JUNAIR THE WRIGHT CHOICE
FOR LEADING BUS COMPANY
Following the installation of their new Junair CV spraybooth, the UK’s leading bus manufacturer, Wrightbus, is reaping the benefit of faster cycle times and increased throughput at their main production site in Ballymena, Northern Ireland.
Wrightbus is the UK’s leading supplier of accessible buses for public transportation systems around the country. A pioneer of low floor buses in the UK, the company has earned a reputation for designing and manufacturing vehicles that are stylish, durable, high in specification, economical to run and packed with innovative features. Little wonder then that Wrightbus demanded the very same qualities when they invited tenders for a new spraybooth to be installed at the company’s main production site in Ballymena.
Junair won the contract in competition with four other well-known spraybooth manufacturers by demonstrating their ability to meet a particularly demanding brief.
For example, Wrightbus insisted that the new booth, utilising 2007 compliant coatings, had to attain drying times comparable with those achieved using today’s solvent-based processes. More specifically, even though the new booth was to be oil fired, it must achieve a panel temperature of 60 deg. C over an entire double decker bus within 15 minutes. Furthermore, the overall cycle time from start to finish must not exceed 45 minutes. A tall order, as tests on the three existing booths at Wrightbus showed a variance of 15 deg. C from top to bottom of a double decker, and the paint film was still slightly soft, even some 2 to 3 hours after leaving the booth.
After detailed analysis of the paint process at Wrightbus and extensive paint testing in Junair’s own research and development booth at their manufacturing facility in Heywood, Lancashire, Junair developed a solution based on their tried and tested QADs technology.
QADs is Junair’s patented auxiliary air moving system and it provides the most effective drying and curing process available in the market today. The clean, filtered and heated air supply generated by QADs creates the ideal environment for the fast, controlled flash off of waterborne base-coats and the rapid through curing of low VOC top coats. The system is designed to cover the whole vehicle in one operation, ensuring that there is consistent drying of waterborne base coats.
Since installing the Junair spraybooth, Wrightbus has reported major productivity improvements, as Stephen Lyons, Factory Services Manager, explains: “Total bake cycle times have been dramatically reduced by more than 30 minutes. As a result, this booth is currently using compliant paint yet still matches the output of the 3 other booths even with multi-colour liveries being used. The net result is that Wrightbus is able to maintain its output of 24 buses a week.”
Process times using QADs are significantly reduced, often by as much as 30%. As well as the faster process time achieved, curing temperatures can be reduced, resulting in significant energy-savings.
The spraybooth’s panel temperature performance was equally impressive. “After installation we tested all areas of the bus for panel temperatures and found maximum variations of plus or minus one degree centigrade,” explained Stephen Lyons. “At first we thought the gauge was faulty until we re-checked one of the existing booths!”
As part of the booth specification, the Wallman access platform system had to be incorporated. This system runs within centimetres of the booth wall, which meant that the QADs could not just be surface mounted. As Junair manufacture every product to order, this did not present a problem. The QAD towers in the corners of the booth were corner mounted as normal and the central QADs were recessed neatly into the booth wall. All however were fitted with pneumatically opening doors to prevent overspray landing on the jets.
Junair was also tasked with fitting the booth to a very tight timescale over the customer’s summer shutdown. The maximum installation time given by Wrightbus was 3 weeks, but Junair was equal to the challenge, completing the task on time and in full, more than halving the time taken some 18 months earlier by another spraybooth manufacturer to fit one of the existing booths.
“Junair have restored our faith in spraybooth manufacturers,” enthused Stephen Lyons. “They have delivered all our objectives in terms of booth performance and installation time, and we have had no downtime or disruption whatsoever. From the sales process, when they listened very carefully to what we had to say and what we wanted to achieve, through design and installation, and finally the excellent training they provided, we are delighted with everything that Junair has done.”
Since completing the main spraybooth project, Junair have carried out additional small booth installations for off bus panels and have been commissioned to replace the client’s paint kitchen facilities.
Based in Greater Manchester, Junair is the UK’s leading manufacturer of Production Enhancing Equipment for the Bodyshop industry. Since its formation in 1989, Junair has been at the forefront of pioneering developments within the Spraybooth Oven arena with innovative products such as QADs, Select Control Baking System and SN Automatic Static Reduction setting the standard for others to follow