Industry sector: Manufacturing of paints, varnishes, inks, and sealants
Company activity: The company specializes in developing and manufacturing paints and varnishes for the automotive and plastics industries. It offers renowned automotive manufacturers and their suppliers a complete coating range, from cathodic e-coat to varnish.
Company type: French entity of an international group
Founding period: 1919 (parent company in Germany) / 2007 (French subsidiary)
Contacts: Methods Managers, Purchasing, Procurement, & Technical Management
Company context
Beyond their visual appearance, automotive paints and varnishes must meet the highest and most diverse requirements. Their functional characteristics are especially critical: long-lasting and flawless corrosion protection, resistance to chemical and climatic effects, scratch and chip resistance, and the long-term stability of gloss and color.
Our client has implemented filtration processes to meet the quality standards expected by their end customers.
Filtration challenge
Our contacts believed that their dependence on their current filtration supplier could significantly affect their ability to supply their automotive-sector customers, and therefore asked us to assess their existing installation and propose an alternative.
The fluid to be filtered is a varnish intended for the automotive market. This product contains anti-sagging additives whose tendency to clog filters had to be taken into account when selecting a suitable alternative. Moreover, the proposed solution needed to be compatible with a filter housing specifically designed to accept filter packs (conventional filter cartridges enclosed in sealed plastic bags).
In addition, our client defined four objectives that had to be met for us to be selected as a supplier for their industrial filtration process:
- At least constant productivity
- Reliable dual-sourcing, compliant with the constraints of the existing application
- A shorter and secure supply lead time compared with the current one
- Lower filtration cost
Pemflow filtration solution
To meet all of our client’s objectives and constraints, and taking into account the rheology of the varnish, we proposed the SupaClean system from AMAZON FILTERS.
Expert advice
Rheology: Rheology is the study of the flow and deformation properties of matter—such as elasticity, plasticity, and viscosity—under applied stress.
System characteristics
This system consists of our conventional filtration cartridges enclosed within two sealed, antistatic plastic bags.
As a result, the filter cartridges and the fluids are contained inside a filter housing, which serves as the pressure vessel required for the filtration process.
In developing the SupaClean system, particular attention was given to the reliability of the bags in terms of sealing within the filter housing.
The precise design and manufacturing, along with validation testing, ensure that the plastic bags enclosing the filters and the products remain securely attached, even when fully loaded.
Advantages of this solution
- Cost reduction: Filter replacement is simple and minimizes labor costs.
- Reduced quality issues: The system is delivered preassembled.
- Operator and environmental protection: The filters and the fluid are confined inside the sealed bag.
- No housing cleaning required: Since the fluid remains confined within the bag, it never comes into contact with the filter housing—no solvents are needed for cleaning.
- Filter reuse: The SupaClean system can also be used to store the fluid for later reuse.
Service conditions of the application & cartridges used
The varnish batches total 14 tonnes, filled into fourteen one-ton containers. To maintain the constant productivity required by our client, the target throughput is one tonne of varnish filtered in 20 minutes.
The SupaClean system was therefore equipped with three 30-inch SupaGard cartridges from AMAZON FILTERS with a 20 µm filtration threshold. This threshold was determined through in-house laboratory trials, known as grain tests.
We selected SupaGard cartridges from AMAZON FILTERS for the following reasons:
- True density gradient
- Large void volume
- Low pressure drop
- Excellent retention capacity
To further reassure our client regarding the relevance of our technical solution—particularly the operating characteristics of the SupaGard cartridge in their process—we conducted objective comparative tests in our laboratory, free of charge. The results led our client to carry out a filtration test directly on the production line.
Conclusion
The production-line tests were fully satisfactory. Our solution is now validated and formally approved as the filtration equipment for this application.
In addition to meeting two of the company’s objectives (constant productivity and reliable sourcing), we reduced supply lead times from 3 months to a maximum of 4 weeks, with dedicated storage space for this client, enabling delivery within 48 to 72 hours when needed.
Each delivered product features specific labeling (client’s internal codification) to ensure full traceability (raw material, manufacturing, product).
The reduction in filtration costs is approximately 10%.
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