Modean Industries

Modean Industries is pleased to share with you the announcement made by the Management of ITW Gema, one of our key suppliers. We have enjoyed working with the company throughout its transition from Gema to Ransburg-Gema, Gema-Volstatic and finally to ITW Gema and now back to GEMA.

Customers in particular, and the marketplace at large, will benefit from combined strengths of the Gema and Graco finishing brands

Gema, the global leader in powder coating equipment, begins a new chapter in its business history. As previously announced, Gema begins operating as a new business unit of the Graco Corporation (NYSE: GGG) effective April 2, 2012.

Finishing customers worldwide will benefit from the joint effort of two recognized technology leaders who complement one another with strong brands, professional teams and excellent product ranges.

“The addition of the Gema Powder Finishing business to Graco’s existing finishing operations is highly strategic and complementary,” said Patrick J. McHale, Graco’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “It allows the Company access to attractive end markets; the global distribution base of Gema is strong and growing; the emerging market exposure is highly attractive; and the brand name is well established with end users as a high quality, technological leader.”

“This is going to be an extraordinarily exciting time for all of us as we work to make our successful business even better,” states Claudio Merengo, Gema Group President. “This change in our corporate ownership will enhance our ability to provide high quality products and continued excellent service.”

Gema will operate as a separate business unit and customers and industry partners will see no change in how the company conducts business. Gema will continue to manufacture and deliver great products, continue to provide excellent support to their worldwide distributors and customers, and continue to advance innovation projects, with the same team of dedicated and experienced managers and employees.

Over the next several months a transition will occur as marketing, promotional, and product materials are integrated with the new company name, Gema.

Editor’s Note: Gema is a worldwide leader of powder coating equipment and systems. From manual units to fully automated systems, Gema offers solutions to satisfy customers in a wide variety of end markets. Gema has worldwide headquarters in St. Gallen, Switzerland and a broad worldwide distribution network. North American headquarters are located in Indianapolis, Indiana. Visit Gema on the web at www.gemapowdercoating.com

For the electrostatic powder coatings industry to grow, it is imperative that powder coating users have the option to rapidly change colors on-line, using either manual or automatic application equipment. With powder coating, a key advantage is the ability to collect the oversprayed, unused powder and reuse it to make the system pollution-free as well as energy efficient. Speedy color change both is a major strong point and a key problem for manufacturers.

In today’s Modean newsletter, we would like to concentrate on new powder coating innovations that allow automatic systems to change colors within six minutes or less. This new capability opens up the potential for many industries to begin using powder coating — industries that up until now were not able to consider it, due to the numerous colors required in the production of their products. Now automatic powder coating color change can be almost as easy as automatic liquid coating color change. The videos shown at the end of this post may be especially helpful in giving you a sense of how the system works.

How the Quick Color Change Innovation Happened
To explain how this works, let us offer a quick refresher on the similarities and differences between powder and liquid systems: Both require a conveyor, a cleaning system and a form of drying after cleaning. Both also necessitate a curing system and a cool-down time before unloading. In using either one, the parts must be allowed to cool down, but with liquid, a flash-off time is required, while with powder no flash-off time is needed.

However, the heart of the difference lies in the application area, which differs considerably with each system. In liquid, the material can be applied either electrostatically or else simply be air sprayed. Powder, on the other hand, can be applied only electrostatically. The electrostatic application charges the powder particle with a negative charge and the grounded part is normally positively charged which creates a molecular adhesion between the powder and the substrate. The powder adheres to the part until melted by heat and cured on the surface in the cure oven. (There are also powders now that use lower temperatures and UV curing.)

The amount of powder that sticks to the part depends upon: the charging efficiency of the gun, a good ground for the part and the shape and composition of the part. Efficiency can vary between 30% and 85%, or even higher when spraying a flat surface. In powder, the overspray can be reused, giving powder a tremendous advantage in the finishing industry. Well known are the “4E’s” of powder coating: 1. Economy, 2. Ecology, 3. Excellence of finish, 4. Energy Efficiency.

In order to address limitations involved with color change, the powder industry took into consideration equipment manufacturers’ evaluations and as a result they made several significant changes:

1. The powder booth walls were redesigned to prevent powder from adhering to the inner surface of the booth, as was the case in earlier booth designs. In the new design the powder that sticks to the surface has a very low electrostatic bond. This allows the powder to be blown off the product surface faster and more easily.

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2. The base of the powder booth was modified so that it recovers the powder more efficiently. When needed, the base opens up to make all parts accessible for quick easy cleaning.

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3. The development of the Magic Center Powder Management made quick color change possible by eliminating the bulky powder hopper. Prior to this, each color required a separate hopper and cleaning each hopper and changing the color required considerable amount of time. The new system utilizes a much smaller amount of powder in the actual system and the powder is automatically recovered and cleaned. (The video below shows an actual animation of how the powder is automatically cleaned within seconds.)

