IntelliFinishing Smart Controls: A Critical Component for a Flexible Automated Finishing System

In the world of automated finishing systems, not every solution is created equal. There are real differentiators that can improve and streamline processes while increasing both productivity and quality.

With its unique friction-driven conveyor, efficient washers and ovens, and recipe-based smart controls, the IntelliFinishing automated finishing system can increase throughput by 20%, nearly eliminate downtime, and adapt quickly to future changes in processes, coatings, and part specifications. This approach has been proven to reduce operational costs and allow for more flexibility and scalability than traditional chain-based automated finishing systems.  What truly sets IntelliFinishing apart from the rest, however, is our smart control technology.

Smart Controls Enable Smarter Production  

When it comes to developing the best system for finishing goods, the power of smart controls can make all the difference. But why are smart controls so important?

Smart controls in a flexible finishing system are imperative to allow for a recipe approach per carrier, so that each load of parts receives an optimal pre finish, the correct final finish, and the desired oven times based on the best process for the given parts. Smart controls also allow for integration with scanning technology, existing ERP systems, and order scheduling software, so items are identified at load per carrier so they can be monitored and tracked throughout the coating process. This real time and historical reporting and functionality enables faster identification of production line problems or efficiency gaps, allowing for direct optimization of these areas.

With Smart Controls, the entire system status can be viewed at a glance and recipes per carrier can be drilled into on the HMI screen or any networked, system-connected computer. Items that can be viewed include:

  • Process Phase Times
  • Production Details (such as parts or carriers per hour and square footage of application coverage)
  • Part and Order Details
  • Process Status and Trends (such as blast status, wash pressure and flow per stage, dry/cure oven temperatures, booth status/color applied, etc.)
  • Oven Time Remaining and Total Time/Temperature (logged per carrier processed)
  • Prime and Top-Coat Status Trends

Smart controls ensure each part receives its customer-specified coating, as well as empowering your finishing team, giving them the ability to review production data to find bottlenecks, verify quality by looking at environmental conditions, use recipes for accurate part processing, analyze historical data to find insights, and display work instructions at operator stations.

IntelliFinishing’s Recipe-Based Smart Controls

When it comes to an IntelliFinishing finishing system, though, the crucial differentiator is our recipe-based smart controls. This means that if a finisher has a wide variety of parts requiring different coating formulas, each carrier on the system can move independently through any process or zone, allowing for various finishing processes to occur simultaneously, i.e., carrier A can receive a shot blast before its wash while carrier B can bypass the shot blast if unnecessary; or carrier A can have a higher pressure wash in certain stages applied during the wash than carrier B; and perhaps most critical, carrier A might cure for more time than carrier B if the substrate is thicker and thereby demands more cure. Combined with multiple lane ovens, carrier B might actually pass carrier A, accelerating throughput without affecting any other operations. Operators simply select the desired recipe for each carrier directly from the HMI screen or recipes can be loaded based on order or part scanning technology.

With an IntelliFinishing system, operations become more efficient with users controlling and adjusting system components specific to the carrier recipe variables, including wash time, dry-off or flash time, color changes, cure oven temperature, and even part delivery to unload stations assigned by part type. Allowing for different products to be run back-to-back and for a wider variety of parts finishing, this unique flexibility delivers lean production flow and the ability to scale production up or down without sacrificing quality.

Complete Visibility with Smart Controls

Offering superior transparency into liquid or powder coating processes, the IntelliFinishing control system can also be interfaced with most MRP or ERP systems or used to display overhead time/countdown data or actual production versus goal production data. Also, a complete facility, a particular part process, and overall productivity can be viewed in real-time through a single source of visibility from any HMI station or web-accessible computer. Further, the HMI screen displays can display hanging or masking instructions and pull this information from PDF files, manuals, or mixed media sources such as videos.

Smart controls also reduce painting errors, notifying users of any color changes and keeping carriers outside the booth until a paint change has been acknowledged. And for those that finish specific parts only occassionally, previous recipe histories are stored and can be accessed by a search function based on past work orders, part numbers, day or time, or even color to ensure consistency from one batch to another batch of parts.

