Digital, highly networked, and intelligent—but without overengineering: With the new L6 painting line, Motherson subsidiary SMP in Neustadt an der Donau is building a showcase facility that meets the latest Industry 4.0 standards. Motherson manufactures plastic parts and highly integrated modules for the automotive industry at this site. The automated paint shop is being designed and installed on a turnkey basis by ASIS GmbH of Landshut as the general contractor. “We’ve had a partnership-based business relationship with SMP for more than 22 years. The contract for the new L6 is a milestone in our collaboration, which we will deliver with our usual top quality,” said ASIS Managing Director Hans-Jürgen Multhammer. Also on board is Wenker GmbH & Co. KG from Ahaus near Münster, which will supply parts of the plant’s technical equipment. Due to the high value-added nature of their respective scopes of supply, the two partners complement each other extremely well.
The L6 painting line applies high-quality coatings to premium plastic components for the automotive industry. The solvent-based system includes the following sections: pretreatment, water dryer, flame-drying booth, primer booth, base coat booth, clear coat booth, clear coat dryer, paint supply with High-Runner systems, and pigged special paint systems. Application is performed by robots from ABB. All booths operate in line-tracking mode: the workpiece carriers pass by the robots while they apply the coatings. All robot booths are easily accessible to personnel via a central cleanroom. A skid conveyor system, combined with lifting and lowering stations, moves the workpieces through the three levels of the facility. Assembly is scheduled to begin in the summer of 2022. “Whether it’s flame treatment, paint supply, or paint application—we can use our own products in all these areas, products that are already operating successfully in many facilities. We have a wealth of application experience to draw upon here,” said Multhammer.
Since the introduction of water-based paints, they have been regarded as an environmentally friendly alternative to solvent-based paints. At first glance, water-based paints sound like the “greener”—and therefore better—solution. However, when you consider the entire process—including the required equipment and associated energy consumption—the situation changes quite quickly.
Compared to solvent-based systems, water-based coating systems require two additional dryers with associated cooling zones. This naturally leads to a significant increase not only in equipment costs but also in the energy consumption of a water-based coating line. In practice, exhaust air purification for water-based coating systems often requires supplementary gas combustion, whereas the solvent concentration in solvent-based systems is generally sufficient to enable autothermal operation of the afterburner. If we compare the energy requirements of both system types, the solvent-based system is significantly more energy-efficient than its water-based counterpart. The solvent-based system is therefore the more sustainable and efficient option for the project in Neustadt in terms of capital costs, operating costs, and environmental impact.
Even during the bidding phase and throughout the design process, the calculated throughputs were analyzed in a comprehensive plant simulation. This holistic approach is achieved by integrating general robot simulation systems with a material flow simulation. Potential bottlenecks (bottleneck analysis) were identified as early as the design phase and eliminated before the system was even built. The customer’s painting schedules are imported at this stage and simulated using painting-specific parameters, such as paint changeover times and intervals, or component-dependent painting times. This powerful tool is then handed over to the customer, who can use it to simulate and verify various process scenarios in advance.
The robots are distributed among the flame treatment, primer, base coat, and clear coat stations. Naturally, they were also tested in a simulation beforehand. Assessing reachability using CAD data and ensuring cycle time compliance are standard practices in plant design today. The CC-Edit (Color Change Edit) software is used to control the track programs. This makes it possible to edit fully automated color-change sequences for complex painting applications and transfer them to the control system. The entire process takes place via a graphical user interface and can be implemented quickly and easily even by users without programming knowledge. The streamlined software runs on all standard Windows PCs and can also be retrofitted into existing systems.
“Significant advancements are expected in the field of digitalization,” says Stephan Dobmayr, SMP Plant Manager in Neustadt, . “That’s why it’s important to us to keep all options open for the future so we can respond flexibly and always remain at the cutting edge of technology.” The plant’s entire control system is designed to meet both current and future digitization requirements. Smart sensors are installed wherever possible and practical. Their advantage lies in the fact that the actual measured value can be continuously output and recorded. Conventional sensors usually only report when a setpoint is exceeded. The information collected is fed into a central data storage system on a database server. The database makes pragmatic use of the SQL technology found on websites. The vast majority of all dynamic websites are based on this standard. Queries are device-independent, exceptionally fast, and can be performed easily from anywhere in the world . The technology is constantly maintained by a broad community to meet the latest IT security standards.
All components that require regular maintenance are equipped with cycle counters and sensors, among other things. These track how often a paint valve, pump, or motor is activated. Together with smart sensors and centralized data storage, this forms the basis for the ASIS Predictive Maintenance Module. This allows the system to predict when maintenance is due. Components are replaced before they ultimately fail and cause the system to shut down. Process and machine data are analyzed in real time for this purpose, and maintenance recommendations are issued. Maintenance becomes predictable and system downtime is avoided, while resource utilization and productivity are optimized and increased.
During daily operations, the plant is evaluated and optimized using the Surface Analytics 4.0 process data acquisition system. This digital solution provides a comprehensive overview of the plant’s performance. Sources of loss are identified, and specific corrective actions are derived. Comparisons can be made between different plants, across different time periods, or between the early and late shifts. Whether it’s the OEE dashboard, plant availability, energy consumption, or media usage—the reports are presented in an engaging manner using interactive charts with filtering options and are automatically sent via email as monthly or weekly reports to defined recipient groups. Exporting to PDF, CSV, or XLS is also possible. Defective parts can be fully tracked in the skid database. With secure VPN access, Surface Analytics 4.0 can be accessed on all devices via a browser, even on the go. Other applications include large-format displays—for example, on big screens in the factory floor—to inform and motivate staff.
Digitalization and the Smart Factory are not about eliminating jobs. Rather, people remain indispensable for operating and modifying the systems, as well as for identifying and implementing intelligent measures. “ASIS GmbH has made it its mission—in line with its slogan ‘Connecting Technology and People’—to design this human-machine interface in an optimal, simple, and intuitive way,” explains Multhammer.
Motherson has embraced the challenges of digitalization and is presenting the industry with a new flagship facility, the L6 in Neustadt. There is still much work to be done before the first perfectly coated bumpers roll off the assembly line during the ramp-up phase, but the course has already been set for the future.