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4. The cyclone was introduced. This is a device capable of multi-color recovery and is very easy to clean. The efficient design of the cyclone allows for recovery of 90% to 92% of the recycled powder. The cyclone includes its own easily-accessible sieve, and via a bottom entry just above the sieve, the complete cyclone cone can be cleaned quickly and easily.

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Wide Adoption by Manufacturers
The new automatic quick color change powder coating system is now widely used by manufacturers in a wide variety of industries internationally. Two markets in which adoption has been especially high are aluminum extrusion and architecture. However, adoption is expanding. In the past many markets were unable to consider powder due to the time change colors necessitated. This is no longer the case.

About Modean Industries
The management of Modean Industries introduced powder coatings to the United States in 1969 in cooperation with Gema AG, a manufacturer of electrostatic application equipment located in St. Gallen Switzerland, before the company was purchased by ITW.

VIDEOS

MagicCenter Quick Color Change

MagicCenter

MagicCompact

MagicCylinder FlapFloor

Opticenter

Recently, there have been a number of exciting developments in the powder coating industry. Several new designs now provide quick color change for automatic systems and are capable of changing colors within six to eight minutes. This new capability considerably opens up the possibilities for and potential of powder coating. Powder coating must no longer be limited to one to two color changes per day; this is now old-school thinking. Automatic powder coating is almost as easy to change as automatic liquid coating. However, automatic powder systems can carry a high price tag. To address this concern, several companies that began with automatic powder systems later decided to convert to all-manual application (please see the video on ITW Gema Opticolor below). But all-manual applications depend upon the number of color changes per day as well as upon the parts configuration. If a production line with several color changes per day also requires manual touch-up, then going all manual may be an option to save your company a considerable amount of money. For one thing, manual coating is far more efficient (please see the video OptiFlex-2 below). The technician coats only the specific section required so overspray is minimal. This makes the application considerably less expensive. And for another thing, if several color changes are necessary during an eight-hour shift, manual application will be faster. This reduces production downtime, and this equates to both cost efficiency and increased productivity.

Although the manual powder coating process is spray-to-waste, over-spray is minimal. And depending upon the part configuration, over-sprayed material can still be utilized. For example, hidden areas such as the back plates of commercial washing machines, (where the back sides of the machines are not normally seen), would be an ideal application for over-sprayed powder. Another potential benefit of manual coating is that many powder companies will recycle over-sprayed material. Certain powder companies will take over-sprayed powder and reformulate it, as long as it is of the same chemistry. This is definitely the “green” way to go. ITW Gema has introduced a new manual gun, the OptiFlex-2, which is even more flexible and efficient — and it offers quick color change for the manual gun. The videos here present this new gun and its unique features.

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Our Summer 2010 Newsletter addressed the four “Es” of powder coating, Energy, Ecology, Economy and Excellence. There is, however, a fifth “E” that doesn’t get as much recognition as it deserves. A complement to the 4th “E”, which is excellence, the 5th “E” is what is known as “E-Coat”. Combining E-Coat with powder coating provides superior product finishes that offer excellent corrosion capabilities, as well as a scratch-resistant and durable finish.

So what exactly is E-Coat?
Therma-Tron-X, a Modean Industries’ associate, describes it as follows:

Electrocoating is an immersion painting process in which charged paint particles are attracted to an oppositely charged metallic surface. As the paint is deposited, it forms a finish, which begins to insulate the metal from the surrounding charged solution. Deposition continues until the coating thickness becomes sufficient to form a barrier against further paint attraction.

Electrocoating offers several advantages in the finishing of metal products. Corrosion resistance is superior to other paint application methods because immersion E-Coating dramatically cuts material costs because paint waste is minimal. Virtually all of the coating put in the tank goes on the product and stays on the product. In addition, low solvent, waterborne formulations make electrocoating the perfect environmentally friendly finish.

E-Coating provides a complete, uniform coating — even in corners, on edges, and in hard to reach partially enclosed spaces. Because the applied coating contains very little water, there are no runs or sags, and parts can be handled almost immediately. Consistent, controlled application, without spray gun error, nearly eliminates the need for manual touch-ups.

The marriage of e-coat to powder coat in the Finishing Industry is responsible for creating real excitement about this new combined process.

Extensive testing has demonstrated the excellence of the product. In some instances, Salt Spray tests reached 5,000 hours — a figure almost unheard of in the Finishing Industry. Scratch resistance tests were also better than seen before. Such results have already attracted several industries to adopt this combined process. Some companies also use a final liquid top coat for quick color change. This enhances appearance, while still offering quality performance unrealized in the industry before.

