Automated Finishing Systems: What If vs. What IF = With IF
Posted on Thursday, September 26, 2019
Automated Finishing Systems: What If vs. What IF = With IF
Successful businesses must deliver quality services or products with reliability. One error in the chain of delivery, including a marred finish, can derail and strain customer relationships for a lifetime. This is particularly true for businesses that rely on automated assembly lines and similar manufacturing processes—one hold-up can set off a chain reaction of logistical issues.
This is why it’s so important to invest in the right finishing system.
What If or What IF? That is the Question…
If you are in the market for a new finishing system, many durable and customizable options are available. However, there are several factors you should consider before deciding on a chain-based system or perhaps something more flexible.
Perhaps, you should be thinking “what IF” (IF = IntelliFinishing) instead of a chain system?
What if you could paint ALL your parts from small to the large on the same system?
- With IF (IntelliFinishing) you’ll have the flexibility to paint all the parts and not just the most common denominator of parts as most chain systems are designed to do. With IF, each load bar of your parts has its own recipe per process (pre-treatment, dry, finish, cure, etc.) without affecting any other carrier of parts on the system.
What if you could have an Automated Finishing System that could save 30 to 40% on BTU and kWh usage as well as output product 15 to 30 percent faster than same sized chain-based systems?
- With IF, there are no chains, which can soak up to 23% of the BTU’s in each oven. That savings in energy goes straight to the bottom line. Additionally, IF ovens have commonly have doors to conserve energy and multiple straight lanes rather than serpentine designs that waste energy. Plus, with IF, manual processes that introduce gaps in the line can be made up via variable speed of carriers per section. In effect, carriers can catch up to other carriers in front of them during non-process steps, preserving the desired production rate and avoiding running the system longer or on off days to make up for the deficit.
What if someday you want to integrate a new paint, powder, or chemistry into your finishing, but it requires different cure or wash times than your existing or traditional system is capable of handling?
- With IF, new paint or powder cure times can be implemented without affecting other process aspects. Ultimately, IntelliFinishing can provide a flexible system and custom end-product, adapting more easily to new chemical processes.
What if you need higher salt spray hours or much better finish quality without contamination from chain debris?
- With IF chain debris contamination can be eliminated from your operations. Friction Tube driven conveyors eliminate chain lubrication and resulting debris, allowing you to increase part finish quality, reduce re-work, reduce operational costs, and improve plant cleanliness.
What if someday you need to add a new product that has a much longer or shorter cure time than your current mix of products?
- With IF, the finishing of parts with longer or shorter cure times is based on each load bar’s recipe. By providing multi-lane ovens, you can keep production on schedule by routing faster-curing items past slower curing items - an extremely difficult accommodation to make when using a chain-based system.
What if you need more total throughput, but you’re stuck at a fixed or inflexible line speed?
- With IF, not only can line speed be controlled per section of track as needed without affecting other stages, additional processes that typically bottleneck production, often oven cure times, for example, can be added with new loops of track and more oven, dramatically increasing throughput. And, between processes, load bars can travel 20 to 60 fpm reducing non-productive time on the system. Standard chain-based systems are not designed for these types of changes in capabilities.
What if you need to add a new load or unload area, a wash, a dry off process, more cure oven, or even add powder coating to a liquid system or visa-versa?
- With IF, in-place systems can be augmented with new process segments much easier than chain systems. Partly because of its “erector-set” conveyor construction, but also because of modular, pre-fabricated components, system adds are far easier and faster to set up – often with little to no system downtime.
What if you need to move your whole line to another location in your facility or elsewhere?
- With IF, your system will be built with mobility and your future growth in mind, so relocation or reconfiguration of lines can be achieved if planned for with relative ease, providing a premier finishing tool that scales alongside your business’ needs.
What if you want to save on cart and fork traffic from point A to point B?
- With IF, as project aspects are phased in, extending systems to integral parts of your operations, such as, from fabrication or to assembly/shipping, can save a ton on cart and fork traffic, meaning less disruption to processes, less waste of movement, and fewer hazards for workers.
What if you need to conserve on footprint but you have long parts that require wide turns?
- With IF, chainless, friction-driven conveyors can eliminate area-consuming turns by using lateral shuttles or space-saving deadhead turns, propelling the carrier with a spinning tube which allows for both forward and backward movement to accommodate various part processing. IntelliFinishing solutions often result in as much as a 30% smaller footprint than regular chain-based systems for longer parts.
What if your very, very old system collapses in a heap?
- With IF your operations will benefit from an up-to-date solution that features innovative modular construction rated for 99% uptime and a long-lasting lifespan, providing for a safer work environment and unparalleled ROI.
Putting the IF in ‘What If’
IntelliFinishing is a complete finishing systems provider. IF’s revolutionary modular conveyor solution and smart control technology allows individual sections of the conveyor belt to move independently in both speed and direction throughout the entire system, allowing for each process area to act independently from the others. Simply put, an IF system offers the ultimate in flexibility and scalability to obtain the highest quality and throughput for your operations.
If quality and efficiency are key to your business, IF, i.e. IntelliFinishing is the answer to What if! To learn more about how to optimize your finishing system with the most flexible, efficient and reliable powder coating systems available today, go to www.whatifsystems.com to view our videos page and see the IF difference!