Ford Takes its 3-Wet Paint Technology Global
06 August 2009
Ford is rolling out its 3-Wet paint technology in its paint shops in India, Romania, Mexico and China. The high-solids paint technology eliminates the need for process stages, replacing energy-consuming equipment with a simple, integrated booth. (Earlier post.)
Ford is also readying its launch of the process at Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Mich.
The 3-Wet paint technology is a combination of process and product that has allowed Ford to restructure its paint shops on a global scale. It is based on a high-solids, solvent-borne paint formulation developed by Ford and its suppliers that produces fewer emissions than current waterborne and solvent-borne paints, yet allows Ford to maintain its industry-leading long-term paint durability.
An automated application process eliminates the prep stage in a paint shop, allowing the three layers of paint—primer, base and —to be applied one after another without manual intervention and while each layer is still wet. The result is a superior product that offers a savings in time—specifically, about a 20 to 25% reduction in process time.
Because of the differences in technique—including robotic processing, elimination of equipment and associated pollutants, and increased line speed—there are 6,000 metric tons fewer CO2 emissions per year compared to waterborne systems and 8,000 metric tons fewer CO2 emissions per year compared to conventional high-solvent-borne systems. There also is a Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) emissions savings of 5% related to processing.
Good decision Ford. Keep it coming and you may become number one again.
Posted by: HarveyD | 06 August 2009 at 07:30 AM
Ford shall consider sharing the technology with others to save on CO2 and VOC emissions.
Posted by: Account Deleted | 06 August 2009 at 07:20 PM
Just remember Harvey and iftik you are cheering on something that is getting rid of high paying, democratic party voting union jobs via robots & automation.
Posted by: ejj | 06 August 2009 at 07:58 PM
ejj,
which is another reason why we should be training more product engineers, designers, product planners, etc. We are not going to sustain these fat pay labor jobs against foreign low cost competition. The US and west in general (including Japan) must leverage intellectual capital to keep jobs.
That means better education and better training for original thinking. The old days of dropping out of school and working in the factory are over. To succeed today you need a good mind, good education and talent. It's an IP world.
Posted by: sulleny | 07 August 2009 at 11:34 AM