Taking the time to
do the research
and planning
every “ingredient” that
is required to design and
build the ultimate powder
coating finishing line
has paid off for this Kansas-based
company. Read
on to learn about how this
shop can now cater to its
clients and serve up exactly
what they order—one
load bar at a time.
It was roughly five years ago when JR
Custom Metal Products (JRCMP) Inc. in
Wichita, Kan., had been outsourcing so
many parts for finishing that the company
decided it made sense to put together a
finishing system of its own. According to
Jorge Martinez, vice president of sales and
marketing at JRCMP, “Once we made the
decision to build a powder coating finishing
line, we wanted to do it right.” So,
they started to attend industry events such
as the Powder Coating Show (now called
the Powder Coating Technical Conference
and Tabletop Exhibition), PCI Hands-On
Workshops and FABTECH. “We needed
to learn a lot,” says Martinez. “We took
everything to heart. We listened to all the
speakers at all the events we attended.
We learned about grounding, transfer
efficiencies and line density. We learned
about everything in general that we could
about powder coating, and from there we
figured out what kind of budget we would
need to put in a new, ultimate system.”
After talking with all the major
players, Martinez reveals that they chose
Midwest Finishing Systems to build
the system, and because JRCMP liked
IntelliFinishing’s conveyor system, they
incorporated that into the design as well.
Up to a Ton at a Time
“Because we are a job shop, we needed
a lot of flexibility. We wanted to blast on
the line, not offline. I never understood
why people do that—blast their parts
offline—so we chose the local LS Industries
for our blast system. As you load a
load bar, you select the recipe, and part of
that recipe will tell it if you want that load
bar to be blasted, what kind of fpm (feet
per minute) you want on the blast line so
we can change the aggressiveness—how
light or aggressive we want to go with the
blast profile. For instance, to manually
blast a 10-foot table would take 20-30
minutes. With the in-line system and a
recipe selected for 10 fpm, say, it would
only take 1 minute!”
Because JRCMP utilizes IntelliFinishing’s
unique, smart, conveyor system, it
really is the individual load bars—and
not the line speed—that determine how
each job is run. “We use load bars that
can hold up to 2,000 lbs. each. So, we
can select dual lanes and have multiple
substrates running all at one time because
we are selecting a recipe for each particular
load bar—not for the whole line.
There’s not very many in the industry
that can do this,” Martinez reveals.
The system uses a human machine
interface (HMI), and Martinez says this is
where IntelliFinishing really shines. “It is a
smart system, so we may have 10 different
customers we are running on that shift
and they are all intermixed—different
sizes, different substrates—and it doesn’t
matter. People don’t understand this
concept because everyone tends to base
things on line speed, but our system is
really based on the recipe for that one load
bar.” (See Recipe-Based Smart Controls in
the sidebar on the left side of page 34.)
Each bar is loaded off-line with
similar parts that can be finished using
the same recipe. The operator selects
the recipe for each load bar, loads it
to the line, and the smart system will
determine where that load bar is going.
“Our system is a little taller than most
systems,” Martinez says. “The window
size of the system is four feet wide by
five feet tall and 10 feet long.” Once therecipe is selected, the load bar is directed
through the line. If it will be blasted, it
goes to that station. JRCMP uses the
latest technology when it comes to
pretreatment.
“We use an alkaline cleaner, two
rinses, and a zirconium seal. We use
Lincoln Chemicals, a subsidiary of
Midwest Finishing Systems, and we have
worked with them from the beginning.
They really helped with building the right
washer with the right chemicals. We went
through a long period studying exactly
how we wanted the system to operate.”
It’s a four-stage washer and has two halo
rinses. One is a chemical that prevents
flash rust. “So, when we select a recipe,
we just pick one of the two halos. The
other halo is an RO rinse, and so we have
the option to select either.”
After pretreatment, the parts on the
load bar make their way to a dry-off oven
for a selected dwell time. Post dry-off,
the load bar enters a temperature and
humidity controlled environmental room.
