What Goes Up, Must Come Down: How a Shade Maker’s Turnkey Powder Installation Moves Product Efficiently
Posted on Saturday, February 1, 2014
Edited by Sharon Spielman
Rainier’s newly acquired screen and awning production
facility was designed so the mill-finish inventory
was stored, cut to order, cleaned, and powder coated
upstairs. The final assembly and shipping functions were
planned to be downstairs in a clean environment. The challenge
that the Rainier planners faced was how to transport
the powder coated parts downstairs. The existing architecture
of the building was well suited for the screen and shade
products that Rainier manufactures, with the exception of a
good means to transport the powder coated parts down to the
assembly area.
Rainier established a small team, headed by Bruce
Blunt, a member of the corporate engineering and facilities
team at Rainier, to develop a manufacturing plan for the
new facility.
The team considered several manufacturing layouts. The
upstairs area is about 80 x 240 ft and was the obvious place
to put a powder coating operation with an overhead conveyor
that would bring parts through a spray booth and into
a cure oven. The problem was how to efficiently transport
the powder coated parts downstairs to the production area.![](/Portals/0/Image1WhatGoesUp.jpg)
Each batch of parts includes several long
extrusions that range in length from 6 to
25 ft. The team decided that moving the
parts down the existing stairs or around
the building was impractical. A concept
was developed that required a custom
variation of Richards Wilcox’s powerand-
free conveyor and a very large hole in
the floor.![](/Portals/0/Image2WhatGoesUp.jpg)
Most of the system was conventional,
but to keep Rainier’s long extrusions
stable as the conveyor transported them
down to the lower level was the key to
making the system efficient. Rainier partnered
with Pneu-Mech Systems, a turnkey
paint and powder systems supplier
located in Statesville, N.C., to finalize
the design and construct this innovative
system.
Opening Up
The plan required that a large opening
be cut through the nearly foot-thick
concrete floor. The opening allows powder
coated parts to be conveyed from the
paint line to assembly automatically. “We
had to also build and install a hefty support
structure around this opening because
cutting out the concrete also meant
cutting through a number of structural
support beams,” says Blunt. “The process
had its fits and starts for sure, but within
a couple of weeks, the large passageway
was complete.”
A team of engineers from Pneu-Mech,
along with engineers from conveyor supplier
Richards Wilcox and Rainier’s inhouse
staff, devised a unique system that
keeps the parts perfectly level as they
descend from one floor to the next. The
power-and-free system automatically indexes
the wide range of aluminum extru-
sions from a load station into the powder
coating booth, then from the booth to the
cure oven, and finally downstairs to the
assembly area.![](/Portals/0/Image3WhatGoesUP.jpg)
“The team did a great job planning
an innovative part handling system” says
William Warlick, Rainier’s Statesville plant
manager. “With just a few minor tweaks
after startup, the system was performing
just as we hoped,” he says.
“The team did a great job planning
an innovative part handling system” says
William Warlick, Rainier’s Statesville plant
manager. “With just a few minor tweaks
after startup, the system was performing
just as we hoped,” he says.
In the Statesville plant, Rainier manufactures
retractable screen and awning
systems for residential and commercial
use. Because these screens and awnings
need to look beautiful and work flawlessly
despite exposure to the most brutal and
abusive weather conditions, Rainier chose
powder coating for the finish to help
protect their product. “A powder coated
finish provides us with unmatched
aesthetics and durability,” says Warlick.
“Also, as a 110-year-old company
that’s always been closely linked with
the outdoors and a clean environment,
powder fits the company goal to continually
look for innovative ways to incorporate
eco-friendly materials into their
long-lasting products.”
Tip-Top Finish
The finishing process begins when high
quality aluminum extrusions are measured
and cut to size for each order. These
parts are cleaned and all the part surfaces
are prepared for powder coating. Careful
surface preparation ensures that the
powder adheres strongly aluminum’s the
metal surface.
The new powder line, installed in
2013 by Pneu-Mech, features a custom-
designed powder booth with opposing
powder collector cartridges. This de-
wall to initiate the color change procedure.
The user-friendly controls allow
Rainier to make frequent color changes
with a minimum amount of time and
labor and without fear of cross-contamination.
Because each powder also has its
own optimum application settings, the
operator can select from pre-programmed
recipes and/or fine tune the Wagner powder
handgun settings right from a digital
control panel built into the powder
booth wall.![](/Portals/0/Image5WhatGoesUP.jpg)
After a full set of parts is coated, the
rack is indexed into the direct-fired gas
convection cure oven. The oven was designed
for maximum energy efficiency inside
and out. While the side-wall plenum
design provides uniform heating for the
range of powder coated parts without stirring
up airborne contamination, the oven’s
4-in insulated panels help to contain
the heat and keep the floor, sides and top
of the oven’s exterior cooler to the touch.
Each rack of parts indexes twice inside
the oven so that the strong, but lightweight,
aluminum parts are fully cured in
less than 30 minutes.
The cure oven also features automated
entry and exit doors to ensure the oven
maintains a uniform temperature profile
in the process chamber while keeping the
plant comfortable for Rainier’s workers.
A centrally located programmable logic
controller (PLC) allows supervisors to set
key operating parameters and monitor
the conditions of the powder booth, cure
oven and conveyor system using a simple,
graphic, touch screen display.![](/Portals/0/Image4WhatGoesUP.jpg)
The dual rail conveyor was engineered
to accommodate Rainier’s own custom-designed
flight bars. The flight bars are designed
to hold the various bits and pieces
that make up each set of built-to-order
awnings or screens. From a technical
standpoint, the racking arrangement also
provides excellent electrostatic grounding
to ensure that each part can be uniformly
coated with consistent electrostatic wrap
as the powder coating is applied.
The dual rail conveyor was engineered
to accommodate Rainier’s own custom-designed
flight bars. The flight bars are designed
to hold the various bits and pieces
that make up each set of built-to-order
awnings or screens. From a technical
standpoint, the racking arrangement also
provides excellent electrostatic grounding
to ensure that each part can be uniformly
coated with consistent electrostatic wrap
as the powder coating is applied.
“It’s a very simple—maybe deceptively
simple—finishing system,” says Warlick.
“Like the design of the Rainier awning
and screen products we make here,
our vision from the outset was to install
a powder coating line that was robust,
easy to use, and hassle free by doing good
planning and by purchasing well-made
components from the best suppliers. That
decision wasn’t the cheapest up front, but
it was one that provides us with a good
payback every day.”
Sharon Spielman is editor of Powder Coated
Tough magazine. She can be reached via
email at sspielman@powdercoating.org.