General Purpose Booths Combine Standard Designs and Custom Solutions

Liquid applicators don't always need all of the expensive bells that come with a fully customized booth. Sometimes, all they are looking for is a simple solution with a few additional options. Global Finishing Solutions (GFS) in Osseo, Wisconsin, has introduced a new line of General Purpose booths that aims to provide both the convenience and cost of standard, pre-engineered solutions, as well as the flexibility of custom-designed systems.

Ryan Looker, industrial sales training manager and cost estimator, says the booths are designed to accommodate industrial customers with products too large for traditional automotive booths, but too small for the company’s Large Equipment paint booth line. For those with products sized somewhere in the middle, and those looking to avoid costs associated with custom designs, Looker says the General Purpose booths are a perfect fit. 

“Most of the booths competing in this size range are designed for the auto-refinish line, and do not provide the options and customized features required to meet expectations in the industrial line,” he says.

Serving the intermediate truck and automotive refinish industry, the standard General Purpose booths are 14 ft. wide. Height can range from 10 to 14 ft., and, using 3-ft.-wide vertical panels, modular booth lengths of 24, 27, 30 and 33 ft. are available.

Every system starts with a basic booth design and standard package of features. From there, customers can choose from a variety of add-ons, options and customized features that can be easily incorporated without changing the standard design. 

“The product line offers base configurations with standard features to meet around 80 percent of customers’ needs to decrease costs and lead times,” Looker says. The remaining 20 percent can be customized to meet specific requirements. 

Customers can choose from four airflow options: crossdraft, side downdraft, semi-downdraft and downdraft. Each option comes with a package of standard features, covering virtually everything from the filter type to controls. As a result, end users spend less by selecting only the features they need, and they can get their booths up and running in less time. 

“In the past, we customized each and every booth,” Looker says. “Now, we can quickly fit a specific niche at a much lower cost to us and the customer; and if you need something special, we can offer upgrades from there.”

At the foundation of the booths’ designs is safety and compliance, the company says. While GFS designs its paint booths to meet industry standards and regulations, including EPA, OSHA, NFPA and ICC, it says the new General Purpose line goes even further, achieving full ETL and ETL-C listings.

“We’re seeing a lot more requests for third-party validation,” Looker says. “With ETL, it complies with all necessary code for the industry. So an inspector can look at that ETL listing and it takes the guess work out of it, saying it’s good to go.”

Enhanced airflow and filtration, included with all GFS products, further reflect this commitment to safety and compliance. 

“The exhaust rate on each airflow type is designed to go above and beyond the required cfm to keep the concentration of flammable vapors below 25 percent of the lower flammable limit,” Looker says, thus satisfying both NFPA and IFC standards. 

By adding new product platforms and tailored options, the company says it is simplifying the way finishers purchase booths and ultimately changing the way it does business.