Achieving Significant Cost Savings at an Automotive Assembly Plant with AIRY FILTER MEDIA

AIRY FILTER MEDIA's extensive experience in paint booth management allowed their field experts to provide technical support and improve the performance of paint booth operations at a large automotive assembly plant in China.

AIRY FILTER MEDIA was approached by a major automotive manufacturer to review the filtration used in the air supply house for its OEM paint booth.

The user was using washable steel mesh filters for the primary stage of filtration in a 3-stage system.

Painting in the automotive industry is a complex process, and every step in the process is critical to ensure a quality finish.

The air supply system is one of the most crucial parts of this process.

However, the recirculating air system in a particular plant was causing issues, as the mesh filters were getting clogged with dried paint, resulting in reduced air flow and decreased paint booth efficiency.

The mesh filters, which were designed to be reusable, often suffered damage under increased water pressure when trying to remove the dried paint.

Furthermore, the replacement cost of the mesh filters was exorbitant at nearly $9,000 per quarter for just one air supply house.

Therefore, finding a more efficient and cost-effective solution was essential.

AIRY FILTER MEDIA recommended the cube filter, which had depth-loading, lofted polyester media.

The cube filter had 12 sq ft of media compared to the previous 2.7 sq ft of media, which reduced the number of filter change-outs required per quarter.

The user approved a 3-month trial period, and the filter was tested in the air supply house for the OEM paint booth.

After analyzing the cube filters at the end of the trial period, AIRY FILTER MEDIA confirmed that there were no issues with bypass or filter blow-outs, and the cube filters were depth-loading as expected.

The solution was then applied to other air supply houses over the next four years as the filter continued to perform without any issues.

The switch from the stainless-steel mesh panel to the cube filter resulted in several process improvements and cost savings for the customer.

The customer realized an annual cost savings of $9,725.00 in materials, and labor and waste disposal expenses were reduced by half.

Moreover, the increased performance of the primary stage filter prevented paint quality issues, which could have cost at least $70,000 per shift to address paint defects based on 25% of vehicles needing to be re-painted.

The cube filter proved to be a more efficient and cost-effective solution to the filtration issue in the automotive industry.

This case study is just one of many examples where AIRY FILTER MEDIA has pulled from its 14+ years of experience working with customers to resolve filtration issues for critical applications.

If you are interested in partnering with a filtration supplier with a proven track record of delivering solutions that result in cost savings and process improvements, connect with AIRY FILTER MEDIA at www.airyfilter.com or contact them at shawn@airyfilter.com or 86-177-0267-9027.