While many finishers may be familiar with our distinct modular friction-tube conveyor, our customers agree: it’s IntelliFinishing’s smart controls that have raised the bar in the finishing industry. Learn more about how our solutions bring greater efficiency and performance to finishing processes today.

IntelliFinishing: Flexibility by Design, Cost-Effective by Nature

IntelliFinishing is a complete finishing systems provider. Our industrial finishing solution has been used in a variety of manufacturing industries including agriculture equipment, aerospace, automotive parts, military and defense equipment, and construction equipment

When you purchase an IntelliFinishing system, there are obvious and not so obvious ways you’ll save on your total cost of operation. Below, we’ve highlighted a few you might not suspect. 

The IntelliFinishing System Difference

An IntelliFinishing system is more likely to be very efficient in production throughput because downtime incidents are minimized while part density can be maximized. The key difference is our revolutionary modular conveyor (better than power and free) and smart control technology, which allows individual sections of the conveyor to move independently in both speed and direction throughout the entire system.  This allows each process area—be it wash, coatings, cure or delivery—to act independently of the rest of the system, delivering ultimate system flexibility to obtain the highest quality and throughput.

Upping the Uptime

IntelliFinishing system conveyors are rated at automotive industry standards, which are at 99% uptime or better. Compare this to existing or even new chain-based automated finishing systems where 80% or less is not atypical, and it doesn’t take long to justify your decision to go with a more flexible, yet more reliable system. To truly envision the impact of high uptime on a system, let’s say your system is being designed to process 20 carriers per hour. Assuming you hit this mark every hour a day for a year for two shifts per day, this would be about 80,000 carrier (or loadbars) in a year. With an IntelliFinishing system’s rated 1% decrease due to downtime, then you would process 79,200 carriers of parts in a year, or a loss of 800 carriers processed from rated average capacity due to downtime.

Now, in contrast, let’s say you’re using a comparable chain system instead. Optimistically, if the system allows for 92% uptime, you will only process 73,600 carriers. This translates into 5,600 fewer carriers per year. When this number is multiplied by the average value of your parts on a carrier—for this example, let’s say the value is $400—it translates into $2,240,000 more in parts processed by the IntelliFinishing system, simply due to better uptime.  Of course, to determine your exact savings, you will need to supply your own estimates of how much you will run per day and value per loadbar of parts. However, it can be a significant improvement to have a system with very low downtime versus any other option, often paying for the difference in system price in a relatively short period of time.

Revving Up Routes

Rather than trying to load items on a moving chain as with monorail systems, IntelliFinishing carriers stop during loading. Consequently, hung parts can be packed more tightly, thus increasing part density, and ultimately, throughput per hour on the line. After hanging the parts, the carrier will typically move to the next process at a relatively high rate of speed—depending on weight loads, this could be 30 to 60 fpm—until it catches up with loaded carriers in front of it. This also gives the loaders extra cycle time to load parts in the most efficient manner.

But just because carriers can move at fairly high speeds between processes, it doesn’t mean that an IntelliFinishing system set of parts on a carrier will experience significant part sway. Section motors that spin the friction tubes are VFD (Variable Frequency Drive) controlled, so they accelerate and decelerate more gently than power and free conveyors. This reduces part sway so that items are less likely to bump each other as they travel from process to process, potentially marring a finish, while allowing for a tighter hanging strategy and greater part density.

Since production and throughput are maximized due to part density, an IntelliFinishing system can often run for fewer hours or shifts than its chain-based competition, contributing to additional savings in manpower needs, as well as gas, electric and water usage.

Potential Gas Usage Savings 

The ovens we use on IntelliFinishing Systems (supplied by Midwest Finishing Systems) are not only extremely energy efficient due to their superior construction and high R-value, but also have an automatic low fire mode (1/12 usage). The low fire mode kicks into action whenever the system knows there will be no carriers arriving for a specific amount of time, and is programmed into the computer-controlled system based on the specific ovens, running temperatures, time estimates from load to cure and each step in-between. Common examples of when a low fire mode may help save gas usage are during employee breaks or due to upstream bottlenecks of products arriving for painting. 

Potential Electrical Usage Savings

With an IntelliFinishing system, it’s possible that your facility will experience savings on Peak Demand or Power Factor, beyond just Usage—speak to your utility company to determine your tariff structure. Regardless, an IntelliFinishing system can save you money on these two common elements of power usage.

