There are plenty of opportunities to reduce costs and improve the quality of pretreatment. Technologies such as bioremediation and new dried-in-place processes are prolonging bath life and simplifying chemical and equipment usage.

Litong contains other products and information you need, so please check it out.

Many automated coating lines use multistage washers with several interrelated spray or immersion stages to prepare a metal surface prior to the application of a paint or powder coating. These spray washers consume water, chemicals, gas and electricity. Good maintenance can help to minimize the most obvious costs and keep the machine running properly. Beyond good chemical and mechanical maintenance, several new and unique enhancements and process methods are available that can improve quality and reduce costs.

High-quality, high-performance coating systems, such as powder coating and high-solids liquid paint, have been used for many years to increase the commercial or consumer value of various metal components. To obtain the highest value from these coating systems, a high-quality pretreatment system must be used. For metallic surfaces, the most common pretreatment method is a spray washer.

High-performance pretreatment systems usually consist of the following interrelated steps: cleaning, rinsing, treatment, rinsing and post-treating (sealing), followed by drying and powder coating.

Cleaning

A cleaning operation associated with the pretreatment process is the preparation of a metallic surface for the subsequent surface treatment steps. Primarily, this means removing the soils and contaminants that will affect the surface chemical reactions of the treatment stages. These surface contaminants consist of a combination of organic and inorganic materials from the manufacturing of the substrate or the production of the component being coated.

These undesirable materials build up and begin to deteriorate the cleaning solution, which then requires frequent disposal. Recently there have been several technologies used to improve the performance and decrease the costs of the cleaning step of the pretreatment process. There are several techniques that can be used for controlling the solution and continuously removing soils. By removing soils continuously, it may be possible to reduce the overall cost of the cleaning process.

Getting the grease out

Oil can be removed by oil skimmers, oil separators, ultrafiltration or a bioremediation process.

Oil skimmers. A simple oil skimmer uses a blade or belt that rotates through the solution and collects oils on its surface. The blade then runs across the edge of a piece of steel that scrapes off the oil and runs it into a scrap receptacle for disposal. Blades and belts are inexpensive, but they are not very effective for removing a significant volume of oil.

Coalescing oil separators.

Coalescing oil separators have been around for some time. This system uses an air-operated pump to feed the process cleaner to the coalescing separator. As the process cleaner passes through the unit, oil accumulates on the media until it breaks loose, floats to the surface and is skimmed off to a waste container. The process cleaner is returned to the main tank via gravity or another air-operated pump.

The only operating adjustments required are the initial adjustment of the skim level and pump rate for flow adjustment. Aside from the pump, there are no moving parts in the coalescing oil separator.

The maintenance requirement is limited to removing and cleaning the coalescing media and removing accumulated sediment from the settling area. The frequency required depends on the amount of product and the type of oil being processed.

These units are designed to improve the operating efficiency of process cleaner baths, not to treat waste. The effectiveness of the coalescing media may diminish over time due to the buildup of contaminants on the media surfaces. The coalescing oil separator is usually limited to water-insoluble oils and contaminants.

Ultrafiltration. In ultrafiltration, the cleaning solution containing the cleaning chemistry and the soils and contaminants are passed through a membrane filter to remove the soils and other contaminants. The filtered cleaning solution is then returned to the cleaning process, thus extending the time between recharging and potentially decreasing the cleaning costs.

There are several issues to consider when using this technique. Many of the membranes used may not be chemically or thermally resistant to the cleaning solution. The type of soils to be removed should be matched to the type of membrane used because the removal efficiency can be affected by the molecular weight and molecular structure of the soils.

The ultrafiltration filter will also remove the surfactants from the cleaning solution. These removed surfactants have to be replenished or the cleaning effectiveness can significantly suffer.

There is a high initial capital cost associated with this type of filtration process. The cost for membrane replacement can be high but is not usually significant unless a bag filter is not used as a prefilter or the ultrafilter is not of good quality. As with the oil separators, the discharge from the filtration process has to be appropriately discarded.

