AUTOMATED POWDER COATING LINE FOR FORKLIFTS
With the ambition of reaching the overall environmental, quality and capacity targets of Toyota Material Handling Europe, Moldow supplied an automatic powder coating plant including all necessary process zones.
To meet the Toyota lean philosophy, a high degree of automation and quick color changes were obvious corner stones in the plant solution.
Due to the capacity and technology demands, the powder coating plant is built in 2 levels with ovens and cooling zones situated on the top level.
Powder Coating Plant With All Necessary Process Zones
Straight after being produced, the parts enter the loading area where they are loaded onto the automatic conveyor system.
The loading is performed at two individual loading stations, each with an integrated conveyor lift, and with monitors to show the operator which suspension hooks to use depending on the item type.
After loading, the parts enter the 7-step pretreatment. The pretreatment is a Moldow designed spray tunnel suitable for “Power & Free” operation, and each process chamber is separated by automatic doors. Due to capacity and system back-up, the pretreatment consists of two identical lines side-by-side.
After pretreatment, a set of integrated conveyor lifts brings the two conveyor lines with washed parts to the top level for drying and respective cooling. After cooling, the parts are brought back to ground level by the conveyor lifts.
On the ground level, the parts are masked, and the position and sizes are checked by a vision system.
After the masking, the parts are automatically directed to three automatic powder coating booths depending on required color: black, orange or multi-color system. In each automatic booth, the powder is applied by two 6-axis robots. In addition to the automatic booths, it is possible to direct the parts to manually operated powder application for small series, repairs or special colors.
After powder application, the parts are brought to the top level of the plant by a second set integrated conveyor lifts.
Here the powder is cured and cooled in the curing oven and following cooling zone, before being brought back down to ground level for unloading and assembly.
The full plant is PC-controlled, adjusted and monitored from the production office.
EFFICIENT POWDER COATING THAT MEETS THE HIGH REQUIREMENTS
The primary focus for BT Products AB, when choosing their new painting plant, was to reach the quality, capacity and environmental targets, in particular in regards to energy consumption and waste water, agreed with the head office of Toyota Material Handling Europe.
In the spirit of the Toyota lean philosophy, optimization of the application process and minimization of internal transport and waiting time were given the highest priority.
| Customer | BT Products AB / Toyota |
| Location | Sweden |
| Item type | Steel parts for fork lifts and material handling equipment |
| Item size | Max 3,200 x 1,600 x 2,500 mm |
| Details | 7-step pretreatment, drying oven and cooling zone, three automatic powder coating booths, curing oven and cooling zone. |
