In today’s challenging business climate, diversification is
the order of the day for companies seeking to grow their business
and expand their customer base. Burkard
Industries— a contract shop located in Clinton Township,
Michigan—is doing just that by adding electrocoat to its repertoire.
Originally conceptualized as a manufacturer of caskets, the company was founded
in 1934 by John Adam Burkard working out of his garage. Three years after its
inception, Burkard moved the business into a factory location and expanded into
die casting of casket hardware. Manufacturing of zinc die castings for marine,
automotive, recreational vehicle, and commercial hardware industries soon followed,
as did the introduction of chrome plating.
In 1988, in response to the growing demand for powder coatings, Burkard Industries
installed its first powder coating line. A second line followed in 1995 and
the plant doubled in size from 20,000 sq. ft. to 40,000 sq. ft. A year later,
a third powder coating system designed for prototype and custom work was introduced.
Today, the business is owned and operated by the founder’s great-grandson,
Jay Burkard. Because of its proximity to the heart of the American automobile
business (Clinton Township is a suburb of Detroit), Burkard in 2002 made the
decision to expand the business to 78,000 sq ft and purchase an electrocoat
system, capable of applying a Class A automotive finish.
Bringing Electrocoat Into the Mix
For Mr. Burkard, part of the appeal of electrocoat is its ability
to "work and play well" with powder coating. He did not
want the introduction of the electrocoating technology to come at
the expense of the powder coating business. “We were looking
to grow the powder business through the electrocoat capabilities,”
says Mr. Burkard. “We built in Class A [a finish with the fewest
surface defects and most consistent color and gloss] capabilities
into the electrocoat line, because we want to be able to top-coat
over it.”
Electrocoat also has merit as a stand-alone finish. Though many of the components
coated by Burkard are “under the hood” items and will never be seen
by the large majority of consumers, a quality finish is critical. Burkard has
always specialized in masking and has extended its masking expertise into the
electrocoat arena. Gas tank filler tubes, for example, which are masked to keep
coating out of the interior and require a high degree of corrosion resistance,
are an ideal job for electrocoat.
In identifying the need for a new system, Burkard considered a number of factors,
including:
- The need to deliver a Class A finish
- The system should occupy as little plant floor “real estate”
as possible
- The ability to mask and load parts efficiently from different loading
stations.
After exploring a number of options, Burkard opted for a SlideRail Square TransferTM
(SST) electrocoating system from Therma-Tron-X, Inc. (TTX) of Sturgeon Bay,
Wisconsin. The SST concept allows for combination immersion and spray pretreatment,
electrocoating and curing in a fraction of the space (40-60%) required by traditional
monorail systems. “In an SST system, you have the oven located overhead
and the pretreatment and electrocoat tanks down below,” said Jim Miller,
Sales Engineer for Therma-Tron-X. “As a result, you have two large components
of the system utilizing the same amount of floor space.” And unlike monorail
systems - which require that the part is moving continuously during its dwell
time – square transfer systems keep the part stationary during the dwell
portion of the cycle. Parts are vertically lowered into and raised out of all
process tanks simultaneously and indexed from one stage to the next in unison.
Consequently, the tanks only have to be marginally larger than the largest part
being coated.
The SST at Burkard contains a 14 stage zinc phosphating pretreatment section,
which includes three initial cleaning stages (immersion, spray, immersion) followed
by a spray rinse and an immersion rinse. An acid pickling stage is also an option
for chemical removal of residual smut, laser and weld scale, and other inorganic
impurities before the zinc phosphate conversion coating is applied. Two final
reverse osmosis (RO) rinses ensure a contaminant-free surface for paint deposition.
Burkard then applies DuPont CorMax® VI electrocoat paint followed by an
immersion permeate, spray permeate and a final RO rinse. The system is equipped
with bag filters on every pretreatment, electrocoat and post rinse stage, and
has a dual zone curing oven with individual controls for each zone.
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View of the
new electrocoat system. In making the decision to introduce
electrocoat to the facility, owner Jay Burkard was motivated
by the fact that electrocoat can function as both a stand-alone
system as well as a primer for powder coating.
