Retrofit coating line
Savings potential of several hundred thousand euros per year
König + Neurath is investing in a retrofit in its metal production facility and is recording significant savings in materials, energy and costs thanks to the commissioning of new coating booths. More than 10,000 different items are processed in the metal production hall alone of the German family-owned company, which develops and produces office furniture and room concepts for individual working cultures in Karben, Hesse. Now they have installed new mobile coating booths for painting tables, storage solutions and room systems. The aim of the modernization measure: to increase quality, efficiency and process reliability.
König + Neurath has been manufacturing office furniture in Germany for almost a hundred years. Even though designs and production methods have changed over the decades, a distinct work culture still characterizes the operations of the full-service provider. "One of our core corporate values is innovation, in addition to partnership and reliability. We therefore continuously analyze the status of our facilities and plan the next modernization steps," says Timo Huss, the production manager for metal production and room systems. "In manufacturing, the focus is on lean production, quality 'made in Germany,' continuously optimized production processes, and individual customer requests from batch size one."
Only four weeks rebuild time
The decision to invest in new coating booths was made due to the lack of spare parts availability for the plant and the outdated applications. "It was clear to us that we could also significantly reduce powder and energy consumption with a retrofit. For this, we accepted the downtime of the plant and, with the help of our project partner CS Oberflächentechnik GmbH, ventured the installation of the new booths during ongoing operation, so to speak." Within a planned implementation time of just four weeks, technicians assembled the platforms and installed the booths, which were then final assembled in the conveyor system. "For us, this was open-heart surgery," says Timo Huss, "which we only succeeded in doing thanks to the cooperative partnership with the CS Oberflächentechnik team, the great commitment of our own employees and the flexibility of everyone involved in the project. A masterstroke by the people."
Energy costs reduced by 50
With the retreaded system technology, the changeover time for a color change is reduced to ten minutes, which saves an enormous amount of time with 35 color changes per day. But not only that, powder loss is also significantly reduced by the new guns. "So far, we have been able to reduce the proportion of defective paint parts by 50%, save 20% powder and reduce energy costs by 50%," emphasizes the production manager. "Through the internal know-how in the team, we have also implemented hanger optimization, which we are now standardizing with external support. The savings potential here is several hundred thousand euros a year."
So far, we have been able to reduce the proportion of defective painted parts by 50%, save 20% powder, and reduce energy costs by 50%.
The manufacturer of office furniture and room systems has made sustainability as well as environmental protection and resource conservation core topics of its own corporate policy. "We consistently optimize our material and energy consumption with new machines, air compressors and better capacity utilization." Another aspect of responsible business management is employee retention, says Timo Huss. "We qualify our employees with regular training measures to identify potential savings themselves, which we then implement together."