If you are involved in manufacturing, we don’t have to remind you that the COVID-19 pandemic caused increases in nearly all raw commodities, as well as significant strains on the supply chain. In particular, the price of steel dramatically increased the cost of finishing systems. Steel prices are up 219% since early 2020 according to the August article linked above. This obviously affects the cost of steel used in washers, ovens, booths, shotblasts, and conveyors.

Let’s take a look into the raw steel market and what that means for finishing systems.

The Cost of Steel

Steel prices are a function of many market factors including supply, demand, and the cost of underlying raw materials. According to the 2021 Steel Price Forecast by General Steel Buildings, coal prices have also surged almost 200% since the beginning of this year. Meanwhile, demand is up and supply is having a hard time keeping up because many suppliers turned off their blast furnaces during the 2020 shut down.

The cost of steel is also influenced by economics both domestically and globally. Domestically these include the strength of the U.S. dollar, demand for steel in any product, and trade tariffs. Globally, these include the world’s economy, natural disasters, wars, and other political events.

The pandemic created a unique situation for the steel industry. Lockdowns, unemployment, and the uncertainty of COVID-19 saw the demand for steel to drastically drop. In February of 2021, it bottomed out before making a comeback in May.

When the lockdowns were lifted, demand picked up, but it wasn’t enough to fully help the steel industry fully recover. 2020 steel demand dropped 15.3 percent from 2019, but prices have steadily increased since December of 2020.

While there have been reports of spot shortages of steel for some types of steel, for the most part, the steel is available – just much more costly. U.S. Steel imports were up 17.4 percent as recently as Aug. 25, 2021.

So steel is affecting the costs of finishing systems, but another factor is also affecting systems that is not directly tied to the steel industry. That factor is the general disruption of the supply chain.

These include rather everyday system parts of any type. In fact, it’s somewhat difficult to predict what formally abundant supply chain parts might suddenly become scarce. Fanless PC’s for example, may be the new toilet paper! The scramble for us and other finishing system providers to find workarounds is constant and can add incrementally to the cost and timeline of any installation.

What This Means For The Cost of Finishing Systems

The most challenging aspect of the rapid rise in steel prices and the uncertainty of the supply chain for IntelliFinishing is that it’s much more difficult for us to do budgetary estimates and predict a timeline for installation. Traditionally, we base our budgetary quotes on our historical information on previous bids we’ve quoted, as well as those we’ve sold. We do it this way because it’s fast. We can usually do a draft layout of a system and offer a budgetary quote in just a few days, sometimes quicker.

Now, all of a sudden, our historical price data is way off. We’ve even had a few prospects who obtained budgetary quotes before the most recent run-up in steel prices, who were shocked at the prices for their formal quotes done just months later.

The alternative to using historical data for budgetary quoting is to actually get updated quotes from all system vendors based on their current costs for the materials required. This option, however, is often not very quick. All systems involve multiple vendors and some vendor quotes are contingent on other vendor quotes. Seeking pricing in this manner may add several weeks to a budgetary quote. Of course, this process is routine for formal quotes, because those quotes need to be very exact as customers will hopefully purchase the systems quoted. They aren’t just seeking an internal request for capital spending…they are wanting to buy the proposed system at a firm price.

One more troubling aspect of rapidly rising steel prices is that it gets much harder to hold on to the quoted price for any length of time. Vendors supplying steel equipment include strong language that the quote is only suitable for a relatively short period. Most quotes contained these timing clauses in the past, but since prices were stable, even if a quote decision came in after the proposal stated timeframe, the quoted price was generally honored. Now, it’s much more common for quotes to be requoted if a decision cannot be made in the stated proposal timeframe. 

Will This Affect The Timeliness of IntelliFinishing Systems?

All this said, the rise in steel prices, the scarcity of steel, and the holes in supply chain for formally abundant parts, have not caused any delays in installations of IntelliFinishing systems so far.

More directly, simple demand for aspects of systems, including for quotes and installed systems has pushed out normal delivery timeframes somewhat. Everyone in the industry seems to be inordinately busy so far this year based on conversations we had with co-vendors and competitors at FabTech and other industry events. So, if you are considering a new finishing system and you suspect an IntelliFinishing system would be a good fit for you, we encourage you to seek us out as soon as possible to start that discussion. While you are at it, if you need to build new, or modify your existing facility, you should start looking for a general contractor as early as possible, too. We understand most of them are buried in work too!

