Painting With Nitrogen, 5 Ways To Increase Profits! |
|---|
|
Tom Beck
26 October 2012
For those of you who are not in on the secret, painting with nitrogen technology in place of compressed air will allow five important things to happen in your paint shop.
1. Your wet materials usage (per vehicle) will drop 20 to 30%.
2. Your booth thru-put will increase significantly.
3. Your booth exhaust filter cost will nearly be cut in half.
4. Your cycle time will be reduced by 30 to 50%
5. Your overspray will decrease by up to 50%
Those are some strong claims; however, once you are exposed to nitrogen technology, it all adds up - and it adds up so fast that you most likely have already missed the first act! Nitrogen technology is already in his second generation of now blending gasses. Just ask Boby Glaize, body shop director JM Lexus, the world's largest Lexus dealer. He removed his old "first generation" straight nitrogen system and replaced it with the new blended technology. He has been able to bring gross profit of paint materials from 33% up to an impressive 72 percent in 90 days. Agressive shop managers and owners like Bob McSherry of North Haven Auto Body in North Heaven, CT., Mike Bachiochi of Fathers & Sons in West Springfield, MA. and George Mastrodimos of Class A Auto Body in Hackensack, NJ heard the word and were quick to jump on board.
HERE IS HOW IT WORKS... Nitrogen, which makes up 78% of an air molecule, is extracted from the shop's compressed air supply. Nitrogen is an inert gas, which means it will not expand or contract as compressed air will. Why is that important? It means the paint being dispersed from the gun will be delivered to the vehicle more uniformly and produce better "Post Flow", Post-Flow is how the paint droplets flow together after the paint lands on the vehicle to cover the substrate. When looking at paint magnified 500 times, it becomes very apparent that using compressed air (because of its instability) allows the paint droplets to "pool" or "globulate" (glob together), which leaves voids of no paint coverage on the substrate - thereby requiring repeated applications to get the proper coverage. This technology, on the other hand, is much more consistent and stable. It allows the material to be sprayed at a much lower pressure, using a smaller gun tip, thereby getting more uniform coverage, better "post-flow" and requiring less material to obtain the same result. How much less?
Bobby Glaize has reduced his materials cost by 28%, which is astounding. However, even a conservative 10-15% reduction is substantial if your shop is spending $10,000 or more per month. Mike Bachiochi commented, "This is a game changer". He and his head painter Wyatt said they could see a significant material reduction immediately. Wyatt performed an "in-shop" reality test. He painted one side of an overall with compressed air and the other with this new "blended" nitrogen product. You could clearly see a "sharper line" on the nitrogen side. The compressed air side was more "muted", "mottled" and defused; not as crisp, not as sharp.
Mike Haydell, president and CEO of Haydell Industries, which manufactures the latest technology of "blended" gaseous systems here is the U.S., adds some insight. "I've worked with nitrogen for nearly a decade now, and through our exhaustive research we have found several scientific discoveries. The best performance (including automotive application) occurs when the fluid carrier is a "blend" of atmospheric gasses, nitrogen being only one of them." To get the best results, three components in a machine must come together; The delivery of the blended gasses, heat and ionization."
We have discussed nitrogen, so let's move on to the heat and ionization. Heat as Haydell explains, is delivered through an element in the painter's hose, which simply allows more consistent and faster application. Ever heard of "slow as molasses?" Well, warm up the syrup and see how fast molasses can really move. His system allows delivery temperatures upward of 160 degrees (depending on the paint product being applied). Heat has always been the painter's friend; you may be too young, but some remember hot plates.
Ionization, which is not "astrophysics", is based on the simple fact that similar polar elements repel each other, and opposites attract. (Note: Not all nitrogen systems offer ionization.) Ever try to put two negative ends of magnets together? If you "force" it, it will go. Isn't it much simpler when you put the positive to the negative? In automotive painting the vehicle is always negative, as is compressed air. Two similar negatives; see the problem? Ionization in the system delivers the paint with a positive charge. This draws the positive paint "towards" the negative vehicle, less overspray, cleaner paint work and less paint in the exhaust filter means longer filter life.
Where 's the downside? These "nitrogen" systems can consume a lot of compressed air and may cause havoc on a shop's compressed air system, although the newly patented system uses only 5hp of the compressor system.
In conclusion, this new technology is not for the faint of heart - $30,000 per booth is not uncommon. That being said, ask any of the users and they will tell you the ROI on a system is an impressive 12 to 18 months!