There is more than meets the eye when sealing the edges of wood panels. In four years, The Willamette Valley Company has run away from the industry standard and largely inefficient “spray box” for sealing the edges of wood panels, and led the way toward the latest, most advanced, and tightly controlled spray application system available in the industry today. The main objectives for the development of Willamette Valley Company’s Spray Booth Application System were to increase transfer efficiency for maximum wet mil coverage with the least amount of paint possible, and to provide a user friendly, low maintenance booth that is easy on the environment.
Willamette Valley Company (WVCO) succeeded in this endeavor by developing a booth that addressed these concerns. Nevertheless, they continued to improve the design, which was then revolutionized by robotics. Having over 30 years combined experience in the field of robotics integration, WVCO decided to combine robotics with spray application, as well as other wood products industry equipment. Robert Pitts, Business Manager of Engineered Wood Products had this to say “It just makes sense. Painting robots have been used in the auto industry for many years. We are taking an existing proven technology that has been developed, defined, and refined, and we have decided to apply the technology to another industry”.
So, What does Willamette Valley Company see as the top 5 most important items for a booth that is sealing wood panels?
- Safety
- Environmental Impact
- Load Aesthetics / Cosmetics For Marketability
- Functionality & (Ease Of) Booth Maintenance
- Transfer Efficiency
WVCO latest booth is exceeding industry expectations by employing an industry proven six axis robotic arm with +/-0.005” precision control with >60,000 hour MTBF. The robotic arm has allowed the booth to accomplish the same job more efficiently and flexibly with less than 1⁄2 the number of spray guns as its predecessor (4 instead of 10).
During the development phase of the initial booth design, WVCO analyzed airflow dynamics to maximize performance. They left the ends of the booth open, and relied on the negative pressure airflow to contain any remnant atomized paint. The remnant atomized paint dries, and is captured predominantly in the filter system, instead of on the booth surfaces. The number of spray guns in operation determined the airflow necessary for proper filtration. Proper gun placement allowed reduction of the paint velocity minimized “bounce back” (splatter) with an overall increase in wet mil coverage. Any waste that is created will be dry.
Being in the coatings business, it made sense for WVCO to delve into the Efficient Spray Application System Business. In the late 1990’s, WVCO found themselves in a position to provide customers with a win-win situation where a mill could not only buy superior coatings, but also spray equipment that would substantially reduce overall paint usage and cost. One mill reported staggering 50% reduction in paint usage as well as a reduction in moisture claims after switching to Willamette Valley Company equipment.
When interviewed, Eldon Owen, General Manager of WVCO Precision Technologies Division stated that “We developed a state of the art booth when we didn’t see anything out there that was meeting industry needs, or addressing industry complaints. The booths we saw were wet and messy, and had nowhere near the transfer efficiency that mills were seeking. No one we spoke with wanted wet booth cleanup issues. WVCO also had environmental concerns.”
He went on to say “When we developed the spray application system, we did not see initial cost to be the major factor. We knew the booth would pay for itself in short order through increased transfer efficiency and the saving of cleanup and disposal cost associated with wet cleanup. When we looked at other application systems, we saw manual limit switches that no one wanted to adjust. For this reason, and as an answer to overspray, we chose to use state of the art electronic servo motor adjustment with encoders to control the speed and timing of the spray guns. To further increase the transfer efficiency of the WVCO spray booth, we used Electric Spray Guns for exacting control.”
Stan Reynolds, Operations Manager at WVCO agreed: “We developed our system in response to what the industry was lacking, and as a result were able to provided ROI answers that mill managers wanted to see. Also, Mill maintenance personnel tell us that they appreciate that the booth is designed for easy maintenance and accessibility”.
Over the years, WVCO has held tightly to the notion that it is best to affect the customer’s bottom line in a positive way. WVCO has accomplished this by developing equipment that is more efficient and more reliable than any competing equipment on the market today. Robert Pitts put it this way: “It is our goal and objective to improve the customer’s bottom line to help the customer succeed. This leads to future repeat business and customer referral that increases our own customer base. This is a win-win situation for everyone involved.” The booth helps the mill to keep per unit cost of product down, and maintain a competitive edge over other producers in the industry.
The time for Robotics in the wood products industry has come. Willamette Valley Company has developed and is currently developing other robotic systems for the wood products industry, and will apply robotic technology for repetitive operations, or wherever mill safety concerns exist. We feel that it is better to use a robotic arm than to damage a real arm. “Anything is possible” is reality at Willamette Valley Company.
Written By Mark Matteson January 27, 2004
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