SCADA (Supervisory Control Data Acquisition) systems, first used in the 1960s, are a critical part of most industrial and manufacturing plants. By using this technology, you can gather and analyze real-time data to monitor and control equipment. It has many applications across verticals, including food manufacturing, machining, grain handling, and anodizing.

SCADA is a software smart control system but different than PLC software (Programmable Logic Controller). SCADA sits one layer above the PLC. It feeds information to and from the system PLCs but also upstream to and from other database systems including manufacturing scheduling software and ERP systems.

SCADA and Finishing Systems

In many cases, automated finishing systems don’t have an optimized SCADA or even any sophisticated software. Several factors impact SCADA adoption. The finishing industry has been slow to upgrade because most companies who have automatic finishing systems use monorail conveyors. Monorails are durable and long-lasting, but they don’t require much programming sophistication. Monorail finishing systems are a very common traditional approach, and best for parts that are repetitive and relatively homogenous. However, for those who need to finish a wide variety of parts, a monorail isn’t always able to provide the process flexibility required.

Automated finishing systems that are able to provide part process flexibility use unique conveyors and SCADA to put all parts on the same system and change the recipe per part type. The SCADA also controls other functions, such as track switches, line spurs, and shuttle systems while allowing for differences in loading or unloading preferences, pre-treatments, finishes, and curing.

SCADA in Action

When using SCADA, you can see the entire process on the plant floor HMIs or on network connected computer screens. Often color-coding schemes enable you to determine the status of each carrier on the system but for more information you can also drill down into capabilities per location for real-time process status, order, part, and recipe data. Some customers even add note fields so that comments by loaders, for example, can be reviewed by downstream operators in booths or at unload. System operators can add to these notes and also look at the entire history of carriers processed, or by jobs, parts, timeframes, etc.

Timing for each process is often available on the main or sub-system control screens. For example, carriers in the cure oven may show that a set of parts have “five minutes left” before they move out of the oven into the cool down process and then to unload.

With larger systems, as the parts wind their way around the process, operators can focus on zones. Since each carrier is reporting data, you can see screen zones that are blocked or starved, indicating that some action needs to occur to remove the blockers.

A SCADA solution is flexible and agile, perfect for all types of systems. Each SCADA solution is customized to meet the individual process and desires of a finishing system.

Process Data Screen

Beyond the map view of the system, SCADA can also link in data from each set of process equipment. A typical screen could contain every load of product, the carrier, recipe name, the color, job(s), customer name, the loader, notes, load time, and current location. You can filter the data table by ranges of dates or times and then export a spreadsheet for further analysis.

Since the information updates in real-time, you’ll see color-coding used again to illustrate things like when expected cycle times are longer than usual.

Master Recipes

Another common screen for an IntelliFinishing system is for Master Recipes. This matrix example shows the recipe number and name, shot blast information, pretreating, dry oven, cure oven, and the recipe’s creation date. You can change these recipes as needed to meet new customer specifications, changing products, or new system wash chemistries, powders, paints, cure times, etc. When a trained operator makes changes to a specific recipe for a specific carrier, the SCADA makes sure it doesn’t affect the recipes of any other carrier on the system.

Wash Status

The Wash Status screen is present when you integrate SCADA with a wash software system. You can view each stage and tags that align with that station. It also shows the burner stages and information like temperatures, chemistry, water pressure, etc.

Dry/Gel Oven Status

Integrating with a dry-off and gel oven platform lets you see the target temperature versus the actual temperature. Additionally, you can view the general status and target versus the remaining timing.

Load and Alarm History

Load History holds all the data, current and historical, and highlights key metrics, including:

• Total parts processed
• Total square feet of parts processed
• Average processing time
• Average wash time
• Total number of carriers for the day

You can download this as a report.