Prior to installing a system using this technique, a detailed investigation of both the capital costs and the operating costs should be conducted to ensure that all the potential cost savings are realized.

Bioremediation cleaning process.

Bioremedia-tion of oils and greases has been used in waste treatment since the mid &#;s, and bioremediation cleaning processes have been used ahead of metal plating operations for some time. This type of cleaning system has recently been introduced as part of the pretreatment process. It is not intended to replace the normal cleaning steps but should be used in addition to the usual cleaning stages.

The bioremediation process consists of a near-neutral pH, low-temperature composition that contains a blend of surfactants and microbes. With this system, the surfactants remove and emulsify the oils, and the microbes slowly &#;digest&#; the oils, soils and greases. A system reactor tank controls the pH, oxygenates the solution and delivers micronutrients to maintain the specialized microbes.

Another benefit of this process is that formulated cleaners are able to emulsify a high percentage of oils. Therefore, if the process is used ahead of a cleaner stage, there can be improved cleaning and longer bath life due to this emulsifying characteristic. If this process is followed by a rinse stage, the emulsified oils are more easily rinsed off. This technology is limited to oils, greases and soils that can undergo bioremediation and are emulsifiable.

A buildup of solids in the solution can also reduce the life of the cleaner bath. To keep the volume of solids in the cleaner tank to a minimum, a bag filter can be used. Bag filters can be installed in the discharge line coming from the solution-circulating pump, or they can be installed with a separate circulating pump. The circulating pump pulls the solution out, passes it through the filter to remove the solids and returns it to the tank.

Solids will settle on the floor in the form of sludge. The outlet to the bag filter may not have sufficient force to pull from the entire tank floor. The most effective way to remove solids from the tank is to use a separate circulating pump and a flushing arrangement. In this arrangement, a series of pipes is located near the floor of the tank with a series of nozzles, or eductors, mounted along their length. Solids are flushed along the floor of the tank towards the outlet by the rows of eductors. This provides more complete removal of solids from the tank.

Simplifying the process

It is possible that the complexity of the entire pretreatment process can be significantly reduced with some treatment options. The use of dried-in-place (DIP) technologies to prepare substrates has made the processes less complex from both a chemical and equipment standpoint, while maintaining quality. These new systems can decrease the capital needed to construct a new system and reduce the total overall operating costs of any existing system.

Table 1

shows the progression of these new technologies.

These new processes are now commercially proven over a wide range of substrates and coating systems. For existing operations, current post-treatment or conversion coating tanks can be used in a recirculated method, but the tanks must be constructed of stainless steel. This means that only a small capital investment must be made to utilize this type of product. When using the recirculation method, chemical components from the previous cleaner and rinse stages, as well as components from the metal itself, may build up in the chemical process solution and cause the process solution to be dumped frequently.

To fully realize the benefits of dried-in-place technology, it can be applied with a misting system that may require a more extensive equipment modification. The DIP technology is misted on in a controlled amount and in a very uniform manner, providing enough to completely wet out the entire surface. The excess is allowed to runoff and drain. The parts are then dried before the paint is applied. This is an ideal application of the DIP technology, and the same approach would be used in new installations. These processes have shown excellent performance with steel and aluminum. Examples of the results from commercial lines are displayed in Table 2.

The benefits of the DIP processes can easily be seen for a new installation because of the decrease in equipment requirements. For existing operations, the benefits are immense. The new systems operate at a lower processing temperature than the conventional processes, significantly reducing energy costs. The elimination of the need to generate large quantities of DI/RO water can save from $9,000 to more than $36,000 for a typical conventional pretreatment process operating one shift.2 The reduced equipment maintenance is a less easily quantified benefit, but can amount to an annual cost savings similar to the DI/RO savings mentioned above.

The environmental impact of these new technologies is less than that of conventional processes in several major areas. One, the waste from the generation of the DI/RO water is eliminated. Two, there is no sludge generated during the process. And three, the boiling out, or deep cleaning, of the conversion coating process stage is not required.