  • Peak demand, if and where applicable, is often a single 15-minute increment of time in any given month. It occurs when you reach your peak average usage (usually for the entire facility) for any applicable 15-minute usage periods within the month (some utilities use 20-minute increments).  Based on that 15-minutes of time, utilities will determine the monthly peak demand charges for your facility. In some regions, they may also apply ratchet charges for several months if you pass certain high thresholds of peak demand, all of which is typically laid out in the Utility’s tariff.

The point is, it can be thousands and thousands of dollars extra per month for peak demand caused by just one especially high 15-minute window, particularly if it triggers a ratchet clause. It’s common with traditional chain conveyors to turn the system on at the same time as all the other equipment in the plant, turning on all of the process equipment on the system simultaneously, or close to the same time. Therefore, peak demand will tend to be established each morning when “everything” gets turned on, including the paint system.

With your new IntelliFinishing system, you may see a decrease in peak demand. For instance, a plant can avoid some level of morning spike because IntelliFinishing’s low horsepower motors (typically either .5 or 1 hp depending on the weight classification) don’t turn on unless a carrier is present to be transported. Further, since they are on VFD’s, they ramp up slowly avoiding usage spikes. In other words, an IntelliFinishing system’s power demand is much lower and is dispersed throughout the day, unlikely to affect peak demand compared to other high-power, large drive chain systems.

  • Power Factor is the ratio of the real power absorbed by the load to the apparent power flowing in the circuit. In general, older motors are less efficient in power factor when compared to newer motors; thus, you may see an increase in your facility’s overall power factor with a new IntelliFinishing system.

The way power factor is typically charged is when you’re below a certain high threshold power factor—let’s say 85% to 90% power factor—you get hit with an additional charge for low power factor.  If you happen to be just short of hitting the threshold now, an IntelliFinishing system may help you reach that limit. Every location and each facility will have its own unique power factor rating based on the total equipment they employ and the supply of energy from their utility. Power factor is a compelling element to investigate when comparing other systems against an IntelliFinishing system.

Potential Water Usage Savings 

Unlike a typical chain-based system that’s unable to tell if products are present or not, and therefore, the wash runs all day long while the chain is running, an IntelliFinishing wash (supplied by Midwest Finishing System) will only power up when a carrier is present. This results in significantly less total water usage than most other automated systems.

Minimal Maintenance Costs and Time 

An IntelliFinishing system has minimal maintenance needs, but when maintenance is required, it rarely affects system uptime due to the distributed motor/sectional design of the system. The most commonly replaced items are the roller wheels that rub against the friction tubes. These are rated for 40,000 hours of usage and can be replaced in seconds due to their simple design. In fact, on IntelliFinishing’s lighter weight system (up to 800 lbs per carrier), rollers can be exchanged even when the carrier is in use without significant impact on system throughput. Belts, chains, and occasionally, motors may need to be swapped out, but this occurs very rarely, and again, takes very little time to accomplish.

Further, owners of chain systems spend quite a bit per year on chain lubricant. With a chainless IntelliFinishing system, there’s no need for chain lubricant, resulting in less cost and no damage to finish due to the dripping of lubricant on parts in the wash or elsewhere, as well as no lubricant dripping on floors, potentially causing slips and falls. And of course, without a chain, there’s no need to adjust for chain stretch continually or to replace the chain every few years.

Safety First

IntelliFinishing customer Hytrol Conveyor Company reported to us a 50% decrease in safety incidents in their paint department after converting to an IntelliFinishing system. Previously, common safety issues plaguing the company included slips or trips due to lubricant mixed with contaminants dripping on the floor from their power and free chain system, as well as injuries during efforts to “un-jam” the P&F chain using poles or other equipment. Chainless and lubricant-free, these are concerns that are eliminated with an IntelliFinishing system.

Employee Turnover

Compared to chain systems, an IntelliFinishing system is significantly quieter and not as uncomfortably hot to work around, resulting in a much more pleasant workplace. From the ability to pre-load parts offline on loadbars or online with more time to load a stationary target, to its high-tech system design and computer control, IntelliFinishing system customers report lower employee turnover with an IntelliFinishing paint system in place when compared to their previous systems. And while it may be challenging to quantify initially, you should count on a reduction in new employee onboarding time as well.

