Eguchi Iwao, South Africa (EISA) are suppliers of automotive paint to the Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) Prospecton plant in Durban. They specialise in coatings for the automotive industry including metal surface treating agents, sealants, adhesives, as well as maintaining coating equipment.
It’s not unusual in our current global economic climate where companies are being compelled to change their focus from investment-lead growth towards better process efficiency and company cost savings. Along with this, businesses are being urged to work alongside Government to put control measures in place to reduce VOC emissions across all levels of industry. This is where Eguchi Iwao SA has just the solution in the form of Nitrotherm. The heated nitrogen technology system from Eurosider is a high-tech, cost effective way to comply with regulations and realise incredible paint shop savings in everyday use.
With history from the surface preparation field since 1973, Eurosider has developed a new coating method with nitrogen enriched air, produced directly on site thanks to Nitrotherm. The Nitrotherm (N2) is an innovative system with significant advantages in paint savings, quality of the finished products and reduction of VOC’s.
How Nitrogen Performs
• The molecular nitrogen is a colourless, odourless, tasteless and inert gas.
• Nitrogen is anhydrous and without impurities like dust, oil, fumes and chemical pollutants.
• Nitrogen is a more stable gas.
• The paint particles travel faster which means less working pressure with better coverage.
• Less overspray with improved application speed and increased transfer efficiency on surfaces.
• Better working environment conditions and less spray booth filter maintenance.
• Improved thickness uniformity on all painted surfaces.
• Better grip between paint film and substrate.
• An improved colour match.
• The new Nitrotherm patented membrane has an efficiency warranty that extends up to 20 years, on condition of accurate following of maintenance instructions by the user.
• Benefits of Nitrotherm Spray (N2)
• Achieves complete coverage of the substrate in fewer coats.
• Smaller paint droplets with a consistent spray pattern provide a very reliable application process and a uniform, even coating thickness..
• Nitrogen reduces coating application paint/clear finish from five coats to three.
• Painters have greater control of material hence simplifying the painting process.
• Entry-level painters can achieve far better finish quality results.
• Texture can be controlled to meet variations in manufacturers’ finishes for matching factory texture/orange peel.
• Overspray is cut 50 to 75%.
• Material deposited on substrate, not on floor or in downdraft filters.
• Less material wasted, less material used.
• VOC reduction of 20 to 40%.
• The less material used, the less VOCs enter atmosphere.
• Corrosion Protection – voids and occlusions are virtually eliminated with N2, preventing water, oxygen and other contaminants from contacting bare metal.
• Increased Productivity = Labour Cost Saving.
• Particle Size – N2 produces more uniform surface coating and finish when compared to CA or pure nitrogen systems.
Toyota SA
The development of Nitrotherm has gained considerable traction in this year. In the first quarter of 2016, Pregasen Ganasen senior manager for plastics plant TSAM, was the first to sign up for a Nitrotherm machine. Phillip Gladman, who is the resident paint shop engineer for Toyota’s Bumper Plant, has spent years in the paint production environment and confirms the saving ability of Nitrotherm and better efficiency in his plant Bumper paint shop.
TSAM have now subsequently extended their trials to other parts of their paint shop lines. The improved working conditions have, in his estimation, greatly reduced spray booth filter maintenance as they work to stringent clean air standards within the spray booth areas.
The TSAM savings achieved is however proprietary information but in most cases our value proposition promises amortisation within months, based on the Nitrotherm 4 x 20% rule: 20% paint savings, 20% productivity increase, 20% quality increase and a 20% reduction in VOCs.
Marshlan Pather, technical manager for Eguchi in Durban said, “All this builds up to a very positive position for the new equipment in SA. The unit operates on less air consumption and combines an increased transfer efficiency.
Benefits of the heated nitrogen package for spraying include a drastic reduction on VOC emissions, faster throughput and consistent quality right-the-first time which all equates to real Rand savings.
Marshlan went on to say that installation and training was completed in a very short space of time and there was no production downtime as a result of the installation of Eurosider’s Nitrotherm heated nitrogen technology system.
For more information call Kanye Vimba on +27 (0)11 396 1161 or visit: www.kanyevimba.co.za.
Any queries for OE or KZN can go to Marshlan Pather at Eguchi Iwao South Africa Pty Ltd, +27 (0)31 913 0600 or email patherm@eguchi.co.za