While the exact mechanism of the DIP technology is not completely known, the current theory is that the polar organic moiety of this technology chelates with the inorganic ions of the conversion coating. The less-polar portion of this type of material is then free to bond and interact with the paint coating to produce excellent performance results. In the newer DIP technology, suitable for application directly to cleaned-only surfaces, the polar organic moiety of this type of technology has been modified to react directly with clean metal surfaces.

In situations where welded, conventional or laser parts are being prepared for painting, it may be necessary to include a pickle stage and rinse stage in the process ahead of a DIP application. This acidic step would assure that a completely cleaned surface goes into the DIP application. This type of weld-scale removal step would also have to be added to a conventional conversion coating process to assure good performance in any typical painting operation.

Conclusions

While there are many opportunities for cost reductions in pretreatment systems, care must be taken to assure that the total impact to a process is well understood and that a &#;real&#; cost savings is being achieved. In some cases, the large capital costs for certain equipment can have a relatively short payback time. With other operations, the installation of the same equipment may not be justified due to reduced cost savings. In other cases, minor, low-cost process or equipment changes can result in significant cost reductions. Whatever path is taken to achieve cost savings, the entire operation must be taken into account.

References

G. D. Kent, &#;Cost Reductions in Pretreatment Systems—Theory & Practice.&#; Powder Coating , Indianapolis, IN, September 23-26, .

G. D. Kent, &#;New Pretreatment Technologies—The Magic has Just Begun.&#; Coatings , September , Orlando, Florida.

G. D. Kent, &#;Environmental Compliance Drives New Technologies for Powder Painting Process.&#; Powder Coating Conference, Indianapolis, IN., September 26-28, .

G. D. Kent, &#;The Future of Pretreatment—Back to the Basics.&#; Coatings 99, September 21-23, .

M. Petschel, R. Hart, Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia Of Chem. Tech., 4th Edition, Vol. 16, 436-446 ().

W. Fristad and M. Boulos, &#;New Trends in Pretreatment for Powder Coatings,&#; Powder Coating , Indianapolis, IN., Sept. 22-24, .

R. Miller, M. Petschel, R. Hart, Metal Finishing, 13-16 (July ).

R. Talbert, Powder Coating, Chemical Coaters Association, 4th Edition, .

PVD Coating System Buying Guide

 

How to assess your current business needs and decide if PVD In-House is the right decision for you

Are you spending more than USD 100K annually on PVD outsourcing?

Bob&#;s cutting tool company is spending more than USD 100K annually on PVD outsourcing with an annual volume between 20,000-30,000 units. Investing in a PVD coating system will significantly reduce Bob&#;s cost per part and increase his overall bottom line.

Is your PVD coating service turnaround longer than 24 hours?

As Bob&#;s business continues to expand, his customers are demanding a faster turnaround. Bob&#;s PVD coating supplier has a hard time keeping up with the delivery schedule as they have other customers to serve at the same time. The advantage of owning an in-house PVD coating department allows Bob to take full control over the production schedule - even if it means Bob has to run an extra shift or two to get the job done.

Have you ever received defective or damaged tools from the PVD coating supplier?

If you are experiencing QA issues, be it from the PVD coating suppliers or shipping company, this could affect your bottom line and customer satisfaction. When you own your in-house PVD coating department, the system is integrated as part of the production, and any defects can be identified and rectified on the spot.

 

Want To Start Powder Coating? Succeed By Avoiding These 4 Common Pitfalls

Don&#;t Miss Out On Powder Coating Profits

Are you looking for a business opportunity that will provide financial rewards without a huge out-of-pocket risk? 

Are you already operating a fab shop or doing metalwork at your facility? Maybe you&#;re running a collision repair business or have a custom car, truck, ATV, or motorcycle shop where adding services could capture new business.

Perhaps you&#;re an entrepreneur looking to start a new business from scratch.

