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There are many areas in any coating operation where costs may be reduced. Here are a few to investigate.
Not too long ago, a question was posed to me: What are some ideas for cost reduction projects in a coating operation? Very often coating costs are characterized in terms of dollars per square foot. Products of high volume and low technology have values under $0.05/sq ft. In narrow web, slow speed, and high technology applications, cost can exceed $1.00/sq ft. To be competitive, there is a need to find ways to lower these costs.
Raw Materials
#1 Having a great relationship with all your raw material suppliers is a must. They need to know and understand your requirements, and you need to know their capabilities. Problems often arise when specifications are unrealistically tight.
Try setting up partnerships with critical suppliers to do joint tours of each others facilities so everyone can understand the process requirements and capabilities.
Can you loosen up some of your specifications to reduce the vendors' scrap losses (and your material costs) by testing some of the "off-grade materials?"
Fluid Mixing & Delivery
#2 Make sure mixing equipment is correctly sized, properly agitated, and temperature controlled. Do whatever it takes to keep air bubbles out of the mix. Defects arise and time is lost if they get into the mix.
#3 Consider using in-line mixers to help deliver a more uniform fluid to the coating head. Are the filters efficient to do the job and to minimize waste during a changeover?
#4 If possible, increase the solids content of the mix to reduce the drying load and speed up the web. If an organic solvent system is used, another benefit is the reduction in solvent consumption and savings in the recovery or disposal efforts.
Productivity Improvements
There are lots of...