Why designers like prepainted metal
BackWhy designers like prepainted metal
Prepainted metal products provide many advantages in both design flexibility and in the realisation of that design through the fabrication and manufacturing process. The products also have numerous environmental advantages over alternative materials and coating processes.
Advantages in design
Prepainted metal provides a very high-quality painted surface in a wide array of colours and textures. It is also available with printed films to give effects such as woodgrain. The surface of a prepainted metal can be either very matt or high gloss, smooth, orange-peel or embossed. Prepainted metals are available in all the usual steel and aluminium grades and alloys so you can balance formability, strength and appearance in the final product.
Prepainted metal is the choice for sustainable design. Detailed independent life cycle assessment (LCA) has shown that the environmental impact of prepainted metal is less than that of post-paint metal across a wide range of impact categories. Prepainted metals are also easily recyclable.
Although the organic coatings used in coil coating are generally thinner than post-applied powders and films, they still give better in-service performance. So, you use less paint which minimises resource consumption and enables you to cut down or even eliminate maintenance and re-painting.
The continuous coil coating process gives the highest standards of quality assurance through coil to coil consistency and has a significantly lower environmental emissions than batch or post-painting processes. The coil coating processes are operated in accordance with the latest national and European standards for VOC emissions and emissions to water; this environmental compliance means that prepainted metals are the materials of choice in a wide range of applications.
Advantages in production
Using prepainted metal enables domestic appliance and other manufacturers to save money by making their manufacturing operations run smoother and more consistently. Productivity and yield are improved, while manufacturing, energy, inventory and financial costs are reduced.
By utilising prepainted metal in their process, manufacturers are able to eliminate their paint lines which are usually the major bottleneck in their operation. Capacity constraints are minimised, potentially improving ROCE.
The cost of complying with environmental regulations is significantly reduced, or even eliminated. The cost of the disposal of hazardous waste associated with the painting operation is also eliminated.
Scheduling problems and the costs associated with batch-type processing are minimised or removed altogether. Since input material is more directly related to output, the processing time is reduced and stocks are minimised.
The consistent quality of coil coated materials reduces the need for re-work and lowers non-conformance levels and associated costs. Above all, using prepainted metal allows the manufacturer to concentrate on their core competencies and leave the production of high-quality paint finishes to the experts.
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Prepainted vs postpainted |
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Innovative products |