There are many challenges present in today’s economy that can cause many businesses to throw in the towel and call it quits. These difficulties are even more impactful for some companies specializing in niche markets. Those who have diversified into different markets like powder coating may be doing a little better, but not many of us are smiling. By analyzing your powder process and making a few small procedural adjustments, you can make a tremendous difference to the bottom line. There are some things that you can do to help keep the wolves away in these tough times, and I would like to share some of what we are doing to button up our powder-coating process at Advanced Finishing and what we’ve done to achieve our status as the leading powder coater based in the Northeastern United States.
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Setting aside the physical labor requirements there are three essential resources required in powder coating.
All of these resources are essential, and all of them are expensive. By implementing a handful of checks and balances to these three factors, you can save effort, time, and most importantly, money.
As I like to say to my customers, “In powder coating, compressed air is your blood and your air compressor is the heart of your business.” That is why we have two highly efficient and well-maintained air compressors. We also maintain a backup and connections for an emergency portable unit (in case of an unexpected heart attack). From fluid beds and pulse cannons to spray guns and air tools, compressed air is the resource that makes our world go round.
A rough rule of thumb for compressed air is that 4cfm (cubic feet per minute) are generated for each horsepower of an air compressor. So a 100 hp compressor should put out about 400 cfm of air, or almost 50 million cf per year per 40 hr shift. We also estimate that the cost to run a 100-hp compressor one shift per week is around $15,000 per year. This works out to about $. per cubic foot.
As with most compressed air systems, ours continually springs new leaks. The significant leaks always get fixed fairly quickly, but there are always little leaks that seem to hide until 5 minutes after maintenance punches out. The majority of small compressed air leaks stem from a loose hose clamp or split hoses. There is also the chance that someone left the air to their hood on or left a fluid bed on. While these leaks never seem to be too serious here are the numbers based on one 40hr shift of operation.
At 100psi, a 1/8” air leak will bleed about 25cfm (cubic feet per minute) of compressed air. If left unfixed, that 25cfm works out to cf per hour or 60,000cf per 40-hour shift. If left unaddressed for a year, it can equate to over 3,000,000cf! At our $. per cf, that is close to $ per year. These numbers are all calculated for a system maintaining a conservative 100psi. At 125psi, compressed air waste can increase by a further 20%. As the size of the leak increases, the bleeding increases exponentially. Add a shift and it doubles. Somebody call a doctor to stop the bleeding! To help, if your shop currently runs at 110psi or 125psi, see if you can run at 100psi. The cost to compress that extra 25psi is considerable, and saving that added expenditure is worth investigating.
Another way to save powder coating dollars is by reducing the amounts you currently spend on powder. Aside from labor costs, powder is the most expensive component of the finishing process. I suggest using the Powder Police Principle (PPP) and it works like this. The chief of the Powder Police is the purchasing agent. The chief ensures that you are buying only as much powder as you need, that your powder pricing is competitive, and that you are taking advantage of any available discounts whether in quantities or by provider. Many powder companies are offering excellent deals on standard and special powders these days. It is the primary responsibility of the chief to take advantage of these.
The detectives in the Powder Police Principle are the quality control inspectors. They make sure that you are using the correct powder on the job, that the sprayers are maintaining the correct milage as per the project specifications, and that any respraying is kept to a minimum. The detective’s job is to follow the progress of the parts through the system and make sure that the right amount of materials is being applied at each stage. This will not only ensure a quality final product but will also minimize the waste of resources. For example, at $3.00/lb, putting an extra mil of powder thickness may not be a big deal on a small job, but if the additional application is extended over a year, you can use thousands of dollars of extra material where it should not have been. When the price surges $10.00/lb, or higher, improperly applied powder can quickly become a matter of survival for your company.
Last but not least, you have the beat cops in the Powder Police Principle. The beat cops are the sprayers and booth operators who need to make sure that grounding is good, powder coating spray guns are adjusted, and nothing ends up on the floor. Sprayers and booth operators should ensure that boxes are closed and sealed after use. A poor ground coupled with too much powder flow on the guns creates excessive milage and rework. Over-fluidizing and not using lids on beds will result in excess powder on the floor. Unsealed powder boxes absorb moisture that affects transfer efficiency and chargeability. Performance at this level of the operation can be the difference between a profitable job and one that ends up losing money. All of these add up to unnecessary costs and your PPP can help keep these wasteful practices from robbing your margins.
Finally, the third expensive resource required in powder-coating is applying the necessary heat to cure the powder. Although some companies use electric ovens or even burn propane, natural gas is by far the most common source of powder coating heat fuel. As you very well know, the price of natural gas has been on a roller coaster similar to the one gasoline has been on. Although the price of gas has somewhat stabilized in recent months, a few hurricanes in the Gulf can have them right back up to $10+ per dekatherm. Regardless of whether you heat your ovens and washlines with electricity or gases, there are still ways to minimize the use of this precious resource.
