New and improved surface treatment

New surface treatment plant markedly reduces natural gas consumption

In 2018, BIRN began work on a new surface treatment plant. This resulted in the closure of the old painting plant and its large drying ovens.

Since 2021 BIRN has been treating components in a new surface treatment centre where new technology makes it possible to coat castings with a water-based ED paint, rather than the solvent-based paints used previously.

The new surface treatment plant means that BIRN can offer customers various types of surface treatments at the same plant. Closure of the old painting plant has resulted in a 170,000 Nm3 annual reduction in natural gas consumption for the drying ovens, in particular.

“Our surface treatment plant has been under construction for several years and the processes and chemicals have required a lot of running-in. This running in has sometimes been in cooperation with our customers. The process started around 2017 and we were able to completely shut down the old painting plant in 2021,” reports Lars Jørgensen, CTO at BIRN. 

New and improved surface treatment
In the new surface treatment plant ED paint is applied using electricity, so only the amount of ED paint that is required is applied. The surface treatment has been tested at BIRN and in external laboratories. Results show that the new surface treatment protects components better against rust than before.

It is not only BIRN that has high praise for the new plant. There has also been positive feedback from Volvo, as it helps meet the necessary quality requirements for the supply of coated castings to the Volvo Truck Group:

“The final result of the audit was very satisfactory and reflects the great effort the BIRN team has put into completing the necessary steps to get an approved coating line,” says Kishore Veeraraghavan, Technical Specialist & Lead Auditor – Surface Treatment, Volvo Group Purchasing.