If any of these describe you, launching a new powder coating operation might be a smart business move. Powder coating shops are thriving across the United States and Canada. In many areas, the demand greatly exceeds the capacity of local shops that perform powder coating work for outside customers. If you already have a business where coating could add value, performing powder coating in-house can increase your profits and reduce the headaches associated with sending parts out for coating.

Since , Reliant Finishing Systems has helped over 1,000 small businesses launch professional powder coating operations. The most successful of these companies all have something in common&#;they invested in Reliant finishing equipment that was appropriately sized for the results they wanted, they make sure their equipment stays clean and well maintained, they use high quality powders and expendables, and they do what it takes to recruit and retain talented, thoughtful employees.

With a little knowledge and the right equipment, it&#;s easy to start a new powder coating shop that can succeed for years to come. By providing professional quality coating services that meet the needs of a variety of industries, powder coating facility owners can take advantage of a growing market and create a profitable and sustainable business.

 

Why Is Powder Coating A Smart Choice?

Starting a powder coating business or adding in-house powder coating capabilities can be a lucrative and exciting venture for any businessperson. Powder coating is a steadily growing market that offers a wide range of sales opportunities across many different industries. As new regulations compel businesses to reduce harmful emissions, environmentally friendly technologies like powder coating are replacing older technologies like wet painting. 

From fishing lures and alloy wheels to industrial machinery and agricultural equipment, there is no shortage of products that can benefit from a powder coated finish. There&#;s also no shortage of demand for coating services, especially in the aerospace and industrial powder coating markets. 

As a new business enterprise, a powder coating start-up can offer significant growth potential to a motivated businessperson. As an add-on service for an existing business, powder coating generates increased business traffic as local customers learn of its availability. Although many professional powder coating businesses are still relatively new, it is easy to build a roadmap to success by observing the recent successes and failures of other shop owners. 

 

Are you interested in learning more about Separate Pretreatment and Coating Line? Contact us today to secure an expert consultation!

Why Doesn&#;t Every Shop Succeed?

The powder coating process has been around for decades, particularly in the industrial market segment, but it was unknown by the average person until only a few years ago. Much of its recent popularity is linked to the countless &#;reality&#; shows where custom auto, truck, and cycle builders powder coat everything from valve covers to custom wheels to race car frames as part of their work.

Unfortunately, some of the start-up businesses created in response to this relatively recent interest in powder coating failed due to a lack of basic business knowledge and because they made poor choices about how to outfit their new businesses. Below are four common pitfalls that need to be avoided on your path to powder coating success.

Pitfall #1: Not Having A Comprehensive Plan For Success

Starting a powder coating business or adding a powder coating operation to your current business will be a significant investment, so it&#;s essential to understand your local market, anticipate customer demand, and then purchase the equipment you&#;ll need to operate your business profitably. Here are some key considerations as you develop a plan for business success:

Market & Demand: You need to clearly identify the sales opportunities that exist in your area, including the types of businesses and organizations that can propel your business forward if you provide powder coating services to them. You need to have a thorough understanding of the sizes and shapes of common parts these customers may want to have coated. You also need to understand how to do business with the companies and government entities that will be supporting you. 

Competition: Learn everything you can about the competing powder coating shops in your area&#;lead times, what they charge, their strengths, their weaknesses, etc. If you think your area includes everything within an hour drive, do homework on every coating business within a three-hour drive. We constantly see powder coating customers haul parts an extra hour or two to get the service and pricing they want. Once you have a clear picture of your competition, you can develop a plan to differentiate yourself from them via service offerings, pricing, work quality, lead times, or whatever meshes with your business model and gives you a selling advantage.

To maximize your profits, it may be best to choose a balance between doing mainstream work (including walk-ins) and performing more lucrative niche services. Niche business happens when you target specific local industries or customers that need very specific powder coating services, but local providers aren&#;t meeting their needs. Examples of niche business opportunities would include coating large parts or parts with unusual dimensions, like 42&#; long trailer rails or 10&#; round agricultural mower bodies. Niche powder coating business opportunities might also involve coating parts that require multiple coats of powder to reach high mil thicknesses, coating parts that have complex masking requirements, or coating parts that must be fast-tracked and returned to service within a matter of hours. By offering niche services your competitors can&#;t or won&#;t, you help assure your profitability and future business success.

