Built for purpose

A painting truck made by KoPAB

Maintenance vehicles such as road painters and melters are more productive if they are built to suit the exact needs of their application

Words | Jari Pasanen, KoPAB, Sweden

KoPAB is a Swedish company that specializes in designing and manufacturing customized, new-generation, truck-based road marking equipment. Customers’ increasing need for more developed, powerful and environmentally friendly road marking equipment, compared with what is already on the market, has contributed to the founding of KoPAB. The company operates out of Torsby, Sweden, where it conducts all design, development department and production. It also has a testing area where new equipment is given trial runs before delivery.

KoPAB’s key personnel and partners have long experience in road marking equipment and its development. KoPAB offers its customers a service that includes design, construction and training, as well as maintenance for the entire life of the machines. KoPAB also runs a 24/7 helpdesk for customers.

The design of KoPAB’s road marking equipment is based on regular surveys of customers’ needs, which help to ensure it fulfills both present and future demands. Great consideration is also given to safety, ergonomics and sustainability, as well as the economic maintenance and lifetime costs of the equipment.

Tailor-made solutions

KoPAB’s designs ensure that customers receive road marking machines that fulfill their exact needs, whether it is a painting or melting vehicle built on a two-, three-, or four-axle chassis.

There are also countries that need a two-color system to mark the middle lines of roads. For this, KoPAB has a painting vehicle that is equipped with a dual system. In practice, this means that both colors – white and yellow – are painted onto the middle of the road simultaneously.

The technical solutions developed by KoPAB, together with the latest control automation, are efficient, user-friendly, reliable, safe and cost-effective.

To minimize the costs related to the lifetime and maintenance of the equipment, KoPAB sets high demands on the quality of the materials and components right from the design phase. During this process, the risks associated with occupational safety and ergonomics are also identified and KoPAB ensures the equipment is safe for the user and the environment.

The basis for KoPAB’s automated control system is a computer program that is monitored remotely through the internet and allows users to make program updates or changes to the painting plan. Special consideration has been given to user-friendliness in the interface so that the painting program is smooth and easy for the driver of the painting vehicle to follow. The in-cab terminal is the driver’s most important tool and KoPAB gave great consideration to reliability and ease of use when choosing it. The terminal has been used for years in, for example, fire and rescue vehicles, where it has proved reliable.

Varied vehicles

All the painting vehicle’s functions have been integrated into the interface, which means that the driver does not have to leave the cab. The latest map and location applications

can also be integrated into the interface, which means separate location devices are not needed.

The painting program includes two-way data transmission, which in practice means the driver gets detailed site and location information.

When the job is finished, the driver of the vehicle can send a report, through the internet, with the location of the painted site, for example using a road/street address or the map coordinates.

A further advantage of the automated functions is that the driver does not have to look for information related to the job on paper, or in other records, as most will be available electronically.

KoPAB’s painting vehicle can be equipped with either an extruder or spray equipment, or a combination. Devices for both methods, extruding and spraying, are integrated in the combination model. No mechanical modifications need to be made when changing between methods, which affords significant savings during the work season. KoPAB’s painting vehicles are delivered to our customers according to the turnkey principle.

KoPAB’s product family includes not only painting vehicles, but also melting vehicles that are customized according to customer needs. For these vehicles, special consideration has been given to the melting speed of the road marking material and energy economics by eliminating, for example, lost heat. Favorable energy economics also reduces combustion gases and consequently the strain on the environment. The sizes of the melting tanks vary between 200 and 5,000 liters (44 and 2,000 gallons) depending on the particular customer needs.

Customer action

Customers should contact KoPAB to specify the type of road marking equipment needed. KoPAB will then provide an estimate and a financially competitive proposal for the type of equipment that best fulfills the customer’s needs. The customer does not have to be an expert in engineering, because KoPAB’s technical experts will ensure the best and most affordable solution for their needs.

Once the customer’s equipment is ready, KoPAB will provide training for the customer’s staff, either at KoPAB’s plant or at the customer’s facilities. After training, the customer has free access to KoPAB’s 24/7 helpline. KoPAB’s maintenance and parts services ensure 24-hour availability of the main components and parts during the production season. n

Above: KoPAB also makes customized

melting vehicles

Below: Inside the cab of a KoPAB vehicle