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The SST is also equipped with a specially designed power and free conveyor system
(manufactured using Jervis B. Webb components), which allows Burkard operators
to load and unload at any of four spurs, while parts carriers are continually
routed through on an inner bypass – much as railroad trains stop on side
tracks at stations while leaving the main line clear. Carriers “parked”
in the spurs offer stationary platforms for loading and unloading of parts,
and also allow different high volume parts to be processed from unique locations
simultaneously, minimizing clutter from packing materials and streamlining material
handling processes.
Integral to the routing process of the power and free carriers is the use
of an automatic identification system manufactured by Smarteye Corporation
of Rochester Hills, Michigan. With the Smarteye Reader System, each
conveyor carrier in the system is outfitted with a Smarteye Label
which provides the carrier with a unique number for identification.
Unlike bar code labels or RF tags, these labels are designed for
use in the harshest manufacturing environments. They are constructed
of 12 gauge steel and have Smarteye’s proprietary bit pattern
cut into them.
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The Programmable
Logic Controller (PLC) with racked parts in the background.
The control panel is used by operators to enter recipes for
various parts and substrates.
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Each load/unload station has a small data entry panel into which
line operators specify pre-set system paths, which are relayed to
the Programmable Logic Controller (PLC). The path not only specifies
the load/unload position to which the carrier should return, it
also indicates if any processing steps are to be skipped. For instance,
parts may bypass the pickling stage (and subsequent rinse and neutralization
tanks), or be designated for pretreatment only and held up over
the paint stages.
Smarteye Readers, comprised of an infrared sender-receiver, are
located at key decision points in the conveyor system to identify
the loadbar carriers and route them accordingly. For instance, when
operators load and release a carrier onto the main conveyor loop,
a Smarteye Reader identifies the carrier along the way. As the load
is transferred into the SST itself, another reader scans the carrier
number and sends this data to the PLC. The PLC then sets the SST
system parameters for processing those parts according to the path
entered by the operator during loading.
At the same time, each carrier load is tied to a specific time
frame using the Therma-Tron-X Data Management System. Data acquisition
hardware stores vital readings of system performance (saving them
to a designated location on the plant computer network) which operators
can review at a later time. If problems arise with a finished product,
the Data Management System can be used to verify the process path
and retrieve system information such as tank and oven parameters
to determine whether the product was properly processed. This information
is critical to Burkard Industries for real time process monitoring
and ISO/QS lot control requirements.
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| Parts
pass through the Burkard electrocoat system. The system is currently
being used as a one-color system, but can easily be converted
into a two-color system should Burkard wish to add a second
color down the road. |
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| Close-up
of a SmartEye identification label. These labels, which are
read by an infrared sender-receiver, are ideal for use in hostile
industrial environments such as paint booths, ovens and dip
tanks. |
Subsystems covered include pretreatment, electrocoat bath, oven
performance, utilities usage and wastewater treatment. The system
monitors itself 24 hours a day and will send detailed alarm messages
in text format to key personnel’s cell phones if a critical
piece of equipment goes down or there is a power interruption. The
system is set up to allow engineers from Therma-Tron-X to remotely
monitor system parameters over the internet, if needed, for problem
solving.
This automatic identification and tracking procedure helps to maximize
the productivity and profitability of the SlideRail Square TransferTM
(SST) electrocoating system, as the SST is responsible for coating
numerous parts that undergo many different treatment regimens.
Though Burkard is currently using its electrocoat system as a one-color system,
Therma-Tron-X set it up as a two-color system, providing Burkard the ability
to add a second color down the road should the company choose to do so.
Ongoing Benefits
According to Mr. Burkard, the introduction of electrocoat technology
to his facility has already had a substantial impact on his company’s
business. “Our electrocoat sales have steadily improved each
month as we reach out to new customers,” he said. “We’ve
also seen an immediate impact on our powder sales as the new electrocoat
line has opened many opportunities for parts requiring electrocoat
and powder coat.” Most of the new business is automotive, but
Burkard is also looking at some non-automotive business for electrocoat
/ powder coat including some appliance applications.
The electrocoat line has also had some unexpected positive impact
on Burkard’s powder business. This includes powder coat orders
from new electrocoat customers that want to minimize their supply
base and are looking for one shop that can provide multiple services.
And as the word spreads about quality capabilities of the new electrocoat
line and the existing powder coat operations, Burkard is starting
to see its geographical area of customers extend more throughout
the Midwest and more into Canada.
