oven to dry out the latex
After each coating, the formers pass through a hot oven to dry out the latex ― Picture by Yusof Mat Isa More Story continues It will then pass through a blower to cool down the first layer before they take a second trip through the vat for another dipping to make the condoms thicker and more durable
Following the second dipping and drying process, the condoms will enter the beading station to form the bead
They will then go through two leaching tanks to be free of excess protein and chemicals
Finally, the condoms will be stripped out from the rods with water pressure before they all end up in the collecting tank
Next, they will be washed, powdered with corn starch and dried in a specially-designed washing machine and a tumbler machine respectively
Testing
Once the condoms are dried, it’s time to put them through their paces
The stringent testing procedure at Karex is divided into two major categories to assess both the untested and tested condoms
The goal is to reduce the chance of breakage and leakage to zero
To do so, random samples from every two-hour batch is handpicked and triple-tested using different methods, including burst test, electrolyte test and water leak test
The burst test involves filling a condom with air to bursting point to check the condom’s strength and elasticity
According to international standards, each condom should be able to hold 18 liters of air before it bursts
But, if it bursts before that, the condom is considered defective and further tests will be done on the batch
The electrolyte test check the condoms for any pinholes, defects or flaws using water and electricity ― Picture by Yusof Mat Isa More Next, the sampled condoms will be put to the test using water and electricity
The electrolyte test will check the condoms for any pinholes, defects or flaws
Lastly, the remaining samples will be filled with water and squeezed around by human testers to visually inspect the condoms for signs of leaks
Staff inspect the condoms for signs of leaks by squeezing them around ― Picture by Yusof Mat Isa More Once the batch passes the tests, every single condom will be loaded onto an electronic mandrel machines to test them for pinholes and thin spots
After that, the condoms will be rolled up and sorted into “accepted” and “rejected” buckets depending on the test result.
Staff load the condoms onto an electronic mandrel machines to be tested and rolled up ― Picture by Yusof Mat Isa More Just because Karex places customer’s safety a top priority, another batch of samples will be randomly selected from the tested condoms for additional round of testing
This is to examine the mandrel machines’ efficiency
The condoms that pass the final test end up in the ‘accepted’ bucket ― Picture by Yusof Mat Isa More Additionally, the factory also collects 900 retention samples from every lot (collective of several batches) daily to be kept at the company’s storeroom for five years
Foiling and packaging
After the rigid quality testing, the condoms will be ready for packaging
The rolled condoms are manually placed on a conveyer belt for packaging ― Picture by Milad Hassandarvish More The rolled condoms will be manually placed on a conveyer belt to get a shot of lubrication and flavouring before it is sandwiched between two pieces of foils
The sealed foil will then be cut into individual pieces and go into boxes, which comes in various shapes and sizes
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