“If you can coat the J-handle I will buy your machine”, said Sean O’Neil, owner of company In-Doors in Antrim in Northern Ireland more than a year ago. At Ligna in 2017 staff from In-Doors and Bürkle met for the first time to discuss the spray coating technology developed by Bürkle. Martin Brümmerstädt, project manager at Bürkle for the spray coating developments and Sean O’Neil had a very detailed discussion about the new ROBUSpro spray coating machine.
Up to this point In-Doors coated all the high quality kitchen doors in five manual spray booths. Sean and his team focus on high quality. The doors are painted in the same colour for the base- and topcoat which lifts the quality to another level but on the other hand makes the process even more complicated. The doors are produced in small batch sizes and the individual colours are all mixed, ie, made-to-order at In-Doors’ factory.
The requirement was to change parts of the production to an automated spray coating process. Bürkle is a relatively new player in this field and was open for ideas and listened to the customer’s requirements. Fast colour changes with an absolute minimum of paint loss during the colour changes were some of the most important requirements.
The first test coating was completed at Bürkle’s Tech Centre in Freudenstadt, Germany and the exact requirements were pointed out by the customer in more detail.
Both Sean and Robert Thomas – representative of paint supplier Sherwin Williams – directed the attention of Bürkle’s spray coating team in detail to the more important points. Bürkle understood the requirements and modified certain parts of the machine for this application.
After another meeting in Northern Ireland, In-Doors and Bürkle decided to start the project together. Part of the project was also the integration of an existing Kremlin mixing unit for paint and hardener into the machine. This opened the way for a flexible solution so that In-Doors got the chance to change one colour while the machine sprays another colour.
The whole system was fully tested at Bürkle’s factory in Southern Germany before it made its way to the customer in Northern Ireland. At the same time the existing building at In-Doors was modified to make space for the new spray coating machine and keep the same logistics with the existing drying rooms.
After the installation and training the machine started the production. The quality of the coated doors, including the J-handle, is exactly as expected by Sean.
He confirms with a smile: “The machine was made in Germany but developed in Northern Ireland!”
The UK and Ireland distributor is FEN UK.
01332 516557
www.fenuk.com
