Scandinavia’s leading supplier of powder coatings, Teknos Oy, has invested in a new powder coating factory in Rajamäki, Finland. With the new dosing system from Dosetec, Teknos is able to double the manufacturing of environmentally friendly powder coating products.
The new system, situated in a factory built in 2007 and almost a hectare in size, has brought several benefi ts to company. According to production manager Jaakko Koskenpää, as much as 90 per cent of Teknos’ powder coating production has been automated.
For Teknos it was important to have eight silos located in the same dosing station, which enabled simultaneous dosing and weighing of eight different ingredients. In many of the competing alternatives this eight-times-faster possibility did not exist. Dosetec’s delivery was the best choice from the point of view of production capacity.
“Influential factors during the bidding were competitive price, reliability of operational solutions and, most importantly, earlier references”, Koskenpää adds.
Responsibility for customers is fundamental
Production manager Koskenpää is very happy with their new dosing system as well as with Dosetec’s professional service, which was apparent in every phase of the delivery process. Teknos requested unique and tailored solutions which had never been tested before. “Dosetec has taken responsibility for everything really well, also for minor obstacles which have emerged during the process”, says Koskenpää.
A nearly total automatiation of the production process doesn’t happen instantly. Koskenpää considers, however, that the key factor is not trouble-free delivery, but a responsible attitude and a concern with the customer’s needs. These criteria Dosetec fulfilled “exemplarily”, to quote Koskenpää.
Supervisor Tomi Nurmela is in line with Koskenpää’s views: “Delivery and service have been top quality from the very beginning of the project. Already in the design stage things were done minutely and with devotion. Just a tiny error in design would have caused damagng outcomes. I’m especially satisfied with Dosetec’s after-sales service”, says Nurmela.
Automation has improved the raw materials balance
Demand for fully solvent-free and environmentally friendly powder coating has grown enormously in recent years, to which Teknos is responding with its Dosetec investment. In addition to expectations of doubling production, automation has also greatly improved dosing accuracy and thus raw material losses have diminished.
“We have been able to raise dosing accuracy and raw materials balance to a totally new level”, says supervisor Nurmela. At the same time, automation has swept away raw material dust. In addition, production monitoring and
error pinpointing is easier now with the help of dosing reports as a part of the automation.
Dosetec’s Teknos delivery included twelve big bag (FIBC) unloading stations, twelve dosing silos, four big bag dosing stations with scales, eight small component hoppers, four vacuum compressors and a Siemens S7 based control
system. Recipes and the production plan are fetched from customer’s data system.