The load bar indexes into the Parker
Ionics application system, then two offset
applicators use the Parker Ionics guns to
coat the parts. From there, parts travel to
a preselected lane within the dual-lane
cure oven and then eventually off the line
where, once cooled, parts are unloaded.
Recipe-Based
Smart Controls
Have you heard the saying that humans
only use 10 percent of their brains? Similarly,
traditional finishing systems don’t take
advantage of the power and capability that
a control system offers.
With the addition of recipe-based controls,
parts are grouped by part families,
with the recipe dictating the process times.
Each carrier may be processed in a different
way as they move through the system. In
addition, a unique feature of this type of
system is the ability to change speeds in
a process—like blast, wash, or cure—allowing
for extra time in a stage for extra
processing.
These controls allow your complete
finishing system to operate with maximum
efficiency and do the following:
- Control each component of the
system independently according to
the part recipe.
- Adjust component variables, like
wash time, wash pressure, oven
temperature, oven air turns and
oven part time depending on the
part recipe.
- Track and record part data for prod
uct validation and analysis.
- Run dissimilar products back to back
for“lean” product flow
- Scale production up or down without
sacrificing quality.
- Interface your finishing system to
your MRP or ERP system, if desired.
- View your entire facility, part
processes and productivity through
single-point visibility from any HMI
station and from any computer with
web access.
Giving Back
Learning life skills, building community,
developing potential, sharing skills,
offering support, creating possibility—all
of these are goals that Starkey Inc., an
organization in Wichita, Kan., strives
to achieve for adults with disabilities.
Their mission statement reads: “Starkey
nurtures development and promotes
independence of people with intellectual
disabilities.”
Starkey’s Work Activity program
provides training and in-house contract
work for these individuals. Staff trainers
help them develop and improve their
skills and increase their earning potential.
More than 70 local businesses contract
with Starkey to complete a variety of jobs.
The Supported Employment program
provides placement, training and ongoing
support services to individuals with
disabilities in regular and integrated
employment settings within the community.
This program assists individuals in
choosing, obtaining and retaining employment that meets
their individual needs.
It just so happens that Jorge Martinez
serves on the board at this organization
and he has been able to provide employment
to some of Starkey’s workforce.
“Our hooks and racks are run through
only twice before they are cleaned. This
allows for the best first-pass transfer
efficiency,” Martinez says. “So, we installed
a burn-off oven to clean those hooks and
racks, but once they are burned off, they
have to be cleaned of the ash. We contract
with Starkey for this part of the process.
They are able to have the responsibility of
working and we are able to help part of
our community. I feel that it is important
that we give back to our community in
any way that we can—with our time, our
money or our skills.
From Then ’Til Now
The 24,000 square-foot expansion
cost JRCMP approximately $5.3 million
and has allowed the company to make a
name for itself as a leading fabricator and
custom powder coater in the Midwest.
They have come a long way since 1974,
when the company was founded in the
garage of the late Jesus Raul Martinez
Sr., and his equipment consisted of one
welder, one press brake and his hand
tools. In 1979, Martinez Sr. opened his
first building, a 7,000 square-foot facility.
By the end of 1990, he had five buildings,
which consisted of 35,000 square-feet of
manufacturing space. Initially, much of
the work the company did was for the
meat packing industry, though that has
changed over time.
Today, four siblings—including Patty
Koehler, the president and CEO; Jorge
Martinez; Raul Martinez, Jr.; and Maria
Kailer—all work together to run the company, which now consists of 125,000
square-feet of facilities—and continues to
grow. They make products targeted to many
industries, including agriculture, aviation,
construction and renewable energy.
