BIB designed a new system to convey Coleman’s cooler fixtures through the urethane cure process in the manufacturing of personal coolers. The old system utilized a bottom drive enclosed track conveyor that was located under the fixtures, which made maintenance ever difficult plus allowed debris to fall in the conveyor track. The new system utilizes a very heavy duty chain with 10,000 lbs shear factor; the drive unit is 2 hp with a heavy duty reducer and variable speed electrical controller. Finally, the pin attachments where designed in corporation with the customer, so they are long lasting, easy to maintain, and easy to replace. Maintenance and performance of the system has improved due to the capacity of the chain, the location of the chain, the improved pulling power of the system, and the fixture attachments.

BI Brooks designed, engineered and fabricated this automatic sprayer for a company that was finishing wood trim. The spray heads are mounted on the reciprocating arm and are then turned on and off when the spray heads are over the product. The amount of spray and the length of time that the guns are spraying are digitally controlled through a PLC controller. Additionally, the reciprocator speed is adjustable from 30 fpm to 260 fpm and again this is controlled by the PLC. By having the digital control system the customer can change the amount of finish that is applied, vary the consistency of the finish material, and change the number of products being coated.

We also provided the conveyor, which is a heavy duty slat conveyor. We modified the slats to be upright angles which minimizes contact with the product and reduces the amount of finish that would build up on the supports. The support attachments were removable so that they could be cleaned from time to time.

This was a system that was designed for a new plant relocating in Monterrey, Mexico. The company manufactures steel caskets and we secured two phases of this project; the paint system and the post paint system.

The paint system conveyor started at the unload station of the washer system, which cleaned the caskets and applied a primer. The casket were loaded onto a gravity conveyor, inspected and then pushed to a powered accumulating conveyor. The caskets then entered into a clean room where they were joined with a slave pallet and prepped for paint. Once cleaned the caskets were released and sent down to one of four paint booths to receive color. The painters control the release of the caskets and once they released one to the flash tunnel another one enters the paint booth. The casket then spends about 8 minutes in a flash tunnel before entering the clear coat booth, once it has passed through two clear coat stations it is released into another flash tunnel for another 8 minutes. At the end of this flash tunnel the casket is separated from the slave pallet, this is accomplished by using the vertical lift that automatically transports the casket to a raised oven approximately 12’ off the floor. The slave pallet is returned to the clean room and the casket enters the cure oven for 30 minutes. The oven is in a “U” shape with an automatic lift/transfer to negotiate the end of the run. Another lift brings the casket down to a cooling tunnel, all done automatically. Once through the cooling tunnel the casket is transferred to the post paint system.

The post paint system includes power chain, power roller, gravity and power belt conveyors. Plus there are several automatic lift turn tables, and power lifts for inspection and assembly. The highlight of the system is the “Side Pack” conveyor that we designed and built. This is a drag chain conveyor with 26 pop up platforms which allow the caskets to accumulate.

This project required us to use all of our material handling experience and strengths. We designed and engineered the system, integrated conveyors and fabricated special handling items, and we were also responsible for the electrical controls system and supervising the installation.

This is a project that involved moving existing equipment and implementing new conveyors and two new automatic stretch wrappers. We had to integrate this equipment with their existing automatic palletizers and convey palletized product and the product information to the existing warehouse management system. Again, we designed, engineered and integrated existing equipment, chain driven live roller conveyor, and fabricated pop up chain transfers. Also, we designed a lift and clamp mechanism which would lift the loads while in the stretch wrapper and clamp the slip sheet, so the load had a full bottom wrap and the slip sheet was folded tight to the load.

This was a turnkey project including, design, engineering, fabrication, mechanical installation, electrical controls, electrical field wiring, air piping, project management and integration with existing equipment.

This is a Power and Free system we did for the Dana Corporation, who manufacturers differentials for the auto industry. This system was a power and free conveyor so parts could be accumulated and the carriers could be stopped at the load and unload stations. Also, stops were installed in the paint booths so operators had more time to paint the parts. We designed an automatic load and unload machine to lift and place the differentials on the assembly conveyors as well as remove the differentials from the assembly conveyor.

This was another turnkey project where we designed the system, engineered and fabricated the floor supports and special lifts, the electrical and mechanical installation and electrical controls.

Metal Systems is a tier one supplier to the automotive industry with a growing operation in Apodaca, N.L. Mexico. Because of the rapid growth Metal Systems is experiencing, they had no more room for finished goods storage and were using an off sight warehouse to store their product. This was adding overhead cost and creating logistical problems. We designed a pallet flow system to maximize their storage capacity and limit the amount floor space required for storage. We recommended this type of storage system, because it gives the customer a “First In/First Out” or “FIFO” type of storage, consolidating the storage area limits the amount if travel a forklift operator has to do, it reduces storage space because there are only one entry and exit aisles required and it uses the vertical space in the building. Metal Systems was able to store all finish goods in the system, which reduced storage cost and improved shipment tracking.