Munich, Germany -- KraussMaffei opened a Euro 4-million ($5.4 million) Surface Treatment Center (STC), which replaces its old paint shop, at its headquarters in Munich-Allach, Germany, on 5 March 2010.
Major plastics machinery supplier KraussMaffei, which has a strong share of the reaction process equipment market for PU, said the centre offers faster and more environmentally responsible coating.
The new surface treatment centre "will enable us to work more efficiently and cut our turnaround times - our customers will benefit significantly," said Dr Dietmar Straub, ceo of KraussMaffei, in the company's announcement.
Straub said the centre reduces KraussMaffei's environmental impact, "with closed material loops reducing paint consumption and emissions substantially and permanently. Our employees also benefit, because the centre is setting new standards for occupational health and safety and good ergonomics," he stressed.
Guest of honour Bavarian economics minister Martin Zeil commented: "The German plastics machinery sector has been especially hard hit by the turbulence of the economic crisis. This is why I'm absolutely delighted with every Bavarian company that has taken the crisis as a spur to look ahead, modernise and invest."
An intelligently synchronised system allows components to be painted and returned to the assembly line with shorter throughput, said the plastics machinery supplier.
KraussMaffei said the STC will have two separate sections: an indexed system and a combi system. In the indexed system, KraussMaffei can paint parts up to 4-m long, 3-m wide, 3-m high and weighing up to 32 tonnes. At full capacity, the system is handling the equivalent of the take-off weight of an Airbus, the company noted. Parts are fed into the system on an overhead conveyor.
Parts that are too big for the indexing system -- up to 12 m long and weighing up to 80 tonnes -- will be painted in the combi system.
The STC was made and installed by systems engineering company Rippert Anlagentechnik GmbH & Co. KG from Herzebrock-Clarholz in North Rhine-Westphalia. Rippert's core expertise is in complex painting systems that include pretreatment, powder coating and drying systems.
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