It was 1998 when JRCMP built at its
current location on West Street Ct. in
Wichita, and when they knew they were
going to expand its facility, they chose to
stay in the Wichita area, despite having
been offered land in Oklahoma. “We were
offered land to go there,” says Koehler. “It
came down to our principles. We decided
we needed to stay here. Wichita is our
home, and these are our roots. It makes us
feel proud when we have an opportunity
to help our community move forward by
expanding and creating jobs,” she says.
Once they had a plan for the layout
and what the footprint would look like,
Martinez says they spoke with the local
fire marshal and with the gas company
—because of the gas-fired ovens—as
well as with the city about water. “It
just so happens that my brother-inlaw
is one of the head guys at the gas
company, so we talked about delivery
of gas because of all the ovens. We
really delved into all the different
requirements.” This was important
when it came to water treatment, too.
JRCMP already uses an “easier”
chemical in its alkaline cleaners and
zirconium, but it was attending all
the conferences and really listening to
the speakers, according to Martinez,
that guided them from the beginning.
“We wanted to do it right, right from
the start.” And it seems that they did,
because now the water department and
the fire marshal are telling other coaters
in the area to use JRCMP as a model for
their businesses
So, after years of forethought and
planning and performing their due
diligence, JRCMP finished the multimillion-dollar
installation in November
2016 and its testing by December. They
were ready in January 2017 to show off
their creation and opened the new facility
to five of its biggest OEMs first. Then
the next day they had an industry Open
House. “We really made a big splash
with everyone,” Martinez says. “And the
new facility ended up being a showroom
floor of sorts with all the new equipment.
All that forethought and planning
really was a recipe for success.”
They have been up and running for
several months now, and except for
“just a few hiccups, which is to be
expected with any new installation, things have been running like butter,”
according to Martinez.
Dessert, Anyone?
When asked what’s next for JRCMP,
Martinez says that the addition of the new
building will allow for more expansion
opportunities in the future. For instance,
they left room for a reclaim booth.
“As we’ve grown, we’ve grown different
sectors of the business,” Martinez
says. “We’ve always been a company
that’s tried to stay up with technology,
and this new facility has the latest technology
out there.”
As the Martinez siblings have grown
the business, Koehler says a plan to
involve the family’s third generation more
in the company’s management has taken
shape. Part of that plan was for Eddie
Koehler, Patty’s son, to manage the powder
coating facility. In this family-run operation,
however, there are no handouts. All
the necessary training and professional
development has to take place before leadership
positions are assigned.
Since expressing an interest to run
the paint facility, Koehler, 33, has been
under the tutelage of his Uncle Jorge,
learning, watching and waiting, and Because JRCMP utilizes IntelliFinishing’s
unique, smart, conveyor system, it really
is the individual load bars—and not
the line speed—that determine how each
job is run. Each load bar can hold up
to one ton
When the facility opened in January, all
the patience and hard work paid off—
Koehler and Martinez have been running
the powder coating facility together,
“And it’s been great,” the mentor and
teacher, Martinez, says.
“Our grandfather started the business,
but the real growth came from the
second generation,” Eddie Koehler says.
“Seeing all the sweat equity and the hard
work that went into it, there were times
when they sacrificed for the good of the
business. As kids growing up, we had
to realize that they had to take time to
grow the business. Following the second
Because JRCMP utilizes IntelliFinishing’s
unique, smart, conveyor system, it really
is the individual load bars—and not
the line speed—that determine how each
job is run. Each load bar can hold up
to one ton.
Take a tour of this facility at
www.powder-coat-system.com
Congratulations
POWDER COATING SYSTEM
on your new
generation, we have some big shoes to
fill, but we have some of the best teachers
to show us the way.”
Martinez adds, “For our third generation,
they’re going to have skin in the
game now.”
As the half-dozen members of the
company’s third generation continue to
grow into positions of leadership, Martinez
said the possibilities are virtually
limitless for JRCMP in Wichita in the
coming years.
And that really is the icing on
the cake.
Sharon Spielman is editor of Powder Coated
Tough magazine. She can be reached via
email at sspielman@powdercoating.org
