In addition to making paint tougher, the process reduces painting time and energy use by cutting the number of paint applications from three to two and the number of drying procedures from two to one.

The two-wet monocoat process uses a primer coat that requires only a few minutes of open-air drying time before the color coat is applied. The color coat is formulated with the same appearance and protection properties of the clear coat, which eliminates the need for a separate clear coat. The painted body is fully cured in an enamel oven after the color coat is applied. The total process removes one paint application step and one oven drying step when compared to conventional paint processes.

A conventional paint process uses water filtration—known as a wet scrubber system—to remove the overspray from the air in the paint booth that produces sludge. The new dry scrubber system pumps the air through a filter containing limestone that can be recycled. The dry scrubber system alone reduces energy use and carbon dioxide emissions by 44%, cuts particulate emissions by 99% and uses 75% less water annually.

The new paint process uses less energy and water, and reduces carbon dioxide and particulate emissions compared with conventional paint processes. The reduction in paint and energy consumed is expected to result in 9,500 tons fewer carbon dioxide emissions and a 35-ton savings in particulate emissions on an annual basis. An innovative dry scrubber system will help save more than 10.5 million gallons of water. Overall, the system should save 48,000 megawatt hours of electrical power, enough electricity to power 3,400 homes. (All figures based on data from preliminary testing.)

The new paint procedure is being used for white-colored vehicles, which account for 80 percent of Ford Transit production at Kansas City Assembly Plant. As each color must be developed uniquely for the two-wet monocoat process, other colors will be considered based on demand. A conventional three-wet process—primer, base coat, clear coat—remains in use for metallic-colored vehicles.

The two-wet monocoat system helps increase production efficiency. The more streamlined process takes the vehicle body through an electrostatically bonded corrosion-resistance (E-coat) bath. The Transit body remains on a carrier that is lowered into the E-coat by four pendulums, rather than being manually removed from the carrier and attached to chains to be taken down, only to have to repeat the same steps before moving on to the paint booth.

The pendulums take the vehicle body into and out of the bath at steep angles, reducing the length of the bath by as much as 320 feet. Transit’s paint operation requires less space than that used in production of the smaller Ford Fiesta.

The two-wet monocoat process allows us to design a system considerably smaller than a conventional paint shop, especially with regard to a vehicle of this size and complexity. Because painting time is cut down, the technology enables greater productivity using less equipment.Dennis Havlin, Ford global paint engineering development and launch supervisor

Ford plans call for a 30% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions per vehicle produced from 2010 to 2025, and a 30% reduction in water use per vehicle produced from 2009 to 2015.