Alarm History is another important data collection element. Alarms also have color-coding to designate their severity. You can configure alarm screens by:

• Current and historical
• Escalation process (email or text notifications)
• Sort, search, and filter functions
• Auto-reporting emails at desired timeframes

HMI Displays

The HMI (Human Machine Interface) display loading and masking options for:

• System or racking instructions or drawings
• Part identifiers and specifications
• Masking and labeling instructions and diagrams
• Manuals
• Work instructions
• Data from multiple sources (i.e., websites, databases, documents, spreadsheets, PDFs, manuals, and sound or video files)

Using SCADA Data

Leveraging SCADA has even more data-driven benefits. Use it as a quality control logger that measures the part, carrier, or order.

The system also shows trends like production per day, week, month, or year-over-year from data analysis. You can also create preventive maintenance modules to track runtimes per motor, wheels, nozzles, heater units, and more.

Track energy by integrating with electrical and gas systems to calculate utility per carrier or part processing costs.

Other custom workflow systems can help you define labor cost per hour when integrating with an ERP, MES, or MRP platform.

If you have questions about SCADA options for a new finishing system and how to leverage them in your finishing processes, contact the experts at IntelliFinishing.

What to Know About Flexibility in Conveyor Design

When companies want to build an automated finishing conveyor system, they usually haven’t scoped the layout. They come to the discussion with a general idea of where they want the system installed, be it an existing building or maybe plans to construct a new one.

In either scenario, the concept of how much space they need is often more realistic when they have experience with an overhead conveyorized finishing system. However, projections based on this refer to traditional conveyor capabilities versus friction-tube conveyors, which are more flexible in configuration possibilities. So, how does the desired footprint lead to the most accurate and suitable layout? Learn how we work with customers to do just that.

Gathering Data Is Key to Designing Conveyor Systems

When working with our team of experts, customers provide us with all the data points about the space and the throughput desired. It’s important to know that capacity drives the size of the system, as it determines cycle time.

Once the cycle, curing, and drying time for a carrier-based system is configured, we then calculate oven sizes. Cycle time also influences the number of load and unload stations, wash design, other pretreatment options, and booths.

Drafting the Layout Is a Collaborative Effort

Typically, we design the draft layout first. After that first iteration, based on the information we’ve gathered, it becomes a collaborative project. Even if your level of experience with conveyors is slim, your feedback is still critical.

Some customers take our layouts and sketch their own versions. In most cases, we go through several revisions based on reviews and discussions. That can lead to new ideas and options for the best, most-optimized layout for the business.

But even when the layout is in the final stage, the budget can still force cuts.

When Layouts and Budgets Don’t Align

In finalizing the conveyor system, you may have to make cuts to get the cost to reflect what you can spend.

For example, even though an IntelliFinishing system can fit in a smaller footprint than conventional systems, sometimes it still won’t fit in the space available. If such an issue arises, companies must make big decisions about space. They can expand the area or decrease the system capacity. In addition, there can be other tradeoffs in the process steps.

When costs begin to impact the usability and value of the system, you have another option. Because our conveyor systems have a bolted-together design, you can build them in phases. Saving costs isn’t the only reason to consider this approach. It can support growth in throughput over time. What’s vital to ensuring this works is to design the final layout and then return to the phased approach, leaving sufficient space.

Layouts Can Change After Purchase and Order

After the agreed-upon design, you still have the option to make changes. Layouts do require some adapting after purchase. The reasons behind that can be outside your control, such as learning there are structural impediments on a site visit. Another issue that pops up often is local ordinance requirements. Other times it comes down to logistics.

Recently, we worked on a project where the site location had sufficient utilities but not enough space for the material flow of items to and away from the system. The only solution was to move it to a different building. Another example is a project impacted by city restrictions on an area the client planned to build. Thus, they had to find a new location, which delayed the project for several months and altered the layout.

Challenges like these occur due to so many factors impacting conveyor design. Changes can even occur after placing the order and may require change order pricing to be issued.

That was the case for a project located near Atlanta. After engineering started, which is the first step in the process, the project engineer and the customer discussed loading and unloading. As a result of the conversation, the customer decided to add a lift at load, making it easier for workers to chain multiple products on the system. That modification raised the product slightly after products were hung.

So, what can you expect in the change process of designing and ordering?