Space: You&#;ll need enough space to accommodate your powder coating equipment, provide efficient workflow, protect the safety of your employees, and comply with regulations. What many people fail to grasp is the amount of space required for the &#;inactive&#; phases of powder coating. 

 

You aren&#;t just coating and curing the parts! First, the parts are staged and hung from racks or loaded onto a conveyor. Then the parts are prepped. This is often done by washing with chemistry designed to make the surface more receptive to powder coating. In some situations, blasting may also be required. This can be done separately from the rest of the coating operation, but in the most efficient layouts, blasting and washing/chemical pretreatment are done as part of a multi-step process where the parts move from station to station, either on rolling racks or by conveyor. The more pretreatment steps you need to accommodate the various parts you&#;ll be working with, the more space you&#;ll need. After the parts are prepped, they may need to be force dried to prevent flash rust. The dried parts are then staged for coating. Once coated, the parts are moved to the curing oven and processed. Once the powder has cured, the parts must cool down before being handled. Once the parts are safe to touch, they&#;re removed from the coating area. 

 

As you can see, the parts have several steps throughout the powder coating process where they are not being actively processed or handled. During these steps, the parts will require staging room or they will end up in the way. Your best bet is to consult with one or more established coating systems providers, like Reliant Finishing Systems, and have them provide a layout drawing that integrates technical details about their coating equipment with a scaled drawing of your building. This can help you visualize how much room the equipment requires. It also helps you consider factors like the turning radius of your parts rack while you are fine tuning the location and specifications of the equipment you are about to order.

Budget: It&#;s important to set a realistic budget and consider all associated acquisition costs such as gas plumbing, exhaust ventilation, electrical service, and installation labor expenses. Professional quality powder coating equipment can be expensive, but it&#;s worth it. Don&#;t risk your business success by buying used equipment or hobby-grade appliances sold by online sites that prey on eager industry newcomers. Buy the largest, best quality powder coating equipment you can afford and make sure you have room to operate it efficiently.

You also need to have an ample budget for your shop labor. Just like you can&#;t expect a cheap hobbyist powder coating gun to match the performance of a brand name powder gun from Wagner, Gema, or Nordson, you can&#;t expect unskilled or semi-skilled workers to instantly turn out professional grade results with the equipment you buy. Powder coating requires technical expertise, so it&#;s important to hire and retain well-trained and experienced employees to operate the equipment efficiently and profitably.

Plan For Quality: Nothing can make or break your reputation faster than turning out shoddy work. Prevent this by planning ahead! Budget for skilled employees, professional quality powder coating equipment, and brand name powder coatings and prep materials. This will help assure that your finished products are of the highest quality. 

Successful powder coating shops know how important it is to provide premium quality work. When talking with companies that outsource their powder coating, the number one factor they cite when choosing a coating supplier is almost never price. In some cases, turnaround time or the ability to coat large parts may be the deciding factor. In almost all other cases, coaters are chosen because of the quality of their coating workmanship and the level of their customer support. 

It&#;s important to deliver the best products you can and have quality control measures in place to guarantee customer satisfaction. This isn&#;t just true with business-to-business coating jobs. Click here to learn about a young entrepreneur who used quality workmanship to build a booming international powder coating business with a customer base filled with pro athletes, celebrities, and business executives.

 

By forming a thoughtful plan for success, you can make better decisions about the finances, location, personnel, and equipment you will need to successfully launch your new powder coating business or add powder coating services to your current operation.

 

Pitfall #2: Buying A Coating System That Is Too Small

No customer ever comes back to us saying they wish their equipment was smaller. Fortunately, our booths and ovens are modular in design, so it&#;s possible to increase the size of the appliances if needed. We sell numerous expansion kits each year to customers who come to realize they should have bought larger booths and ovens, as well as companies that started small and have grown to where they can now afford larger appliances than when they first started.

