Success Stories

• YKK
• Rubbermaid
• Metal Rehab Technologies
• Valmont

• YKK

  

  YKK is a world wide manufacturer of superior fastening products and architectural products. YKK has 86 affiliated companies in 54 countries with a total of 216 plants and offices. The total production of zippers is 2,040,000 km.

  The first YKK-plant to install and appreciate the SEGHERSfluid clean for stripping the paint barrels was YKK-Taiwan. Soon afterwards YKK-HK, YKK-India, YKK-China and YKK-Thailand ordered similar machines. The biggest machine is in operation in the YKK-plant of Kurobe in Japan since 1994.

  The paint barrels (=cage for the zippers when painting) measure Dia 47 cm x H 42 cm. The barrels are cleaned mostly after every pass through the painting line. The barrels are very sensitive because of the thin mesh screen, which forms the envelope of the barrel.

  

  Two reasons made YKK decide for the SEGHERSfluid clean:

  • The gentle and absolute cleaning of the sensitive barrels.
  • The environmentally friendly process.

  “YKK Group is seeking harmonisation between abundant and healthy lives for all humankind and the environment by preserving and improving the environment in all aspects of business activities”

  This is the basic principle of the eight action guidelines of the company’s environmental pledge.

  The thermal cleaning in a fluidized bed at 450 C is regarded as the best available technology to strip a wide variety of organic coatings without any adverse effects on the environment.

  The following picture shows the SEGHERSfluid clean type D866/RAN/CYC in operation in HK.

• Rubbermaid

  

  In 1995, Rubbermaid in Jackson, Missouri had problems with their stripping system. The three burn-off ovens in operation were not handling their stripping needs. They decided to add a fourth oven but locating it required an addition to their building. There were also problems with ash residue fouling their prewash and migrating throughout the facility.

  In a meeting to decide how to solve their problem someone recalled past discussions with Keppel Seghers. A subsequent meeting with Keppel Seghers at their facility gave them a new option.

  All four burn-off ovens could be replaced by a single fluidized bed using far less space than the burn-off ovens. With a cycle time of less than one hour the fluidized bed gave them a chance to clean the fixtures more often. An added benefit was ash removal. After gasifying the powder coating and destructing the organics, the remaining ash was then removed from the racks into the exhaust stream and processed by a high efficiency cyclone leaving no more ash to foul the prewash. The fluidized bed allowed Rubbermaid to go from 4 operators to a single operator. With more efficient cleaning, powder wastage declined dramatically.

  As the years went by, there were very few maintenance issues and these were handled quickly by Keppel Seghers Service Personnel. According to Donnie Glueck, the Finishing Technical Lead, "the machine ran so well most people forgot that it was even in the building". Finally after 15 years of operation it was time to modernize and replace the fluidized bed with a new machine. "Even though there were few maintenance issues, we just wore the machine out in the tough conditions in which it was operated" said Travis Farrow, Maintenance Lead. The success of the first machine led Rubbermaid in 2010 to replace the original unit with the same size modern unit with PLC controls. Mr. Glueck noted "training during start-up left us confident that the Rubbermaid operators could run the machine in a safe manner".

• Metal Rehab Technologies

  

  Metal Rehab Technologies, Inc. is a custom metal cleaning service dedicated to environmentally compliant cleaning technologies. A Texas based company, located in Arlington, Texas; Metal Rehab began business by developing new and environmentally responsible chemical systems to remove organic coatings and rust from metals and rapidly became a premier service provider in the antique and classic car market nationally.

  As the company grew, it became evident that other technologies must be added in order to meet additional market demands. Requirements for a new technology were: 1) must meet all local, state, and federal mandates and guidelines 2) must have a short cycle time 3) must be able to remove a wide array of coatings 4) must handle large numbers of small items in addition to larger ones 5) must be safe and relatively easy to operate 6) must be reliable.

  After a great deal of research into various thermal and non-thermal processes and devices, Marietta, Georgia, based Keppel Seghers’ Fluidized Bed Technology became the obvious choice for meeting all criteria. A system was purchased and quickly proved to be all that was expected. This system rapidly and completely removed plastics, rubber, paint and an array of coatings from metal surfaces with no damage to the metal substrates. Because of a sophisticated control system for controlling temperature, it even cleaned spring steel with no degradation to physical characteristics. Short cycle times allowed pick up and delivery of paint line fixtures within a wide radius and led to servicing many other industrial applications.

  Keppel Seghers’ Fluidized Sand Bed promoted rapid growth for Metal Rehab, and as a result a second larger system was recently purchased, adding increased capabilities and new markets to service.

• Valmont Industries

  In 2006, Jerry Croy, Valmont Industries Elkhart Indiana's powder coat supervisor, was aware that grounding problems were affecting the efficiency of his powder coating operation. The weight of the product required tempered steel hooks. Environmental issues eliminated chemical stripping and concerns over losing temper prevented thermal cleaning methods. Valmont resorted to using a hammer to physically clean the hooks by chipping powder from grounding points.

  Jerry's search lead to Keppel Seghers Inc. to determine if their fluidized bed was the answer to his hook cleaning. He found their FluidClean offered a quick, efficient and environmentally friendly solution to Valmont's stripping needs. With a temperature differential of less than 10° F throughout bed, the FluidClean was able to precisely control the cleaning temperature. The cleaning cycle was less than one hour and hooks could go directly from the fluidized bed back to the paint line.

  Upon purchasing the FluidClean and new paint guns, Valmont documented reject rates and powder wastage before and after installation of the FluidClean and were surprised by the results. The estimated decrease in powder wastage would yield an annual savings of over $160,000 with a significant decrease in paint related rejects.

  An additional benefit was the elimination of the labor intensive hammering a grounding point According to Charlie Gray, the group leader whose job it was to create the grounding point, "as far as I'm concerned, this is the best money we ever spent."