Setting the Course: Expectations and Delays During Design and Ordering

Changes in the system design in the draft and formal quote stages are common. These design changes are much faster to render with budget quotes. Formal layouts and quotes are much more time consuming, sometimes taking weeks. Thus, the more you can work out the design in the draft, the better.

After purchase, design changes are rarer and mostly minor unless we identify a significant obstacle, such as some of the examples above. The consequence of changes can be delays, but not always. It depends on the complexity. There were no delays in the example above regarding adding the lift, as they still had to build the addition to their plant.

Delays in the process most often occur due to weather, local licenses and utilities, and building site construction challenges. Searching for a new location after discovering the one chosen wasn’t suitable can also cause delays. For a couple of recent orders that learned their initial building wouldn’t work, searching for a new building took months! Most post-purchase system modifications are minor and don’t affect system delivery time.

Ready to learn more about the IntelliFinishing powder coating conveyor system layout options? Explore all the possibilities.

During the initial stages of our discussions about potential projects, we send our prospects a series of questions to help define the scope of the system we are to design and cost out. We’ve found that many prospective customers also have a set of questions they’d like to know too. In this article, we’ve taken time to answer some of those questions that come up from our perspective to give you a better understanding of what sets us apart. Hopefully, this information will help you understand our abilities and what you should consider when selecting us as your partner on your next finishing system. We’ve broken the categories into three main sections. Click below to jump to that section.

• IntelliFinishing Options
• Software
• Reputation and Support

IntelliFinishing Options

How much part weight can an IntelliFinishing System handle?

IntelliFinishing has four conveyor options that are based on the weight per carrier. These include the 500, 1500, 3500, and 5000 series conveyors. The series number corresponds to the weight per trolley allowed. Since most carriers have at least two trolleys (but some systems have four or more), you can multiply the series number by the trolleys to get to the system’s approximate weight per carrier capacity. In general, we tend to use the 500 series for carriers holding up to 1,000 lbs. We use the 1500 series for carriers up to about 6,000 lbs. The 3500 series tends to be used for per carrier weights of up to 14,000 lbs. And the 5,000 series, up to 20,000 lbs and beyond.

How many installations of IntelliFinishing systems are there?

We have over two dozen installations since we started in 2008. Seven installations occurred in partnership with Caterpillar in our first few years, before the technology was made available to other companies. Caterpillar actually patented a number of aspects of using this technology and we, at IntelliFinishing, represent those patents on all systems installed. However, there are actually hundreds of installations of our conveyance system, the friction-tube conveyor by IntelliTrak. This conveyor was invented in Europe over 60 years ago and is solely distributed by IntelliTrak. IntelliTrak is one of our main partners/vendors for the IntelliFinishing systems. They use this conveyor for material handling projects too, so whenever someone just wants material handling, we pass that contact over to IntelliTrak.

Does your conveyor work well with Shot Blast Equipment?

Our conveyor works exceptionally well with blast systems because we can move each carrier at an ideal speed based on the hung parts. We can even go back and pass through the blast window more than once. All of this is controlled by the recipe software. Over time, we’ve also made our conveyor better when using it with a blast as we’ve changed the it to help keep abrasive blast material out of the friction tube and carrier parts to prevent premature part wear. We currently have 4 systems that use shotblast inline on their systems with more systems on the way in process of being built on the way.  

How do you motorize the turning of the friction wheels?

We use either one half hp or one horsepower motors per section of track for most of our conveyor series options. The motors turn either a set of a belts or a chain that encircles the friction tube. Our conveyor motors are off the shelf and extremely easy to swap out if ever needed. Our belts (for the 500 series) are also easy to swap out and there are 4 per motor, but you only need one to operate the conveyor. The rest are just for extra redundancy. The chains rarely need changing but are also easy to slip off and on.

How does the conveyor work with process equipment and do you manufacture your own process equipment?

IntelliFinishing partners with and uses split top washers and ovens from Midwest Finishing Systems. They also provide environmental rooms, when required. The split top ovens in particular allow the friction wheels, which are synthetic rubber, to stay out of the oven and therefore they don’t melt. In fact, the entire conveyor is kept up out of the process equipment/ This saves energy (no heating up the conveyor chain or carrier loadbars), it’s cleaner, and it eliminates contamination that is common with chain based system. An added benefit is our carriers don’t drag heat throughout the facility like most chain conveyor systems. Across the top of the oven slot through which hooks or racking typically travel, we will have an air knife system that helps to keep the heat in the oven along with doors – also that save heat. Ultimately, our designs are far more fuel efficient to operate. We often can project 30–40% in savings over conventional ovens and wash designs.

