Simple operation
Personnel was also an issue on the project. Of the just over 80 employees, none is a trained painter. With the "E-Line", the company now has a powder coating system which, thanks to its high degree of automation, carries out many activities safely and in a standardized manner. "The system is so self-explanatory that there are no problems at all in operating it," says the managing director happily. Even though the automatic powder coating system was ready for operation very quickly, he says there have been a number of improvements over the course of time. For example, color change times have become even shorter, and powder application has become even better.
Schürer's success so far has been resounding. Compared to manual coating, the powder application is much more consistent and better. Most importantly, the volume of products coated in-house has increased by a good 800%. "We give almost nothing out for contract coating anymore," Schürer explains. If he were to paint in a third shift, it would even be possible to completely dispense with external service providers. However, he says, there is currently a lack of personnel for this. Automation is economically worthwhile because it is cheaper than contract coating. Otherwise, the company would no longer be able to offer many products, explains the managing director. Pretreatment has moved into the company along with the coating. Iron phosphating, for example, now provides the necessary surface activation.
The fast color change also ensures better use of storage capacity. It no longer makes a difference whether the same color is painted all day or whether it is changed once or twice. Previously, they followed through with one color, and products of that color had to be stored until they were sold out. Today, the company paints exactly the quantity that will be needed the next day.
However, there is definitely still potential for optimization. Due to limited space, the oven is currently the bottleneck, he says, as it only has a limited distance. With sufficient space, it would be possible to coat even more and faster. For Schürer GmbH Metallwarenfabrik, however, the changeover has been worthwhile even as it is.