Many of the unsuccessful coating shops opened in the last few years were started by enthusiasts who were focused on only certain types of powder coating projects. These were typically guys who were into welding, fab work, hot rodding cars, and enjoying the outdoors. They were fans of reality shows that glamorized that lifestyle and featured impressive examples of that kind of work. As a result of their hyper-focus, these new shop owners failed to think big. 

On the surface, their decisions didn&#;t seem unwise. They could buy a small 8&#; x 8&#; x 15&#; oven from a small company they found online for less than half the price of a 10&#; x 10&#; x 30&#; oven from an established well-known manufacturer like Reliant. They could easily coat rims, truck frames, and machine parts with the smaller oven, so that&#;s what they bought. 

Unfortunately, we have heard the same sad story countless times: A big customer from a nearby area has several loads of parts that need to be coated for a special project, but they are too big to fit in the budget-priced oven the new business owner chose. So, the customer ends up trucking his parts a couple hundred miles down the road to the shop with an industrial-duty 10&#; x 10&#; x 30&#; oven and the new coating shop loses thousands of dollars of revenue. After enough of these missed opportunities, the new business is on the ropes. 

 

Pitfall #3: Not Having A Plan For Capturing Profitable New Business 

There&#;s another issue that can hamper your success if you don&#;t account for it before you start your powder coating operation. Unless you are in a busy metropolitan area, there are only so many steel truck wheels, alloy rims, cycle frames, lawn chairs, car parts, and small job shop parts in need of coating on any given day. Without a long-term bulk coating contract or an influx of large or complex parts, it is entirely likely that your shop will have the ability to coat all the small jobs you&#;ve sold in only a couple days a week. If your coating equipment is sitting idle, it isn&#;t making you money. 

A lack of business understanding caused a small number of powder coating start-ups to fold in the last five years because their equipment wasn&#;t operating enough hours each week. If the owners had done a better job of attracting larger jobs (such as refinishing agricultural equipment for local farmers) or selling bulk coating projects with high piece counts (like powder coating 2,400 sets of lunchroom table legs for a county school board contract), they might still be in business. 

It is critical that you investigate every potential customer in your area. Think outside the box. Touch base with any business that might benefit from powder coating certain parts or assemblies. Even businesses that coat in-house sometimes use outside coating vendors to handle excess coating work or address specialty coating needs. Along the same lines, companies that are currently doing wet painting in an industrial setting also sometimes make great clients for powder coating because of the benefits it offers over conventional painted finishes. 

Many coaters work to get contracts in place before they open a new facility. This helps mitigate the risk of starting a new business, and the customers who guarantee a certain volume of work get the advantage of discounted pricing. Be sure to have a plan in place that will help assure your initial sales success rather than finding yourself having to scramble to find new sales opportunities. 

 

Pitfall #4: Being Too Cheap For Your Own Good

One of the main things that separates successful powder coating shops from those that have either failed to grow or have gone out of business is the different level of business devotion shown by the owners and managers. In particular, the difference between the people who take intelligent risks and run their businesses like their lives depended on it and those who operate their businesses like they&#;re hobbies. This isn&#;t always tied to how hard people work, but rather how they deal with the opportunities in front of them and how they utilize their company&#;s resources.

Let&#;s look at what separates the two types of operations. A primary indicator is how the owner(s) go about spending their company&#;s money. The successful shop owner performs his own research and checks out numerous references before he buys a quality powder coating system from a reputable manufacturer. He makes sure it includes blasting and/or chemical pretreatment equipment so his coaters can get good powder adhesion. He also buys name brand powder, makes sure his guns are properly adjusted, hires skilled operators, and keeps his finishing equipment well maintained.