Software

What does your system software consist of? 

We typically use several Allan Bradley PLC’s to control the conveyor and other pieces of equipment. We use an Industrial software called Ignition to provide the over-riding supervisory software that integrates each PLC. Most industrial control software price per tag, client, and connections. Ignition, in contrast, provides for unlimited tags, clients, and connections, plus it includes a designer function too. Our parent company and our software programmers are Premier level Integrators of Ignition, the highest level possible.

Ignition collects and stores system historical data too. While we do provide a base option for all systems, many additional system features can be custom quoted such as ERP integration and specialized reporting.

The software we use is custom-made for each system based on the system requirements. Generally, all IntelliFinishing Systems have a simple to use interface, a per carrier recipe approach to allow for wide variation per carrier, the ability to monitor the system from any computer on the network, and integration with each piece of process equipment. Most simple monorail finishing systems have nothing in the way of software control. Our software alone will significantly reduce system mistakes, operational time, rejects, do-overs, etc.

With IntelliFinishing, besides the system floor HMI’s, any networked computer with the proper login credentials can see the system and get various reports. Some reports can also be routinely emailed and downloaded in multiple common formats – although this is usually a custom-added feature.

Reputation and Support

What’s your service like after the sale?

Our help desk is available 24/7. Outside of routine part orders, our customers call us on average twice a month. We estimate that 85% of our service calls are resolved on a single call. However, on the rare occasion our team cannot resolve the issue, the techs who worked on your system will assist. We’ve even had some clients call our help desk just to brainstorm ideas, and we love it! We’re here to help however we can.

With the service desk, it is our goal to have a person answer any incoming calls — not a pesky automated robot. However, if our service tech happens to be on another line, an answering service will respond in person and you can leave a message. You will get a call back from the on call technician quickly.

Who owns IntelliFinishing?

IntelliFinishing is a dba of Kasa Companies. Kasa has more than 65 engineers across the U.S. Many of our engineers have a minimum of a dozen years of experience working on high-profile projects in the automotive, airport baggage handling, and finishing system industries. Our IntelliFinishing engineers, project managers, onsite coordinators, PLC and Ignition software programmers come from the ranks of Kasa.

Can we talk to customers or visit some installations?

Yes! We encourage prospects to visit one or more of our present installations. We have no dissatisfied customers! We’re happy to set up site tours to installations that may be similar to your needs or to provide contact information for any of our U.S. installations. Prospects can hear about our reputation straight from other customers. We’re creative with our solutions, put in long hours on installations, and meet our customer’s expectations for timing, performance, and professionalism.

Still think IntelliFinishing might be the right fit for your business?

Contact us by filling out this form or calling 785-309-0356.

Organizations consider many factors when considering a painting or coating finishing system. The capabilities of the system and its design are critical to performance. One area to pay close attention to is maximizing part density. Traditional chain conveyors come up short here, with most requiring 6-inch spacing or more between parts. A flexible solution with smart controls, like the IntelliFinishing System, is a game-changer for part density, with racking as a key ingredient. 

In this post, you’ll learn what part density is, how to maximize it, and how racking plays a role. 

What Is Part Density, and Why Is It Hard to Achieve with Chain-Based Conveyors?

Part density describes the ability to hang parts tightly together on a system. Monorail systems typically have poor density. Items must hang from hooks on the chain, spaced from a few inches to even feet apart. Loaders hang parts as the chain moves by at a set speed. For high-speed operations, loaders must scramble to keep up with the chain. As a result, they often must place relatively small pieces a far distance from one another, which creates big gaps and low part density. 

The only way to increase part density in this scenario is by preloading parts offline onto a removable load bar and then hanging a whole raft of parts at once. It can be challenging with a constantly moving chain system. There is sometimes the ability to stop the chain for loading, but it’s not without unintended, negative impacts downstream. Those impacts can include issues with the timing of pretreatment stages of a wash, travel through a shotblast, time in ovens, the timing of the processing of parts in the paint booths, and of course a drag on total throughput. 

