Descriptions of Our Most Popular Services:

Powder Coating Consultants offers a wide variety of independent and objective consulting services to end users in the powder coating industry. The following are descriptions of our most popular services.

Operational Audits entail a complete on-site review of your powder coating system. We evaluate your load/unload area, the pretreatment system, the dry-off oven, the powder application and recovery equipment, the cure oven, the conveyor, the part hanging scheme, the hanger design, hanger maintenance and cleaning, the environmental room, housekeeping procedures, fire prevention systems, logistics, spare parts inventory and organization, operator skills, maintenance program, and QA/QC procedures. We evaluate how well the powder coating process integrates into your overall manufacturing process. Our audit addresses the most important issues in a powder coating process- Are the parts delivered from fabrication efficiently? Does the powder coating process supply parts to the assembly efficiently? What are the rejects and what causes them? Are the system components and parts properly grounded? Is the process in control? Are the QA/QC procedures adequate? Are the operators well trained and supported by supervision? Is the equipment functioning correctly or contributing to the rejects? Are the right powder formulations being used? Are the powder formulations performing up to expectations? Special focus is provided to areas where our customers have the greatest concerns. All our findings are documented in our comprehensive Operational Audit Report that details what we found wrong, what we fixed, what needs to be fixed, and how to fix it.

Production Analysis entails taking your products' annual production volumes and determining conveyor line speed. This is key information for determining the cost of purchasing a powder coating operation. Accurate assessment of your powder coating system's line speed will ensure that you don't over spend for the equipment by buying too big or under size the process making it a bottleneck in your plant. We use our exclusive proprietary modeling software to take each product's size and volume to determine an appropriate conveyor hang pattern. Then we take into account the available production time, less color change time, future production requirements, rework issues, and available shifts to calculate design line speed. This information will further determine whether or not you can use a batch process to further reduce your capital and operational costs. Each part is ranked to determine its impact on conveyor speed and production volume. This critical information is presented in a comprehensive report with analysis printout for your close examination.

Process Specifications entail writing a custom performance driven specification that enumerates your finishing requirements in terms that the equipment suppliers understand. These performance driven requirements are verifiable either by inspection or test. By purchasing a system using this specification, our clients obtain a process designed to meet their needs with little risk since all parameters of the system's design are verified by acceptance inspection and testing. Quite frankly, if the system doesn't perform up to expectations, then you don't completely pay for it until it's fixed or upgraded. Lastly, these specifications ensure that the equipment bids are easily compared to determine which equipment provider you will invest your capital funds with. Without a well-defined process specification, equipment providers deliberately design unique system configurations that cannot be easily compared to their competitors' bids, making evaluation of the information nearly impossible. Remember a well defined performance process specification is your best protection!

Material Specifications entails writing a custom specification for your powder formulation(s) that details your products performance characteristics required to meet your customer's expectations. This is very important since your customers often establish your product's value on how your product performs in the field. How your product's finish stands up to that environment is part of this evaluation. Selecting a powder formulation using our custom material specifications will ensure that you receive full value for your investment and allows for simple verification of the coating properties that you value most. A well written material performance specification is your only protection against formulation changes that can adversely impact your product's fielded performance, your coating process's consistency, and your operational and product costs.

Operational Cost Analysis entails calculating your current operational costs and comparing them to a competing powder coating process's operational costs. Understanding anticipated cost/savings when converting to a powder coating process is important to identifying Return On Investment (ROI) or Payback of the capital costs for conversion. Conversely, if you identified a return that suits your needs, then this operational cost analysis will establish your capital budget for conversion.