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Refrigeration system manufacturing 4.0 : From series production to project production
The act of stocking large industrial sized refrigerators now-a-days are a thing of the past . Frost-trol , the Spanish refrigeration system specialist , supplies namebrand supermarkets with brand-specific refrigeration systems configured to the customer ’ s requirements .
The Company
Industrial refrigeration systems are used in supermarkets , grocery and convenience stores . In order to develop customized refrigerated cabinets and cooling systems specific to its customer ’ s needs and to manufacture them economically in small series , the Spanish specialist Frost-trol has commissioned a state-of-the-art production facility .
“ Our current customers are the large chains in the food retail market , who no longer just buy equipment from us , but desire tailor-made solutions for their very brandspecific outlets ,” says Jorge Herreros , plant manager at Frost-trol , describing the effects of a change in strategy at Frost-trol over the past few years . This has also had major impacts on production : “ We used to mass-produce the different cooling modules and store them until they were sold . Today , we produce exactly the elements needed to process an order . This is highly efficient , but also poses an enormous challenge to the flexibility of our production ” says the plant manager .
The Challenge
The task for the powder coating line was to completely reorganize both the pretreatment and coating processes and to integrate them into the operations of the entire production . “ To achieve a constant material flow , it was essential to determine the process times of all machines and work steps .
Thanks to the new coating line , the production capacity has increased considerably . A doubled output is achieved and with a reduction in powder consumption of about 20 %.
When coordinating them , it was necessary to consider , the workpieces pass through the various plant areas at different speeds . Based on this data , we ran through countless conceivable options and alternatives in extensive simulations and in the end calculated the optimum configuration of the plant ,” says Rubén Cubillas , who is responsible for the coating plant at Frost-trol , briefly summarizing the planning phase . The result of this intensive preliminary work stands in a newly built production hall near Castellon . “ For 25 years , we had a single powder coating line ,” says Mr . Cubillas , “… but the flexibility in production required today can only be achieved with a highly automated , integrated production with two lines .”
The Solution
Key elements of the coating line are the two ColorMax3 powder coating booths , one of which was built in late 2017 , while the second was added the following year . In the place of these two booths , there were three conventional booths before the conversion and although the number of booths has been reduced , the performance has increased enormously : “ We consistently rely on Nordson ‘ s HDLV ® dense phase technology ,” explains Jorge Herreros , adding as an explanation : “ The eight Encore ® HD automatic guns spray with a very soft powder cloud that hits our workpieces at a low speed and applies a consistent coating on them . This produces an excellent coating quality that hardly ever requires rework , and we benefit from efficient powder application .”
Another advantage is the fast cleaning . “ We are prepared for up to 40 product and color changes a day with this system ,” reports Mr . Herreros . “ This is only economically feasible if downtime is minimal !” Powder is transported by the Encore HD pumps , which deliver powder consistently and accurately – a prerequisite for the maximum process control and reproducibility of coating results that Nordson HDLV ( High Density , Low Velocity ) dense phase technology excels at . “ We typically coat at 60 to 70 µ, creating a particularly homogeneous surface that eliminates the need for rework ,” Mr . Herreros says .
A special feature of the installation at Frost-trol is that two additional PowderPilot HD screens were installed directly on the booths for system control . “ This also increases efficiency and optimizes process ,“ explains Rubén Cubillas . “ Depending on where the operator is at the moment , the time in which he can read information about the current status of the
46 FEBRUARY 2021 twitter : @ surfaceworldmag