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EDITED BY TIM PENNINGTON Aluminum extruder's new vertical line allows it to more efficiently process longer profiles. Going Vertical in Powder Coatings ABOVE: Gateway Extrusions offers aluminum extrusion services including design, production, finishing and packaging to the residential and commercial building and industrial product markets. 28 SEPTEMBER 2017 — PFonline.com Gateway Extrusions in Union, Missouri, invested in a new vertical powder coating line that enables it to process longer profiles more efficiently and faster than its previous horizontal paint line, and enables it to serve a broader array of markets. "Many customers need the longer profile lengths, and with this state-of-the-art powder coating line, we can deliver, faster and with greater quality, the finished extrusion products our customers want and need," says Tom Ziegler, president of operations for the aluminum extruder. "The new vertical paint line allows Gateway to handle lineals up to 25 feet, compared with 18 feet with our old equipment." The new vertical offers many advantages, Ziegler says, including more efficient application of powder with more consis- tent overall coverage and minimal waste. He says Gateway has increased throughput two to three times over that of its previous horizontal line, running one shift with 10 employees instead of two shifts with 16 employees on the old line. It follows then, that this has significantly improved produc- tivity and enabled Gateway to reassign employees to other areas where they are needed, he says. The system also allows rapid color changes to minimize downtime and overspray. Following a coating application, extrusions pass through a two- stage drying process in which the metal pieces are warmed in an infrared oven before entering the bake oven. He says this results in a harder finish than a single-stage bake oven. Supplier Collaboration Gateway acquired its new equipment after extensive research, and the entire system it settled on represents a collaboration among several notable suppliers. "We were very impressed with the innovation, engineering and customization our suppliers brought to this project," Ziegler says. "They worked together very effectively to bring our new equipment online, on budget and ahead of schedule." The profile-handling equipment, which includes the conveyors, pretreatment booth, dry-off oven, and infrared prewarming and powder-paint bake ovens, was supplied by ABD Equipment Co., which is based in China. Bulk Chemicals of Reading, Pennsylvania, designed the chrome-free pretreatment wash system to minimize chemical usage, as well as maximize the effectiveness of cleaning and preparing the surface of the aluminum profiles to accept powder paint. The supplier customized its pretreatment solutions to work effectively with POWDER COATING