The IntelliFinishing Story: Making Paint Lean

The ultimate engineering challenge in manufacturing is finding a better way to do something that just is not efficient. For years the buzz has been about being lean and green and case studies abound about companies who have raised the bar in efficiency and environmental sensitivity. Experts are setting standards regarding what are truly lean or green practices and challenging manufacturers to meet or exceed those standards.

James Womack with the Lean Institute is one of the foremost experts on the lean process. Womack commented in his book, Lean Thinking: Banish Waste and Create Wealth In Your Corporation, that traditional industrial paint (monument) systems could not be truly lean. We accepted the challenge to find a way to create a paint finishing system that would be considered lean. I knew the keys to creating a lean finishing system would be to find the right combination of controls, process equipment and conveyance, to avoid traditional costs and bottlenecks.

I studied various processes and conveyance systems to assess the pros and cons and considered ways to adapt the best of each to the structure of a finishing system. I then looked at what I call the Process DNA, and asked, what are the actual costs and what factors influence them, to determine maximum efficiency? This research helped unlock the solution to the paint bottleneck. To create a new result would require a new system.

The unique combination of components within a modular system allows for versatility and efficiency never before seen in the manufacturing world. Scalability allows for a system that can be expanded to meet changing needs, that requires a fraction of the time to install, and which retains substantially more of its asset value. Flexibility permits parts of various sizes and shapes to move independently through the line, allowing for special needs in the recipe, without disrupting progress. The advanced control system selects which sections need to be turned on at each points in the process as opposed to running all day. Varied controls determine the optimal number of washers, sprayers, or ovens that need to be running for the components on the line.

Less equipment usage equals lower energy costs and less waste, ultimately lowering the total capital cost. A modular system could easily save 40% over traditional costs and set a new baseline for the average cost of a quality, two-coat application. In the end, it’s all about a solution to help achieve the desired quality for the lowest total cost.