2015-09-23 - South Korean automotive parts manufacturer Ecoplastic has stringent demands when it comes to implementing robotic atomizer painting technology – a challenge which the local ABB Robotics Service Team gladly accepted.
In South Korea, 370 km southeast of Seoul, the coastal city of Gyeong-ju is located among widespread low mountains at the East Sea of Korea. Commonly referred to as “the museum without walls,” the city has become one of the country’s major tourist destinations. While tourism remains the dominant source of income in the region, the growing automotive supplier industry plays an ever-increasing role, now accounting for close to one third of the city’s businesses.
Established in 1984, Ecoplastic manufactures and sells automotive plastic parts, including bumpers and trims, wheel covers, back panels, radiator grilles, tail gate garnishes, rear garnishes, roof racks, consoles, and instrument panels. Customers are mostly domestic and include Hyundai, Kia, and Hyundai Mobis.
The relationship with ABB harkens back to 1993 when Ecoplastic purchased 20 ABB robots for bumper painting. Since then ABB has been a regular supplier of consumables, new innovative technologies and state-of-the-art products for the company, including four IRB 580 robots for flaming plasma used in pretreatment of bumper surfaces. Since 2010 ABB has also installed 16 Atomizer minibel-021 sets for base- and clear paint coating, with the most recent four sets installed in March 2015.
To avoid impacting production, the South Korean ABB Robotics Service Team installed the four Atomizers over the course of four Sundays, which are normally reserved for cleaning and maintenance. Additional preparations prior to installation included optimizing the Atomizer size to avoid having to modify robot programming, checking the Tool Center Point (TCP) and Shape of Paint Volume, designing the Body shape and assembling the Atomizer minibel-021 and finally checking the feedback rotation signal and shape air input.
“Contributing factors to why ABB was awarded the contract was our wide Atomizer product line plus our extensive know-how in the area of plastic painting,” says Mr Young-Woo Lee, Project Manager, ABB South Korea.
“ABB’s Atomizer minibell offered the perfect solution and more in pricing, fast installation, durability and low running cost.”
“Faced with existing Atomizers close to the very end of their life-cycle, time was of the essence,” says Mr Heung-Jae Lee, Painting Maintenance Team Manager, Ecoplastic. “While we are not using high-voltage in painting, the additional challenge was to identify the best Atomizer that could meet our stringent needs. ABB’s Atomizer minibell offered the perfect solution and more in pricing, fast installation, durability and low running cost. We managed to overcome one of the largest obstacles, that is, to ensure the compatibility between the Atomizer and the present equipment. Thanks to ABB Korea and my co-workers we did it.”
The new Atomizers from ABB will pay dividends for Ecoplastic in reduced cleaning and maintenance time, thereby reducing the annual operating cost by a staggering 60 percent—a clearly huge benefit for our customer and a great outcome for our own service team.
About Ecoplastic
Ecoplastic Corporation manufactures and sells automobile parts. It offers front and rear bumpers; trims comprising wheel covers, back panels, radiator grilles, tail gate garnishes, rear garnishes, roof racks, consoles, and instrument panels; and bumper, trim, lamp, engine part, and fuel tank molds. The company was founded in 1984 and is based out of Gyeong-ju,City in South Korea.
Summary of Atomizer upgrade benefits
- Wide selection of Atomizers
- Improved spray pattern and control
- High fluid flow capability
- Easy maintenance