In-Line Paint Stripping with Aquastrip MPS

A plumbing hardware manufacturer continued to innovate and grow to the point where they produce 200,000 parts per day, all of which needed to be powder coated with a long lasting, guaranteed finish.

Downtime can be a killer!  All of these parts wind their way through a cavernous building neatly attached to an inline conveyor from pre-treatment, several rinses, powder application and curing ovens before inspection and packaging.

Along for the ride are all the customized racks and fixtures designed to maximize the process and improve productivity.  However, as the faucets, handles and parts are powder coated so too are the racks.  Stripping, cleaning and maintaining the racks is vital to assure a consistent finish and proper grounding in the spray booth.

The previous process was a fluidized sand bed that required 3 times the number of racks for the 24/7 work flow just to keep up.

Because of the cost and lack of control over their rack stripping operation this company decided to set up an in-line rack stripping system as part of the powder coating line.   Working with Hubbard-Hall’s technical service team headed up by Larry Ensley, an optimized and cost-effective water-based paint stripper, eco-friendly Aquastrip® MPS, was introduced adding value and continuously performing for the past 4 years!

Integrating the stripping process into the powder coating line has reduced rejection rates, provided for a more consistent, uniform and reliable coating on the faucets and fixtures.

The plant manager has quantified the savings and says that the $300,000 in annual savings comes from the cost of replacing and repairing the racks and labor.

Over the past 4 years additional benefits have been realized including:

  • 67% reduction in the labor costs
  • 30% reduction in real time accidents
  • Strip time reduced to 15 minutes
  • Man-hours allocated to replace and repair racks reduced from 3 to 1 worker per shift.
  • Aquastrip® MPS has not been replaced in 4 years, only make-up solution has been required, making maintenance very simple.
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Excerpt: Integrating the stripping process into the powder coating line has reduced rejection rates, provided for a more consistent, uniform and reliable coating on the faucets and fixtures.

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