Powder Coating Appliances with HDLV Technology

BSH Electrodomésticos España in Spain powder coats appliances under brands of Bosch, Siemens, Neff and Balay. The company recognized early the trend toward color diversity and installed a state-of-the-art powder coating system with dense phase technology.

BSH Hausgeräte GmbH of Munich, Germany, a 100% subsidiary of the Bosch Group since 2015, looks back over a 50-year success story since it was founded in 1967. The company was established in 1967 as a merger of the household appliance divisions of Bosch and Siemens.

By bundling that expertise, the new company sought to withstand the serious market crisis occurring at that time and to prepare itself for the emerging European market. Beginning from the mid-1980s, BSH drove its internationalization into growing European, Asian and American markets by entering in to joint ventures with strong regional brands or acquiring them.

As a result, in 1988, it acquired two of the industry’s long[1]established companies: the Balay-Safel Group of Spain – and along with them, the then still new production facility in Esquíroz, which had been producing refrigerators since 1987.

In the mid-2000s, the Spanish construction and real-estate boom caused demand to soar. To meet that demand, coating operations were outsourced. But then when the housing bubble suddenly burst, the Spanish economy plunged into a serious crisis and the demand for such goods collapsed.

In 2008, the company resumed its in-house powder coating operations. At that time there were two single-color booths where, day in and day out, the components were coated in unwavering white and metallic silver. However, the need for more colors and greater color change flexibility was pressing.

Jose Luis Castillo Fernandez, responsible for manufacturing engineering dishwasher at BSH Electrodomésticos España, reported also that the old booths accumulated too much powder, creating greater demands on maintenance and safety concerns.

With the goal of being able to offer its customers a greater selection of colors and higher finish quality, in 2015 BSH decided to expand its facilities and invest in a new powder coating line. The company set their goals for their new system high, with the top 6 priorities being:

• A dramatic increase in coating capacity, in order to cover production peaks and handle increasing demand for doors and top panels
• Coating quality optimization and elimination of rework
• Maximum operating flexibility – spray any product, any color, on-demand.
• Maximum automation and process control for quality and powder savings
• Significant reduction in energy consumption
• Compliance with the strictest ecological standards

The Nordson ColorMax3 powder coating booth, Encore HD powder guns and Spectrum® HD powder feed center form the powerful color change solution, so highly demanded by BSH Electrodomésticos España in its project specifications.

All system components are easily accessible, making color changes faster. In order to meet the customers required high surface finish standard, both the recycled and fresh powders are screened through a 200 micron ultrasonic sieve.

The bottom line

“The investment in a new coating line has paid off in every respect!” Mr. Alzorriz explains. While discussing the benefits of the new technology, he starts with the improved quality. “Our products are positioned in the upper price segment and the demands our customers place today on the surface finish of a refrigerator are similar to what they expect of their car.

Thanks to Nordson dense phase technology, we are achieving that level of quality very easily! Rework due to the powder coating process is virtually non[1]existent. That’s one of the most striking differences from the way things used to be,” confirms Mr. Castillo: “Our strict quality controls are met on the first pass nearly 100% of the time; rework is the rare exception.”

Both believe that the reason for this lies in the high degree of process control delivered by the new equipment. “It’s a complex system of course. First you have to get your mind around the principles of operation and their interactions. But then the system offers a wide range of possibilities for fine-tuning the individual parameters and with a little experience you quickly approach the optimal result” says Mr. Castillo.

“We continuously monitor the energy and compressed air consumption for example, so we can optimize them further,” states Mr. Alzorriz. “The analysis is done with a tool that provides us with data on the Nordson PowderPilot HD control system and on our in-house BSH Wonderware ERP.”