One of the most popular applications is the shopping cart manufacturing — an industry heretofore plagued by rusting chrome and other dangers of life spent in a parking lot. The new approach of combining electrocoating and powder coating has been so successful that it has been adopted by appliance equipment manufacturers and others whose products are continuously exposed to either outdoor weather conditions and/or rigorous indoor usage. Both of these scenarios require products to be protected from rusting, scratching and so forth.

In cases where powder is the application of choice, epoxy is used as the primer coat. This offers excellent scratch resistance qualities for indoor use together with a protective liquid color coat it can be used outdoors. Alternatively, just polyester or polyurethane may be used, when minimal color and an exterior application is required.

What do they all have in common? You guessed it: Powder Coating!

• Energy — Less is required to operate a Powder Coating system
• Ecology — Think Green and pollution free
• Economy – Pollution-free Powder Coating systems are economical saving you $$$ in operating costs
• Excellence – Powder and Ultraviolet (UV) coatings offer quality finishes that speak for themselves

When researching systems that reduce pollutants in the atmosphere, you’ll quickly find that employing systems such as Powder Coating, 100% Solid UV Coating, or Waterborne, all do an excellent job of eliminating or reducing pollution to meet EPA standards. Simultaneously, these applications are able not only to improve the quality of your coating process, but also provide an added benefit – an excellent return on investment.

Powder Coating is practically 100% efficient. All the material that is not applied to the part is collected, recovered, sieved and re-used. And since the material is collected for re-use, all the booth air can be re-circulated into the plant, thereby eliminating the need to exhaust the air, because there are no solvents or harmful gases dissipated from the sprayed powder. The oven air exhausted from the plant is reduced, making operating the system less costly.

Powder Coating offers a number of improved physical characteristics, such as scratch resistance and salt spray endurance, among others.

Powder Coating has been in use in the United States since 1969, when it was introduced by Interrad Corporation — which today is called Modean Industries… yes, we were the first!

The Client
A multinational automotive company.

The Challenge
To be able to coat large truck bodies that required a very large booth. The problem the team faced was how to manage the enormous air volume needed for safety and containment air, how to handle this large volume of air loaded with recovered powder, and how to be able to separate the powder from the large air volume so that it could be reused.

The Solution
We often hear the phrase “mind over matter,” but even though it happens every day, it is rare to read stories about minds innovatively manipulating matter with known technology to achieve a specific goal. What follows is an old story of accomplishment that is little known even in the powder coatings industry.
Two of the largest powder systems in the world were designed and installed in the United States. One booth, for primer coat application, measures approximately 164 FT (50 Meters) and the other was built for future use of top coating or top clear coat. This second booth measures 186 FT (56.7 Meters). The true innovation involves managing volume of air, powder collection, powder recovery, and in the automatic return, recovery of powder for re-use in the primer booth.

In the mid 1970s the design team was assigned this task. The problem the team faced was how to manage the enormous air volume that loaded with recovered powder. After several late night sessions, the team came up with a very simple solution. They decided to combine two technologies to collect and recover powder: the twin air belt system and the cartridge filter recovery system. The team then created the system to coat trucks.

The booth was two levels high. The upper level coated the trucks with both automatic and manual powder electrostatic guns; the lower floor constituted the combined recovery system. For those who may not be familiar with the Twin-Air System, better known initially as the “Flying Carpet,” it was unique in the fact that it used two separate air systems. One air system represented the high-volume, low-pressure air, referred to as safety and/or containment air, which is the air that keeps the powder concentration in the booth at a safe level and maintains air flow at all openings at a minimum of 125 FPM. The second air system was the low-volume high static pressure air that is used to recover the powder and bring it back for re-use.

The separation of the two air systems gave the twin-air belt system a tremendous advantage. The high volume safety air went through the filter belt at low velocity and low static pressure where powder was removed from the air by the filter belt. The very low static pressure allowed the powder to just rest on top of the belt while the belt was constantly moving. The belt carried the collected powder out of the booth to a point where it could be collected by the recovery air at high vacuum. This was accomplished by placing a pick-up head mounted on the belt at a location outside the proximity of the booth and the high volume airflow. That vacuum pick up head required only 140 CFM at a high static pressure to remove the powder from the belt. The vacuum head was connected to what was known as a “Mini-Cyclone”, in case of multi-color systems, or “Cycart” for minimal color change.

The Cycart again combined two known technologies to accomplish the job. The Cycart was a combination of a cyclone with a cartridge filter imbedded in the center of the cyclone so that the Cycart was nearly 100 % efficient. Since the vacuum head required only 140 CFM, it needed only a small filter to accomplish the recovery. The majority of the powder was removed from the recovery air by the cyclonic action. Any powder remaining in the air was collected by the cartridge filter. The Cycart was connected to an after (Hepa) filter, which allowed air to return to the room.

