Situation

• An OEM facility was experiencing poor booth balance in the primer booth

Background

• Galaxy replaced another chemical supplier at an OEM facility
• Once the start-up conversion was completed, Galaxy initiated a continuous improvement program
• Galaxy discovered the facility had issues maintaining the booth balance in the primer booth

Solution

• Galaxy audited the system and found the facility had problems with both water flow and water distribution
• Galaxy measured the water flow using an ultrasonic flow meter and discovered the booth supply pumps were 30% below design, even though the plant was less than six years old
• Galaxy worked with maintenance and found that the original impellers were cast iron. The previous chemical supplier had constant issues with foam, which damaged the impellers due to cavitation.
• Phase one: The plant started a PM program to begin replacing impellers with stainless steel
• Phase two: Water distribution was a problem due to sludge deposition on the troughs and flood sheets due to a poor chemical treatment program from the previous supplier. Once the deposition was gone, Galaxy was able to rebalance the water distribution and greatly improve the booth balance.

Results

• Improved booth balance allowed operations to focus on new paint shop challenges
• The outside contractor in charge of booth balance stated that they could now actually balance the booth

CS 10 – Booth Balance Improved with Continuous Improvement Project