At the other end of the spectrum, you have the owner who asks around in a chat group or calls a couple &#;get rich with powder coating&#; websites and lets a fast-talking salesperson convince him to buy one of the small, inexpensive equipment packages they offer. He doesn&#;t really take metal prep seriously and decides to hold off on getting a pretreatment system. Instead, his employees use a bug sprayer to apply a one-step cleaner. Once the part dries, his company uses unreliable hobby guns to apply cheap mail order powder. Rather than hire experienced coaters, he either does the work himself as he has time or hires unskilled labor&#;often family members. Since they don&#;t have adequate skill, they turn the powder gun(s) wide open and spray powder everywhere. This approach wastes an extraordinary amount of powder and causes quality issues when dealing with Faraday cage areas. It also clogs the booth&#;s filters prematurely and increases the costs of maintenance and clean-up. 

Both business owners may be working equally as hard, but the outcomes they are getting are very different. The savvy owner/investor spends his money wisely, while the unwise owner takes shortcuts on the front end that wind up costing him in the long run.

Hours of operation also help predict a powder coating business&#; success. The most successful powder coating businesses have regular daytime hours Monday through Friday, and some are open on weekends. Some coating operations also run more than one shift. In contrast, the less successful businesses are open sporadically, usually depending on how much work they&#;ve sold. 

 

This creates a self-fulfilling failure situation. At a time where people are used to getting nearly instant responses from businesses via and online messaging, not being readily available during normal business hours can be the kiss of death. If the shop is open only when work is being performed, operating hours will shorten whenever the workload declines. If the sales counter is being manned by the same people who do the work, the situation is even worse because when new sales are taking place, no work is getting done in the shop. This cycle goes on until the business cannot sustain itself. Because the owner was not willing to invest in the manpower needed to keep the business office open for weeks or months without new income, the business can only succeed minimally or fail outright.

This self-hampering business approach is linked to another indicator of potential coating shop success: the company&#;s sales philosophy. Successful shops value their salespeople and recognize that the most valuable thing they can do for their company is sell, sell, sell. Shops that fail to thrive rarely have gifted, well-compensated salespeople who are totally focused on selling. Instead, they&#;re often order-takers who don&#;t really know how to sell. Making the situation worse, they&#;re also usually workers who have to wear numerous other hats.

You can&#;t have explosive growth if you have the same people advertising the work, pricing the work, selling the work, doing the work, handling the banking and bookkeeping, delivering the work, handling customer service before/during/after the sale, and advertising, pricing, and selling the next job. 

There is no work to be done and no profit to be made without first making a sale. Unless an adequate budget is set aside for sales and support personnel, a company&#;s success is going to be limited. 

Is It Really That Simple?

This article is filled with examples based on case studies of businesses we&#;ve encountered over the past several years. Some were customers and others were companies who only wanted our advice. Happily, Reliant Finishing Systems has provided dozens of our customers with multiple systems over the years to help accommodate their growth. 

If you&#;re considering starting a new powder coating business, bringing coating in-house at your facility, or adding powder coating services to attract new customers, you&#;re making a smart business move if you plan for success and operate accordingly. Look to the successes of others for guidance on how to get your coating operation off to a great start while avoiding the bad behaviors that led other companies to failure. 

We Can Help!

Contact one of our highly-trained system specialists at (256) 355- to have them help design the system that is just right for your needs. We also provide a wide range of help to troubleshoot or update your existing system to help it run more efficiently and profitably. Call us and find out what we can do for your business.

 

 

How Much It Costs to Start Powder Coating - A Guide

 

How Much It Costs to Start Powder Coating - A Guide

by Patrick Harmon

 

Whether you are a manufacturer, coatings job shop, or entrepreneur considering a new business as a powder coater a common question that is asked is how much will it cost to start powder coating. In this article, we will cover what is typically required to start powder coating, how much it will cost to start powder coating, and critical things to consider when thinking about getting into powder coating.  We will be considering powder coating as hand applied and will not cover automated or large conveyor powder coating lines in this article.  We also will be considering that the equipment that is being considered is for frequent and/or industrial use. Finally, we are considering equipment that is new rather than used for this article.