First, do not let employees get in the habit of coming in and firing up all of the ovens every morning. Depending on the size of the oven and burner, most of our ovens take between 15 to 30 minutes to come up to temperature. Unless the oven is used immediately, wait until you are almost ready to spray the parts before firing up the oven. Also, if you are finished with the oven for the day, turn it off NOW! I can’t tell you how often an operator will leave the oven on in case somebody needs it. Close the doors and shut it down. If the oven needs to be restarted it will already be warm and will heat up fairly fast, providing instant cost-savings over continual operation.
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Also, make sure oven doors close and seal properly. For tunnel ovens, make sure the air knives work properly. Some companies will come into your facility to do an energy audit, sometimes free of charge. Part of their program should be to utilize thermal imaging to see where heat is leaking out of your ovens. By adding insulation and caulking leaky seams, you can button up gas ovens and see the incremental savings provide long-term financial benefits. Natural gas is a non-renewable energy source, and using it efficiently is crucial to success as a powder coating company.
There are many other ways to cut costs in hard times, however, compressed air, powder waste, and heat conservation remain the most critical. There are local industrial resource centers, universities, and even government grants for energy reduction and conservation. In hard times, these little things might not seem like much, but they can be the difference between survival and the alternative. So go out there and fix your air leaks, implement a powder police force, and button up your ovens with responsible operation practices.
Whether you are a manufacturer, coatings job shop, or entrepreneur considering a new business as a powder coater a common question that is asked is how much will it cost to start powder coating. In this article, we will cover what is typically required to start powder coating, how much it will cost to start powder coating, and critical things to consider when thinking about getting into powder coating. We will be considering powder coating as hand applied and will not cover automated or large conveyor powder coating lines in this article. We also will be considering that the equipment that is being considered is for frequent and/or industrial use. Finally, we are considering equipment that is new rather than used for this article.
A powder coating booth properly filters out powder as you are powder coating keeping you code compliant and safe while powder coating. Powder Coating Booths will vary in price depending on the size of powder coating booth and type of powder coating booth you end up selecting. The two primary forms of powder coating booths are recovery and non recovery powder coating booths. Non recovery powder booths are the more economical powder booths. A non recovery powder coating booth will typically cost between $ $9,000 and up depending on the size of the powder booth $8,500 is about what a 8 x 10 powder coating booth costs.
Often the powder coating oven that you select will be the most expensive equipment cost when considering the costs to start powder coating. The two common choices of ovens used to cure powder coating are infrared and convection ovens. Between the two convection cure ovens will be more cost effective but not as fast as curing. You can learn more about infrared vs convection curing ovens here. For purposes of estimating the costs of starting powder coating we would consider a standard convection batch process oven for powder coating. A common powder coating oven size that would accommodate a variety of products effectively would be approximately a 8 x 8 x 12. A new batch convection oven like this will typically cost around $30,000 dollars. Obviously, there are more economical powder coating ovens and the equipment being referenced is industrial powder coating equipment that you would expect to have for years and to hold up to frequent use.
Typically prior to powder coating you have to prep your product surface. What you will do to prep your product surface will vary significantly depending on what your powder coating, if there was anything on the powder-coated surface previously, and if you will pretreat the surface prior to powder coating. However if you plan to remove existing paint or need to create a profile (which you may to get good adhesion of a powder coating) you will typically want a way to properly prepare the surface of the product prior to powder coating. This will typically require a sandblast pot or a sandblast cabinet. Either way for a sandblast pot or cabinet you would potentially spend atleast $4,000 dollars or more. If your considering a sandblast room there is significant additional expense associated with the sandblast room which you can get rough estimates of by reading this guide here.
The fourth expense associated with powder coating is powder coating equipment. To apply powder coating you will typically need a powder coating gun and system to deliver powder coating. For small batches a great solution can be a Wagner Sprint Powder Coating Unit which includes everything needed to deliver and apply powder coating. For a quality unit like the Wagner unit it will typically cost around $4,250.00. This would provide an effective system that can effectively recoat a previously coated product and efficiently handle things like corner areas.
Not all powder coating applications will involve pretreatment of the metal prior to powder coating but sometimes you may be considering adding the ability to properly wash the product and fortify its resistance to rust with a solution like iron phosphate. This can be accomplished in a variety of ways. If you have to consider a washing process prior to powder coating you can expect a significant investment due to permits, the dip tanks, and similar factors.
In many ways the equipment investment for powder coating will be some of the greatest expense associated with starting powder coating. However you will still have a lot of other potential fees to evaluate. First will be permitted that can be required by the EPA and other pertinent organizations. Second, you have to have powder which can vary in cost depending on the type of powder and amount of powder you purchase.
A final expense to consider is compressed air. Compressed air will be used to prepare the powder for spraying by your powder coating unit. Compressed air will also be needed for sandblasting. Compressed air can also be one of the largest expenses you may have. You can often end up spending $25,000 or more on a compressor that will deliver sufficient CFM of air for sandblasting or powder work. For additional information on how large of a compressor you may need, especially if sandblasting you can review this article on air compressor size needs for sandblasting.
Ultimately whether your starting powder coating to stop from having to out source powder coating or if your considering opening a job shop knowing estimates of the costs to start powder coating can be helpful. This guide provides a general overview of budgetary costs that you may expect to pay to start powder coating.
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