Racing start for Jaguar paint shop
Racing start for Jaguar paint shop
Keywords Automotive industry, Paints
The first phase of the new Jaguar paint shop at the Castle Bromwich body plant is now fully operational and achieving production targets of 90 per cent plus for right-first-time finished painted bodies. At just over 18 months from order authorisation to full production, the Jaguar project is one of the fastest installations undertaken so far by Durr UK, the Warwick-based automotive paint shop systems supplier.
Following the successful launch last year of the new XK8 series and the recent V8 version of the XJ series saloon, the new facilities are on stream to meet a significant increase in demand for Jaguar cars in both the home and overseas markets.
Production has been increased progressively to achieve a seamless changeover to more efficient colour lines designed to reduce the consumption of solvent-based materials. Quality matched Jaguar's expectations right from the start of volume production and has continued to improve.
Linked by six miles of conveyor track, the new facilities comprise a primer booth with manual work stations, base colour and clearcoat spray booths, curing ovens and final inspection and repair lines. The final buy-off area has been fitted with the latest low intensity inspection lighting arrangement, as developed by Ford paint engineers in the USA.
Light metallic colours,which are popular with Jaguar customers, are also very challenging in terms of achieving the quality of finish on which Jaguar has built its reputation as a world class supplier of prestigious cars. To maintain this high standard, every painted body is carefully examined before being accepted for final trim and assembly.
The £60 million contract includes all of the associated paint shop support systems including air, heating and ventilation services, paint mix, distribution, water supplies and waste disposal systems, and purification plant for the treatment of exhaust air emissions. All of the plant support services are designed to use energy and water resources efficiently, which together with the introduction of water-based coating materials makes the Jaguar plant one of the most advanced in the world in terms of using ecologically sound manufacturing practice.
Jaguar project manager for the new paint shop, Tim Wells, tracks the history of the project from approval by Ford management in September 1995. Vendor presentations took place during the following February, Durr was selected as principal contractor in March 1996 and initial civil works started in June.
"We decided to split the programme into three phases and start with the coloured second primer coat booth, the colour booth and finishing stages of the paint process. These account for about half of the capital cost and are the most crucial in terms of quality", explains Tim wells.
"A number of issues were raised during the first phase and the design of the facilities were carefully analysed by simultaneous engineering working parties involving personnel from Jaguar, Durr and Du Pont, the paint material suppliers. A computer simulation was helpful in evaluating the impact of different operational strategies and we will be making much more use of this powerful tool for the next two phases", he added.
The redundant colour lines are now being removed to make way for the installation of new pre-treatment,electrocoat and sealer facilities under phase 2 of the programme. The third and final phase covers the Primer 1 facilities. On completion by the end of 1999,the paint shop will provide Jaguar with the capacity needed for the new X200 saloon, and, more importantly, will meet all known environmental legislative requirements.
The new facilities are installed alongside the operational paint shop in part of the building formally used for the assembly of the XJS sports car. Civil works included the excavation and construction of concrete lined water tanks which are part of the spray booths' recycling wash and waste disposal systems.
Fitting out the new shop was carried out without causing any disruption to production. The construction area was sealed off by partitioning to prevent contamination of the old shop.
Dirt monitoring instruments were installed at strategic points in the operational areas of the building to verify the integrity of the sheeting.
Computer simulation played an important part in allowing production management to see how the new facilities would operate. Of particular interest was the impact of temporary stoppages at the paint booths, the operation of the strip out and changes in shift patterns at different manual work areas.
Details: Paint Finishing Division, Durr Limited, Tel: +44 (0) 1926 418800; Fax: +44 (0) 1926 400679.