Because these systems literally chain you to a speed with a given amount of time to hang, you’ll constantly fight the part density battle. 

Maximizing Part Density and Stop Chasing the Chain

The solution is to stop chasing the chain! Power and free systems and the IntelliFinishing system have the ability for carriers to halt, receive loads, and rejoin the main line. However, there are differences between these two concerning part density. 

The IntelliFinishing System enables smooth acceleration and deceleration because a VFD (Variable Frequency Drive) motor control for each track section. Power and free conveyors use motors that control long chain sections, each typically having a specific speed. In this situation, a carrier “dedogs” from one chain at one pace and then “dogs” onto another chain at another rate. The effect of this is parts swinging considerably, which has its own set of concerns. 

Why Is Maximizing Part Density So Critical in a Finishing System?

Maximizing part density results in finishing more products in less time. When the finishing time is less, you save on natural gas, electricity, and labor, so your total cost to finish per square inch decreases. 

It all comes back to the ability to pack parts closer, which you can do more consistently with the IntelliFinishing System. Typically, spacing can be as little as a few inches, so you’ll be processing more parts per hour. There’s also almost no part sway. The gains in efficiency can range from 10-30%. But to further optimize, you’ll need to have the proper racking, too.

How Racking Supports Part Density

Racking is the key to part density. You won’t have great part density if racking prevents parts from hanging tightly. For example, one of our system customers, JR Metal Fabrication, designed their own racking that greatly maximizes part density. Their setup includes a vertical hanging bar with slots at specific distances. From this, horizontal bars fit within the slots to create a grid. Each horizontal bar has an approximate spur spaced every few inches from which parts hang. The spurs, rails, and hanging bars come in a variety of sizes and arrangements to work with many different types of parts. This rail and slot hanging rack system allows JR Metal Fabrication to maximize part density on their 10-foot carriers. They routinely place from 20 to as many as 800 parts on each carrier.

How Can You Use an IntelliFinishing System for Racking and Increase Part Density?

We don’t provide the racking with our systems. It’s usually the responsibility of the system owner. However, we have a system that allows for greater part density than traditional chain-based overhead conveyor based finishing systems. The racking should be appropriately sized and fitted for the parts you finish and for the size of carrier you need on your system.

Are There Ever Situations Where Part Density or Racking Don’t Matter?

The answer is—they always matter. There may be instances where part density is fixed for some reason. An example is our customer, Prince Hydraulics, which paints hydraulic cylinders and valves. They determined they always hang only eight cylinders vertically per carrier, which is 8 feet long. Each cylinder is about a foot apart.

Cylinders can be an inch or two in diameter to several inches. Their lengths vary, too. Their system spins cylinders using star gears as they emerge from the wash, move through the blow-off device and, arrive in the paint booth in front of robotic paint applicators.

In theory, they could hang more than one cylinder. However, the spinning effect would cause lower cylinders to wobble if daisy-chained to the top cylinder. To mitigate this, they choose to go with eight cylindrical products per carrier only. However, they also paint hydraulic valves. When painting valves they hang between 4 to 8 valves vertically per each of the 8 foot hook spaces. In this way they can paint from 24 to 80 valves per 8-foot carrier. Depending on the size of the valves, each vertical rack creates a space between the valves from several to just a couple inches apart. The vertical rail still spins during the blow off and within the booth. Because the valves attach to the rail, the spin is controlled, and the robotic paint program adjusts to finish each valve. The part information at each hanging spot on the carrier is transferred from their ERP where it’s recorded in production when the parts are hung on removable loadbars resting on carts and then transferred to their IntelliFinishing system when the removable bar with parts are being loaded. The part information then is communicated to the robotic program through their IntelliFinishing Recipe system. This technique allows Prince to load up to 80 valves per carrier, depending on the size.

Maximize Part Density with a Full Plate

The IntelliFinishing System is an innovative take on finishing systems. It’s chainless, agile, and has the capabilities to increase part density and capitalize on great racking. All the ingredients come together so your business can fill up on total finish efficiency. Contact us to see if an IntelliFinishing system might be right for you.