STANDARD & LEGISLATION

STANDARD & LEGISLATION - UCIF Informs

Robots Become “Painters”

Marcello Zinno

UCIF – Italian Surface Treatment Equipment Manufacturers’ Association, Milan, Italy info@ucif.net

For several years now, the Italian Surface Treatment Equipment Manufacturers’ Association (UCIF) has been emphasising that, thanks to the high level of technology achieved, finishing processes have managed to significantly reduce both paint and energy consumption and waste production. By comparing the coating processes performed twenty years ago with those carried out today using highly sophisticated machines and systems, one quickly realises how much the industry has changed. The need for technological developments has arisen from market demands, with customers requiring different colours, often including two-tone finishes, for different parts and products. Cars are a clear example of this. As colour trends change according to fashion and depending on the historical period (UCIF organised a training course some time ago to talk about design applied to mechanics), the entire supply chain should adapt to such changes – always with an eye on process automation, since the focus is on mass-produced items. One of the solutions identified and already available on the market is automated coating without overspray. This guarantees accurate paint application thanks to a complex, integrated system consisting of robots, software, and sensors, which automatically assesses the surface to be coated to identify where to operate (a very useful option for two-tone finishes) and detect how much product is needed in order to obtain, among other things, maximum waste reduction. This avoids the need for manual application while making every surface coatable regardless of the decorations and colours chosen. Coating is therefore transformed from a simple coating process into a precision operation: the nozzles can be as small as 1/100th of a millimetre in diameter to achieve maximum accuracy, so much so that this is often referred to as “pixel painting”, because it is potentially possible to create any type of image on the selected surface. Such technological development is therefore not only linked to the characteristics of the specific coating product used, but it is also achieved thanks to the high automation level and programming potential of the robots employed, which can first recognise the area to be treated and then apply the desired tints, just as a printer reproduces an image on paper. We could arguably see these robots as “modern painters” who, after being suitably trained, paint a picture on a surface. Maybe it will come to the point where cars’ roofs will be customised with works of art... For now, we can say that this is at least possible and it further confirms the strategic role played by the Italian finishing industry on the international level.

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