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Decorative Veneer brought innovation to the industry when it
began using decorative vinyl films. Now it’s bringing
innovation to the industry again with UV powder coating . .
.
By Steven R. Kline, Jr. Editorial Director
skline2@pfonline.com
During the 1970s, 3M designed and created a vacuum-form machine
to apply reflective vinyl film to road signs as a means to protect
them from weather and debris. Maynard Snow, a Kalamazoo, MI,
entrepreneur, purchased one of the machines and modified it
to apply decorative vinyl film on furniture components.
Thirty years later, the company he founded, Decorative Veneer,
is recognized throughout the U.S. as a premier supplier of quality
decorative veneer panels and components to manufacturers of
display fixtures and office, home and health care furniture.
While most companies would be satisfied with one such success
story, Decorative Veneer is betting that lightning can strike
twice. Only this time, the company’s president, Michael
Knoblauch, is working with leading industry material and equipment
suppliers to adopt UV powder coating technology as an alternative
to vinyl film.
Though the demand for powder coating has nearly tripled during
the past decade, increasing from 140 to 350 million lb/yr, until
The UV powder coating system can finish parts up to
97 inches long and 60 inches wide in thickness from 0.375 inch
to more than 2 inches.
recently, applications on wood substrates, such as Decorative
Veneer’s medium-density fiberboard (MDF) materials, have
been virtually nonexistent. However, with the development of
low temperature and UV-cured powder coatings, the timing from
Decorative Veneer’s perspective is ideal.
Necessity is the Mother of Invention
Throughout the past three decades, Decorative Veneer has developed
an expansive but defined product line around the process of
vacuum-forming vinyl on MDF to make finished components that
become part of a furniture system for office, health care, consumer
electronics and home furniture. “The vinyl process is
a viable process for these market applications,” said
Mr. Knoblauch. “We can three-dimensionally finish a part,
incorporating design elements that cannot be achieved in different
processes. We can achieve radius corners, edges and recesses
with a homogeneous finish and essentially no seams. Whereas
a high-pressure laminate finish cannot accomplish these results,
we’re able to form the vinyl over the substrate.”
However, as the barrier to entry into the market has decreased
in recent years, DecorativeVeneer found itself facing an onslaught
of new competitors. “After 30 years, we began looking
for new ways to grow the business, preferably in an environment
that is process manufacturing versus batch manufacturing oriented.
Following a lengthy investigation, theprocesswebelieve hasthe
greatest potential for us is UV powder coating, partly because
it allows ustouse ourexistingcustomers ordistribution channels,
but also because the powder, application and curing systems
have already proven themselves in other substrate finishing
applications,” stated Mr. Knoblauch.
The
Operation
The company began calling on its customers in September 2000
to introduce them to the powder on wood concept, demonstrate
how the application works and describe the benefits of the new
product. “Based on test results obtained at Nordson’s
powder coating testing facilities, we were able to show finished
product samples to our customers,”explained Mr. Knoblauch.
“Without exception, they were absolutely positive about
the potential of UV powder on wood.”
Wasting no time, DecorativeVeneer broke ground in October 2000
for a powder coating operation at its Plainwell, MI, facility.
Powder coating equipment from Nordson Corp. and UV/IR ovens
from Nutro Corp. were shipped in February 2001; testing in the
new 40,000-ft2 facility began in March and April, 2001.
The operation is situated in a 10,000-ft2, temperature-controlled
powder coating room that currently houses a single powder coating
booth and several hoppers to handle quick color changes. The
room is designed to eventually accept a second booth that will
accommodate even more and faster color-change requirements.
The Application System
The UV powder coating system can finish parts up to 97 inches
long, 60 inches wide and 0.375 inch to more than 2 inches thick.
Parts are manually hung on an overhead conveyor that travels
only a short distance at 7.5-15 ft/min before entering a single,
low-temperature (75-200F) convection oven that preheats the
MDF.
Following the preheat process, parts pass through an Excel 2000®powder
coating booth
Powder on wood results in an attractive, durable finish
that can outperform traditional wet and laminate finishes and
greatly increases product design flexibility.
equipped with opposing racks of sevenVersa-Spray®II guns
on reciprocators.A single Sure Coat®manual spray gun is
also available at the front and back end of the booth to reach
deep recesses. Coating thickness ranges from 1.8-
3.5 mils.The booth also features a Sure Coat® application
controller and several hoppers to accommodate quick color changes.
Coated parts then pass through a second IR/convection oven to
gel the powder and through a UV oven to cure the powder. Once
finished, the parts are inspected, packed and shipped to customers.
Becoming an Industry Technology Leader
“We can now produce the same type of component with some
of the inherent qualities of what we’re able to produce
on our vinyl and in some cases improve on it,”proclaimed
Mr. Knoblauch.“And we can produce them in a process-manufacturing
environment; that’s the logic behind the purchase of the
powder system. With the UV powder system, Decorative Veneer
has also positioned itself on the front end of the marketing
curve—having something that no one else has yet in an
environment that has a pretty high barrier to entry. If you
don’t have the distribution to fill the capacity, we see
that as a barrier to entry. We believe we can fill up the distribution
channel fairly quickly.”
Benefits/Advantages
UV powder coating on MDF offers numerous benefits, including:
availability of a broad palette of colors, textures and glosses;
thinner finish thickness (2-3 mils vs. 8-10 mils); use of standard
MDF; nondestructive low-temperature preheating and flow coating;
faster cycle times; and an environmentally friendly process
(no VOCs or HAPs).
“DV’s powder
coating and UV-curing process eliminates costly and time-consuming
priming and prepping. Unlike common systems, premium grade MDF
is not required, nor are high-temperature preheats and flow
coats that can damage the substrate,” stated Mr. Knoblauch.
“The result is an attractive, durable finish that outperforms
traditional wet and laminate finish processes and greatly increases
product design flexibility. The process will revolutionize the
wood finishing industry.”
All information in this website are from http://www.nordson.com,
which is our parent website.
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