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| High
output lighting at General Motors' new paint inspection shop
at its expanded Oklahoma City SUV facility. Use of Cooper
Wiring Devices' locking devices insures that the lighting
system stays connected and can be easily altered.
|
A new General Motors
high-output lighting system for coating and inspecting the finish
on sport utility vehicles recently began production in Oklahoma
City, OK. It will expand the company's production of Chevrolet Trailblazers
and GMC Envoys and other SUV products.
The new 250,000 sq-ft paint shop facility replaced an older paint
facility during refurbishing and conversion of the standard car
plant to SUV production. It features a flexible lighting system
for both general purpose and task painting illumination. It has
a series of painting booths and inspection decks also containing
high-volume filtered air-conditioning in its quality control lines.
Installed throughout
the new facility to provide the specified operational flexibility
are Cooper Wiring Devices' 15-amp Industrial Specification Grade
single and duplex locking receptacles.
According to
Pat Capouch, site manager for the Hunt Electric Corporation (St.
Paul, MN), contractor team partnering with Oklahoma Electric Supply
(Oklahoma City, OK), both under the principal contractor Dürr
Industries (Plymouth, MI), there are about 2,000 overhead lighting
fixtures in side-by-side and end-to-end configurations in the new
paint shop, some of it wall-to-wall.
"Using
eight-ft light fixtures in the installation is driven by GM criteria
and special standards applying to the various process and general
lighting functions. The reason these locking devices were specified
was to insure that the paint shop lighting system stays connected.
And, if necessary, can be easily altered, relocated or rearranged.
You can easily allow for making lighting alterations," he said.
Advantages
The main advantage of these locking devices with their fiberglass-reinforced
nylon bodies, easy access to ground screws and back wiring where
permitted, is the insurance of limiting plug and receptacle use
to its specific circuit. From the contractor's point of view, back
wiring these receptacles has two main benefits: ease of installation
and a definite labor saving.
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| At
the new paint inspection shop in General Motors' expanded
Oklahoma City SUV production plant, Pat Capouch, site project
manager of contractor Hunt Electric (left) and Kevin Cook
(foreground) of co-contractor Oklahoma Electric Supply monitor
the new high output lighting system.
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The overall
electrical contract for the new GM paint shop has been finished
in conjunction with the conversion of the adjacent one-million-sq-ft
production plant, and brings the total plant area to more than three
million sq ft.
Included in
the paint shop contract is a high-voltage power distribution system
comprised of 12 unit substations with large bus duct distribution,
installation of several ovens for drying and curing, a paint mixing
and dispensing facility, an electrostatic paint application system,
tack-off feather dusters, emission controls, regenerative thermal
oxidizers and air make-up units.
Other work
in the main plant furnished by OESCO-Hunt for Dürr are administrative
offices, temporary power, lighting and distribution, and a 15K volt
power distribution system that provides base utility power to the
plant.
Mr. Capouch
feels that the high lighting levels in the paint process facility,
achieved by aligning the lighting fixtures perpendicularly to the
floor level, provide GM with the ability to detect paint and metal
imperfections. This allows correction, enhanced finish quality and
ultimately a superior painted vehicle.
