ENGINEERED PAINT BOOTHS & FINISHING SOLUTIONS
Published

Full of Energy

But finishing plants should look at reducing inefficiencies

One thing I’ve continually heard over the past several months is the need for finishing facilities to become more energy efficient in order to hold down costs and run a leaner operation.

Share

One thing I’ve continually heard over the past several months is the need for finishing facilities to become more energy efficient in order to hold down costs and run a leaner operation.

This month’s edition deals with energy issues that we think might help you become even more aware of the need to reduce costs and put money back into your pocket, instead of letting it fly up the flue.

On page 26 we follow an inspection of an e-coat cure oven by KMI Systems (Crystal Lake, IL), and show you what they found that might be costing the owners a few extra bucks that they could be saving, or better yet, investing back into the business.

As Matt Kirchner pointed out in his July management column (“Wasted Energy Equals Lost Profit”), every watt, every light and every extra machine left running counts in the bottom line of your operating costs.

But there is a way to turn your facility into a leaner, more energy efficient operation. The U.S. Department of Energy likes to showcase Progressive Powder Coating (Mentor, OH) as a good example of improving energy efficiency. Like most metal finishing plants, Progressive Powder Coating used a convection oven in its manufacturing process, but it was experiencing bottlenecks in the production process because of the time required to cure thicker pieces of metal in the convection oven. That forced the plant to slow the conveyor line speed, which reduced productivity.

In an effort to save energy and improve production, Progressive Powder installed an infrared oven in between the powder coating booth and the convection oven on its production line. The IR oven allowed the plant to increase its conveyor line speed and increase production by 50%. In addition, the plant was able to reduce its natural gas consumption, yielding annual energy savings of approximately $54,000. With a total project cost of $136,000, the payback was 2.5 years.

And it appears that many of you could use some help in finding ways to save money on energy costs. The Austin Co., a national firm of designers, engineers and constructors of efficient commercial and industrial operations, reported earlier this year that their research of metal finishing plants sometimes saw energy efficiency rates as low as 15%.

They claim that exhaust fans and the actual electroplating/anodizing processes each use the about the same percentage of the total energy costs by finishing plants (about 25% each), followed by lighting (11%), hoists and drives (5%), ovens (4%) and so on.

Related to energy, we also take a look at a persistent problem that has plagued a lot of electrical systems around the world, and that’s the whiskers issue. On page 30, we tell you how NASA is getting involved to help finishers avoid letting their products develop these nasty annoyances, which eventually find their way into high-end components such as computers, machinery and sometimes even spaceships.

In this issue, we also preview the North American Industrial Coating Show at the Indianapolis Convention Center, Oct. 27-29, put on by the Powder Coating Institute and NACE International. The event, which Products Finishing is also sponsoring, is replacing PCI’s The Coating Show and NACE’s CoatingsPro show.

The NAIC show kicks off the ‘fall season’ of industry shows, followed by FABTECH and the new CCAI Finishing Pavilion in Atlanta Nov. 2-4, and the Electroless Nickel Conference in Charleston, SC from Nov. 8-9.

Hope to see you there.
 

Precision gear pumps
ENGINEERED PAINT BOOTHS & FINISHING SOLUTIONS
Your Best Finish Starts With Us!
Gardner Intelligence
Filtration Systems
OptiCenter All-in-One OC11
New Acid-Free Bright Nickel Process
Heatmax Heaters ad with immersion heaters
find masking products online
PF Podcast
The Finishing Industry’s Education and Networking Resource
Heatmax Heaters ad with immersion heaters

Related Content

Anodizing

Trivalent Chrome Overview

As the finishing industry begins to move away from the use of hexavalent chromium to trivalent chromium, what factors should finishers consider as they make new investments? Mark Schario, chief technology officer for Columbia Chemical offers a helpful overview of this complicated topic.

Read More

Possibilities From Electroplating 3D Printed Plastic Parts

Adding layers of nickel or copper to 3D printed polymer can impart desired properties such as electrical conductivity, EMI shielding, abrasion resistance and improved strength — approaching and even exceeding 3D printed metal, according to RePliForm.

Read More
Ask The Expert

Troubleshooting Alkaline Zinc

One of the most common problems that can arise when plating with alkaline zinc is an imbalance of brightener in the solution. In this helpful Ask the Expert article, Chad Murphy of Columbia Chemical discusses how different zinc metal concentrations and brightener concentrations can impact efficiency.

Read More
Electroplating

An Overview of Electroless Nickel Plating

By definition, electroless plating is metal deposition by a controlled chemical reaction.

Read More

Read Next

Parts Cleaning

Education Bringing Cleaning to Machining

Debuting new speakers and cleaning technology content during this half-day workshop co-located with IMTS 2024.

Read More
Sponsored

Masking Solutions for Medical Applications

According to Custom Fabricating and Supplies, a cleanroom is ideal for converting, die cutting, laminating, slitting, packaging and assembly of medical-grade products.

Read More
Sponsored

Delivering Increased Benefits to Greenhouse Films

Baystar's Borstar technology is helping customers deliver better, more reliable production methods to greenhouse agriculture.

Read More
Industrial Finishing Equipment