Since the booth was so large, the initial problem the design team encountered was the amount of safety and/or containment air needed. Such a significant volume of air would have required a prohibitive number of belts in the lower part of the booth. Another advantage of the Twin-Air system was the slow moving air that flowed through the belt. The air was evenly balanced over the surface of the belt and was restricted to about 40 FPM at a low static pressure. It was extremely important that the powder not be forced through the belt, but rather just rest on top of the belt and be carried out to be recovered by the vacuum head.
This requirement initiated the idea of combining the two filtering systems. Cartridge filters were installed in the side walls of the lower section. The large volume safety air was then divided by being directed to the side wall cartridge filters and the moving belt. The side wall filters were designed so that the suction was done in the base of the mini module. In so doing, the design team was able to slow down the air velocity of the air proceeding to the belt filter. Due to gravity and airflow direction into the side cartridge modules, the remaining air carried the majority of the powder to be deposited on the moving belt.

Benefit to Client
The most significant benefit was the new design’s ability to reduce the number of twin air belts in each booth. As a result of the combined systems design, the primer booth required only 21 twin air belt systems and the top coating booth utilized only 24. Many other features were designed into the system as well, including for example a quick change of the filter belt if needed and a constant pulsation of the cartridge filters in order to keep them clean. The pulsed powder automatically fell on the recovery belt below so that it could be recovered.

Conclusion
All of this was accomplished by a very small team of dedicated engineers who were driven to create a “better mouse trap.” The management of the team responsible for the design and installation of the systems now manages Modean Industries, Inc., a company which is still innovating and installing powder systems worldwide.

SolarOne Solutions, a Modean Industries affiliate, has responded to an emergency request for lighting from the United Nations Office of the Special Envoy for Haiti. By working with its customers to redirect completed orders, SolarOne was able to provide aid to the earthquake-stricken island with a swift lighting solution.

The new lighting will help address growing security concerns as Haiti stabilizes and starts the rebuilding process. The lights are powered with solar-electric panels, so they require no electrical wiring or infrastructure and allow for a commercial scale lighting project to be installed and operational in only hours, instead of days or weeks.

Due to the urgency of the situation, there was no time to wait for production. SolarOne worked out immediate arrangements with one of its long-standing customers; Sandia National Laboratories, who agreed to delay delivery of their order, and allow the solar lighting systems to be re-directed to Haiti.

The lights are SolarOne’s Shoebox Series lights, which employ advanced SO-Bright® Technology and high-brightness LEDs with dedicated optics. These systems, originally intended to illuminate a parking lot for one of Sandia’s facilities, will be used for security lighting around temporary medical facilities and encampments in Haiti.

Boston-based non-profit Partners In Health (PIH) is managing the shipment and deployment of the lights. Although the project is receiving support from the Clinton Foundation, additional donations are needed to help fund this effort, as well as many others of this nature. Please visit http://www.standwithhaiti.org/haiti for further details.

“Lighting is needed at temporary housing sites and medical facilities to increase security and to enable teams to care for patients around the clock. These solar lights, which are not dependent on the availability of electricity or fuel, will play an important role. We appreciate that SolarOne, with support from its customer-base, was able to organize a quick response”, says Partners In Health’s Cassia van der Hoof Holstein.

“As a Company that focuses on developing autonomous technology and solutions that can be deployed in all types of environments, it’s very fulfilling to see our lights making a difference in Haiti” says SolarOne’s President, Moneer Azzam. “It’s an honor to provide something that can serve both the Haitian earthquake survivors, as well as dedicated front-line workers from PIH and the UN. We are also extremely fortunate to have loyal customers who are willing to accommodate an urgent situation like this”, adds Azzam.

It’s hard to believe that we are already well into the fall season. While many of us associate this time of the year with raking leaves and pumpkin pie, we in the global business community are reporting earnings for third quarter 2009. As such, we thought now would be a good time to give you a quick update on current events at Modean Industries.

In spite of conflicting reports about the economic recovery, Modean Industries, in cooperation with its affiliates and suppliers, is pleased to report positive performance to date. Presently, Modean Industries – partnering with Amiberica, Inc. and ITW Gema – is in the process of shipping a large powder system, unique in its performance capabilities, to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Modean Industries and its affiliates have been very active in the Middle East; in particular the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and we are currently pursuing new business activities in North Africa and Lebanon.

On the home front, business opportunities here in the United States are emerging and providing a good foundation for 2010. Recently, Modean Industries completed several projects that we hope to deliver in this calendar year. We are also actively pursuing projects in cooperation with ITW Gema and have performed several customer-simulated tests at the ITW Gema facility in Indianapolis, Indiana.

We will continue to bring you news updates over the coming months. Look for our upcoming case study on aluminum extrusions to be published in November!