Reducing Downtime with Functional Coatings

Downtime is a killer in any industry and many of the coatings DECC applies can be utilized to alleviate this issue. Below are some specific examples of problems faced by manufacturers and how we solved them:

Furniture Manufacturer: a lot of glue is used in the process of making office furniture, be it chairs or tables. It goes without saying, but glue is sticky and would build up quickly on all the various tools, machinery, and components. Maintenance crews would go in every weekend to clean the equipment and an excessive amount of spare tooling was needed for swapping out with ones that had glue buildup.

We began by applying a PTFE coating to just the tooling. Ease of cleaning was dramatically increased, so much so that we applied the same coating to blades, machinery, rollers, basically anything that touched glue and could be sent to us to be coated.

Automotive Heat Staking: due to the heat involved in this process, it is only a matter of time before components will begin sticking to a heat staking mold or die. Once that happens, it not only requires cleaning but ultimately causes quality defects as well.

Although this is unavoidable with a coating or without, with the application of a reinforced PTFE coating, the time it takes for this to occur is greatly increased. The investment in the coating, as well as having the coating redone on a regular basis, far outweighs the cost of the excessive downtime and rejected parts.

High Volume Welding: one of the most frustrating things in welding is when spatter or slag builds up on a fixture to the point a part will not fixture properly. Once this happens, the tedious process of using a chisel and hammer to remove the slag is required.

We apply a fluoropolymer based coating to weld fixtures for several local shops, as well as the companies that actually manufacture the fixtures. This coating prevents weld spatter from sticking and allows it to be simply brushed off. This coating can also be applied to not only weld fixtures but weld nozzles as well.

Food Production: Whether it be bread, tortillas, cereal, or cookies, food ingredients are sticky, resulting in fairly constant machine cleaning.

There are many reinforced FDA acceptable coatings that can be applied that not only offer great non-stick release qualities so the time between cleaning is increased, but are durable and long lasting as well.