Maximizing Flexibility, Efficiency and Cost Savings

IntelliFinishing systems are known for being the most flexible automated finishing systems on the market, allowing for recipe control of finish processes by each carrier, as well as modular construction that allows for changes and superior adaptability over time. However, an IntelliFinishing system can deliver savings in many other ways, ultimately driving the cost per hour used well below competitive options, particularly whenever flexibility is required. Although IntelliFinishing systems are primarily used for metal finishing, they can also be used for finishing other products as well. Whether it’s powder coating or liquid coating, IntelliFinishing provides cost-effective automated systems that will change the way you think about paint lines.

Isn’t it time you spoke with IntelliFinishing about your finishing needs? Contact us at 785-309-0356 or check out our operating systems videos at www.intellifinishing.com.

Manufacturers Can Reduce Costs, Enjoy Greater Flexibility with New Ways to Paint

Manufacturing companies can often be slow to adopt new technology. It’s not because they have doubts about the potential; it’s typically because of the disruption of implementation. This especially true when it comes to finishing systems. Manufacturers may feel literally “chained” to the traditional chain systems. Today, we’re joined by John Claman, Sales Rep and Marketing Supervisor of IntelliFinishing to talk about what opportunities manufacturers have with alternatives to chain systems.

John said, “At some point, manufacturers will begin to see the need to upgrade their finishing systems for better quality and better throughput. This creates the need for automation and new technology. But it doesn’t come without challenges.”

The monorail system for parts finishing goes back to the days of Henry Ford and is still used in many settings. The problem with these chain conveyors is that they are very limited. They only go in one direction and at a certain speed. There’s really no way to customize, leaving manufacturers often unable to innovate.

John shared, “With a monorail system, you are locked into one speed. So, let’s say a new paint becomes available that has a shorter cure time. It would be hard for a business to use the new paint because they don’t have any control over timing.”

IntelliFinishing has rewritten the book on manufacturing painting systems with their friction tube system. It doesn’t use chains but rather has aluminum tubes connected to trolleys. It offers much more flexibility. “No chains mean you can scale and change the conveyor system based on your needs. And one of the greatest benefits of the system are that it can greatly reduce energy costs associated with idle equipment and heat loss,” John said

The difference in the friction tube system is that it can move forward and backward as well as have adjustable timers. Further, the way that ovens are used for curing is improved because the whole system doesn’t go in the oven, just the product. “We recently assessed a system for a customer and found that our system could reduce heat loss by 18%,” John commented.

Find out more about the IntelliFinishing system and how it’s changing manufacturing painting processes by listening to the podcast.

Lean Series Part IV: Eliminate Waiting Waste in Your Paint Process

Waiting waste defined:

The act of doing nothing or working slowly while waiting for a work cycle to be completed.

Standing idle or marking time waiting for instruction, materials or information results in waiting waste.

You pay for all of the time your employees spend waiting. This time is not adding value, therefore, your customers are not going to want to pay for it. Waiting time will come directly from your profit and every bit you can save will go right back into your profit. Frequently, waiting time is made up with overtime at a premium rate. While this is good for your employees, it is not so good for your profit.

What Causes Waiting Waste?

Waste begins long before production starts and is not just limited to production. Managers, buyers and operations personnel should also be part of the focus of waste elimination.

A few of the causes of waiting waste:

  • Unbalanced processes in flow (one process takes longer than the next)
  • Unreliable processes (maintenance, quality issues, information, change-overs, etc.)
  • Overproduction and Inventory (waiting for material to be delivered to the next process)

IntelliFinishing takes a lot of pride in the Lean capabilities that our complete paint system for manufacturers is able to provide for our customers. No matter the size of your system, we offer you choices to eliminate waste in almost every area of production.

Here are just a few of the areas that an IntelliFinishing paint system (liquid or powder coating) can eliminate waiting waste:

  • No production gaps or empty hooks (employees aren’t waiting for parts)
  • Minimal (1% or less) unscheduled downtime decreases cost of employees waiting for production to resume
  • Recipes (process can be pre-programmed for incoming parts)
  • ERP integration and product scheduling allows operators to load parts quickly
  • Eliminate bottlenecks with independently controlled zones

Empty hooks and production gaps can be eliminated when you purchase our system that includes state-of-the-art technology. Your labor costs may also be reduced by minimizing the production gaps in your system. If your current system has line gaps or time intervals between hooks or carriers creating costly waiting waste, we invite you to contact us to discuss the options our systems can provide for your production pains.

