New powder coating system at the Hatzfeld location
FRANK ORIGINAL has installed a new powder coating system, including the associated conveyor technology, at its Hatzfeld site to ensure greater flexibility, greater efficiency by eliminating product logistics and an overall faster production process. One feature of the system is that the parts to be coated are always in motion between feeding into the process and removal of the coated workpieces after the coating process is complete, meaning that the system is continuously loaded.
Powder coating starts at its first station with the manual loading of the workpieces into the conveyor system. A downstream continuous blasting system (shot blasting) is used to clean the workpieces before powder coating. From there, the workpieces are conveyed to the powder coating system and from there to the IR system, where the workpieces are brought up to temperature. The subsequent system component is a powder enamelling oven with a cooling zone located behind it with a buffer area for final drying of the workpieces. The finished coated products are removed from the conveyor system by hand and packed directly into transport containers.
From summer 2023, extensive and challenging construction work in the middle of production operations created the necessary conditions for the construction of the plant. Existing production facilities had to be relocated within the site for this purpose. One of the last plant components to be installed was the flue gas ducting in April 2024.
As the site in Hatzfeld is located in a water protection area, a powder coating system that does not require the use of solvents is an ideal and viable addition to the existing dip coating system at the site.
Initial test runs of the system, including fine-tuning of the control technology and coordination of all system components, have been taking place since May 2024. The new system is scheduled to go into series production in mid-June 2024.
We would already like to thank all companies, partners and, above all, our employees who were involved in the construction of the plant and ensured the fastest possible conversions and installations.