Scottish joinery manufacturer Sturrocks has invested more than £80,000 on a computerised paint treatment system to speed up production.
The 140-year-old company, one of the oldest joinery manufacturers in Scotland, bought the Italian Finiture system for its Whigstreet factory in Forfar.
The flow coating system allows products to be completely saturated in paint as they are conveyed around an automatic spray booth, before entering a drying zone. Excess paint hits a glass back panel allowing the paint to drain into a trough to be reused, reducing wastage by up to 90%.
“Installation of the system will have two major advantages,” said Sturrocks’ general manager Roger Greig. “Firstly, as the company produces high-end, bespoke products, like curved staircases and specially designed arched windows, flow coating will mean that there is total penetration of all joints and, secondly, it will speed up our production process.”
Sturrocks invested in a 5-axis CNC router several years ago which greatly increased production efficiency, but created a bottleneck in the paint department where products are spray painted by one operator.
Mr Greig said the Finiture system would alleviate the bottleneck and speed up the whole process.
“However, the final top coat will still be applied by a tradesman with a spray gun,” he added.