There are many ways an automated industrial finishing system with the latest technology can help to promote a healthy bottom line. Our expandable paint system for industrial manufacturers could be the paint system that you didn’t know you were looking for!

IntelliFinishing Made The Cover of Products Finishing Magazine

Products_Finishing_Cover

We made the cover of Products Finishing Magazine for June 2016! Read about our newest installation at Albers Finishing & Solutions of Cheney, KS in the magazine this month.

684 feet of conveyor was installed in this new liquid paint facility with an Open House held in March. Along with the conveyor system, the IntelliFinishing system that was installed included a 3-stage wash, dry-off oven, two paint booths equipped with Fanuc robots and the capability of handling up to 500 pounds of weight on each load bar.  Additional services they plan to add include powder coating and anodizing. Read more in the article from PFonline.com.

Want to find out if you’re a Top Shop in 2016?

PF top shopsOur friends at CCAI (Chemical Coaters Association International) are offering you the chance to take a bench-marking survey to find out where your shop ranks in the Liquid Paint or Powder Coating industry for the year of 2016.

The Top Shops Zone of PF Online also contains a link to the survey. The companies who complete the survey will receive 3 reports: an Executive Summary, Plant Type and Plant Size. These reports will provide you with valuable data on the powder coating/liquid painting job shop market with bench-marking intelligence for future improvement.

As an added bonus, Products Finishing magazine will also recognize the top 50 shops in the US in an upcoming issue of PF. Please note: the survey is ONLY FOR liquid and powder coating operations in the US.

Chemical Coaters Association International is a valuable organization to be a part of. If you are not a member already, IntelliFinishing invites you to visit with them about becoming a member today! They provide the finishing industry with valuable educational opportunities and training. It also provides finishers with a forum to share their knowledge with other companies in the industry.

This survey MUST BE COMPLETED by June 1, 2016. If you have questions, please contact Tim Pennington, Editor, Products Finishing, at Tim.Pennington@PFonline.com. You must complete a substantial portion of the survey to receive the bench-marking reports.

Did you know we have a YouTube Channel?

youTubeIt’s true! We have a YouTube Channel that is full of informational videos about our state-of-the-art Complete Finishing Systems for manufacturers.

From the easy maintenance of our unique friction-driven conveyors to system designs you’ll find everything you may be looking for.

Our 3D animation is one of the most popular videos on our channel and we have just recently added a mix of the same animation with real footage of the actual system featured in this month’s issue of Products Finishing magazine. Be sure to visit IntelliFinishing’s YouTube channel to see them all.

We’re going to ConExpo!

 

March is fast approaching and we are heading to Las Vegas again for the ConExpo-Con/Agg Show!
We will be showing the newest technology with our friction-driven Complete Paint System in Booth #G-71702 to all manufacturers of both small and heavy parts (up to 20,000 lbs).
Manufacturers of finished parts (both small and large) do not want to miss the opportunity to compare our system with the traditional options. You’ll find us in the Gold Hall of the facility waiting to introduce you to the best Complete Paint System in the Finishing Industry.
Join us during the show and see the difference between Monorail, Power & Free and IntelliFinishing Powder Paint or Liquid Coat Systems.

Powder Coating Applications

Are there advantages to a two coat powder process? Yes, indeed. For most, it’s extra protection against the elements. Many powder manufacturers offer their own primer/topcoat systems for improved corrosion resistance.
Common primers are zinc rich, zinc free epoxy and epoxy e-coat. How do you know which one is right for your applications? Can you just powder coat without primer?
IntelliFinishing goes the extra mile to answer these questions for our customer’s when they purchase our Complete Automated Paint System. Your specific applications are addressed and analyzed with experts in the industry allowing us to provide you with the best options available. When you are looking for your next Powder Coat Paint System that is up to date with the latest technology and applications, give IntelliFinishing a call. We’re in the business to help customers finish parts efficiently and effectively.