Painting Process in automobile industry

By Tanya M. Anandan, adding publisher

Some might be seduced by their particular elegant, fragile motions. But don’t be fooled. Manufacturing paint robots are relentless perfectionists, control freaks if you will, that are bound and determined to shine that beats all others.

These industrial workhorses create virtually flawless paint finishes with superhuman consistency and throughput. Like a Jedi knight, they slash running costs and product waste. They’re fearless when confronted with dangerous VOCs, combustible paint fumes as well as other ecological foes. Robotic artwork is really as much a skill since it is technology.

“It’s not just about volume any longer, ” claims Chad Henry, us product sales management at Stäubli Corporation in Duncan, sc. “There will also be high quality and persistence aspects. You've probably a low-volume, high-dollar component. Cosmetically, this element should be perfect. You simply cannot get repetitive performance with handbook operation.”

The days are gone whenever robotic painting was set aside for only huge OEMs with deep pockets. As with any robotics technology, paint robots became much more viable for top-tier provider bases into the automotive and transport sectors. They’re also gaining floor in smaller, basic commercial programs, in which apprentices tend to be poised to explore the tried-and-true ways of early adopters.

"There’s little debate anymore concerning the quality of automation when compared with manual paint application among the automotive business, ” states Ed Minch, Director of Sales & Engineering-Automotive/General Industries at Kawasaki Robotics (USA) Inc. in Wixom, Michigan. “The justification for purchase modifications using the economy, the price of fuel, consumer self-confidence … Everybody is screaming for more ability at present.”

He states the mentality is beginning to trickle-down to many other sectors. “Paint is an extremely complex process. it is dangerous work; it is effort. it is much easier to show someone how-to plan a robot than its to instruct them how exactly to color.”

“Trending technology is obviously operating toward decreasing waste, power usage, period time, impact and capital equipment, ” claims Minch. “Robots must be lighter, less obtrusive and much more efficient, with greater get to capacity, while processing more detailed and complex components. Streamlined robot and applicator designs additionally the power to do more work in less area have become extremely important. Most Of These things lead to cleaner, high quality processes, with minimal manual involvement.”

Top-Tier Paint Lines
Headquartered in Warren, Michigan, SRG international Inc. and its subsidiaries are a Tier 1 supplier of painted and chrome-plated synthetic elements when it comes to automotive, commercial truck and family device industries. Global, SRG international employs significantly more than 50 painting robots. The company has actually high-volume robotic paint outlines at three of its manufacturing services in Newbern, Tennessee; Morehead, Kentucky; and Boleslawiec, Poland.

“We specialize in artwork automotive outside components: human anatomy side moldings, grilles, lamp bezels, screen surrounds, something that has a coated finish and connects to your human body of this vehicle, ” claims Aaron Watters, Paint region Manager at SRG Global in Newbern, Tennessee.

SRG Global’s paint outlines utilize pedestal-mounted, 6-axis articulating robots for primer, basecoat and clearcoat applications. The elements become sprayed tend to be mounted on fixtures, or paint racks, which continually overlook the robots on conveyors. Under the covers are Fanuc paint robots.

“The robots that we utilize at our Morehead and Newbern facilities are the same robots which they used to paint vehicle systems in automotive industrial facilities, ” states Watters. The robots are incorporated with a conveyor tracking system maintain track of where in actuality the parts have reached any given minute. The parts are always going for maximum amount through system.

The robots are observed on both sides for the conveyor. Watters says this helps with paint utilization. “The overspray in fact lands regarding the as well as side sides for the part regarding the opposing part of your paint accessories, which means you have optimum paint coverage that way.”

SRG worldwide comes with robotic paint methods at three other manufacturing facilities, which employ smaller, pedestal-mounted robots and smaller paint stands for second-finish programs.

A Broad Palette
With a shrinking supplier sequence to your automotive OEMs, discover mounting force on suppliers to allow for even more car brands and designs. Plus faster works and fast changeovers are becoming typical rather than the exceptions.

Changed in 2001 from a vintage Penguin Putnam book distribution center, SRG Global’s 433, 000-square-foot Newbern facility is recognized as high tech in plastic materials molding and painting. The Tier 1 supplier’s paint robot integrator describes.

“This plant in Newbern might be one of several nicest paint stores inside U.S. the key huge difference is the fact that this option knew once they built the plant that they wanted to deal with different products, ” claims Michael McLaughlin, President of Generic techniques Inc. in Sylvania, Ohio. “The implication is that you’re going to run many part types, but you’re in addition going to operate a lot of colors.”

Ordinarily, a paint robot might be operating a regular color changer which has 16 colors, ” explains McLaughlin. “That would-be typical in automotive; they make 16 colors of vehicle systems. But for the companies, they could get more work should they paint much more colors. That Specific plant can perform working in excess of 300 manufacturing colors.”

McLaughlin says every one of the lines feeding into SRG Global’s basecoat color robots tend to be piggable. A piggable system uses a bullet-shaped foam unit called a ‘pig’ which, at the end of a color run, is shot through paint system with compressed air and a minimal amount of solvent to force paint out from the outlines. This minimizes color-change some time paint/solvent waste.

“These dudes takes any work simply because they have actually an endless color palette, ” claims McLaughlin. “I’ve got to control it to them. That They Had the foresight to get it done in that way.”