Insourcing Surface Prep & Painting Can Save Millions
Situation
A military base was outsourcing work that involved prep work and painting for maintenance and corrosion prevention of aircraft, large equipment and vehicles.
Corrosion is a silent invader that can find its way into equipment and vehicles. The most common culprit is salt air, which can quickly damage metal. It only takes a small rust blemish for damage to spread. Warning signs include discoloration of the metal’s surface, which can be gray, white, green, or the most commonly known, rust red. This discoloration indicates metal weakening that can lead to cracks.
With aircraft, undetected corrosion damage can cause catastrophic system failure. In addition to the obvious safety issues, corrosion damage can cost millions in repairs, rework, and repeated inspections. With ground transportation, corrosion can impact battery components, wheel wells and many other parts and surfaces.
The base was not in a position to expand its maintenance space and needed more flexibility as they were doing a wide variety of maintenance and repair operations.
Solution
Duroair engineered a solution with its patented DuroPure™ technology, a six-stage filtration system that captures all particulates and cleans the air of VOCs, isocyanates and hexavalent chromium. The solution exceeds OSHA and EPA standards. It is a recirculating, non-vented solution; no ducting or make-up air is required. It can be used for prep work, sanding, painting and coating.
The portable, retractable enclosure enables the existing space to be subdivided into multi-chamber workspaces where multiple processes can be performed safely, side by side – maximizing productivity. When painting and/or prep work is completed, the enclosure is retracted and stored at a fraction of its functional space.
The solution also speeded dry times for painting, by flooding dry clean air inside each work area while keeping damaging contaminants outside.
Results
With the flexible, retractable solution in place, the military base was able to bring its prep work and painting in house, saving “millions of dollars.”
When the crew is not doing prep work, sanding or painting, they retract the enclosure and have the space available for other Maintenance, Repair, Operations (MRO). The flexibility gives the base more control over their work.
The military is able to protect its most valuable assets – its service members – from the dangers of working with hexavalent chromium and VOCs while keeping mission-critical equipment ready for deployment.
Contact our industrial clean air experts today for a free consultation on how we might be able to help you insource work to reduce costs and gain more control of your outcomes.