Cost number 1 to start Powder Coating &#; A Powder Coating Booth

A powder coating booth properly filters out powder as you are powder coating keeping you code compliant and safe while powder coating.  Powder Coating Booths will vary in price depending on the size of powder coating booth and type of powder coating booth you end up selecting.  The two primary forms of powder coating booths are recovery and non recovery powder coating booths.  Non recovery powder booths are the more economical powder booths. A non recovery powder coating booth will typically cost between $ $9,000 and up depending on the size of the powder booth $8,500 is about what a 8 x 10 powder coating booth costs.

Cost Number 2 to Start Powder Coating &#; A Powder Coating Oven

Often the powder coating oven that you select will be the most expensive equipment cost when considering the costs to start powder coating. The two common choices of ovens used to cure powder coating are infrared and convection ovens. Between the two convection cure ovens will be more cost effective but not as fast as curing.  You can learn more about infrared vs convection curing ovens here.  For purposes of estimating the costs of starting powder coating we would consider a standard convection batch process oven for powder coating. A common powder coating oven size that would accommodate a variety of products effectively would be approximately a 8 x 8 x 12.  A new batch convection oven like this will typically cost around $30,000 dollars. Obviously, there are more economical powder coating ovens and the equipment being referenced is industrial powder coating equipment that you would expect to have for years and to hold up to frequent use.

Cost Number 3 to Start Powder Coating &#; Surface Preparation Equipment (Sandblast Equipment)

Typically prior to powder coating you have to prep your product surface.  What you will do to prep your product surface will vary significantly depending on what your powder coating, if there was anything on the powder-coated surface previously, and if you will pretreat the surface prior to powder coating.  However if you plan to remove existing paint or need to create a profile (which you may to get good adhesion of a powder coating) you will typically want a way to properly prepare the surface of the product prior to powder coating.  This will typically require a sandblast pot or a sandblast cabinet.   Either way for a sandblast pot or cabinet you would potentially spend atleast $4,000 dollars or more.  If your considering a sandblast room there is significant additional expense associated with the sandblast room which you can get rough estimates of by reading this guide here.

Cost Number 4 to Start Powder Coating &#; Powder Coating Equipment

The fourth expense associated with powder coating is powder coating equipment. To apply powder coating you will typically need a powder coating gun and system to deliver powder coating.  For small batches a great solution can be a Wagner Sprint Powder Coating Unit which includes everything needed to deliver and apply powder coating. For a quality unit like the Wagner unit it will typically cost around $4,250.00. This would provide an effective system that can effectively recoat a previously coated product and efficiently handle things like corner areas.

Cost Number 5 to Start Powder Coating &#; Metal Washing or Pretreatment

Not all powder coating applications will involve pretreatment of the metal prior to powder coating but sometimes you may be considering adding the ability to properly wash the product and fortify its resistance to rust with a solution like iron phosphate. This can be accomplished in a variety of ways.  If you have to consider a washing process prior to powder coating you can expect a significant investment due to permits, the dip tanks, and similar factors.

Cost Number 6 to Start Powder Coating &#; Licenses, Powder, and Fees

In many ways the equipment investment for powder coating will be some of the greatest expense associated with starting powder coating.  However you will still have a lot of other potential fees to evaluate.  First will be permitted that can be required by the EPA and other pertinent organizations. Second, you have to have powder which can vary in cost depending on the type of powder and amount of powder you purchase.

Cost Number 7 to Start Powder Coating &#; Compressed Air

A final expense to consider is compressed air. Compressed air will be used to prepare the powder for spraying by your powder coating unit. Compressed air will also be needed for sandblasting. Compressed air can also be one of the largest expenses you may have. You can often end up spending $25,000 or more on a compressor that will deliver sufficient CFM of air for sandblasting or powder work.  For additional information on how large of a compressor you may need, especially if sandblasting you can review this article on air compressor size needs for sandblasting.

Ultimately whether your starting powder coating to stop from having to out source powder coating or if your considering opening a job shop knowing estimates of the costs to start powder coating can be helpful. This guide provides a general overview of budgetary costs that you may expect to pay to start powder coating.

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