The fourth annual B2B event aimed to provide the audience with insight into market trends, applications, and technologies in automotive paint, coating, and surface innovations. The special focus was on Industry 4.0 and digitalization.

AlbertoPinzello, IT | Sales Executive | IoT & AR | Rockwell Automation

Accelerating digital transformation in Manufacturing. Executives can no longer manage with silos of data. They need consistent, real-time insights into operations to understand true performance across all factories to make data-driven decisions. A shortage of skilled workers combined with increasing product and operations complexity is causing an industrial workforce crisis. How could technology help? Approaching the transformation journey: the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’.

Questions answered during the webinar: 

• What could be the effort for implementing an IoT solution in a paint shop?
• Are you thinking of a partnership with paint line manufacturers (Durr, EN, etcÇ) to integrate IIoT on current/new facilities? 

Stanislav Šulla, CZ | Area Manager Eastern Europe | Konica Minolta

What a Colorful World! A total automotive color management Sensing Europe B.V. Phenomenon color as a quality criterion. Effective color communication in a decentralized value chain. A 360-degree view of a professional color QC.

Phil Collins, UK | Director – Advanced R&D | Global Inkjet Systems

Inkjetting hard coats. Inkjet activity in coatings. Inkjettable automotive hard coats – what is available and what is required. What is needed to enable jetting of coatings. Coating of automotive parts – example work based on real case studies. Bringing inkjet technology to the automotive production line.

Questions answered during the webinar:  

• Why not to move the printhead instead of the part?  
• Considering the speed of the process, material costs, and material durability, what are the chances of the inkjet process replacing conventional spray coating in automotive parts production?   
• How is the communication between robots and GIS  
• What is the geometry constraints we may find with this technology? What are overall tolerances (inkjet + robot movement) when coating 3D parts?

Dr. Carlos Vignolo, DE | Applied Colorimetric & Data Management | BASF Coatings

Color Line Monitoring in the Automotive Industry. Automated, statistical, and objective color evaluation combining colorimetrical data, product, and batch info from the customer line. Increase of tinting accuracy and batch-to-batch consistency. More effective trouble-shooting in case of color issues. Color quality improvements support the achievement of a faster maximum quality rate and color harmony between bodies and add-on parts.

Questions answered during the webinar:  

• Should we consider any parameter to control the coating manufacturing process.
• Especially on those colors with high pigmentation and/or effect pigments. Thanks!  
• Does this software work with differents colorimeters and spectrophotometers or only with BYK equipment? 

Hande Kilic, TR | Senior Corrosion Expert | MAN Truck & Bus

Paintings and corrosion protection systems in MAN Truck & Bus. General overview to corrosion. Cataphoresis. Sealings. Protective coatings. Underbody protection.

Questions answered during the webinar: 

• What is the most common cause of customer claims that you have faced? 

Holly Steedman, UK | Business Development Manager | Integration Technology Ltd

UV Curing 101: An introduction to UV curing solutions for automotive. Introduction to UV curing technology and processes. Integrating UV curing into automotive applications. UV LED intensity and dose - understanding the importance. Advantages of LED curing in production environments. Bespoke automotive curing systems.

Questions answered during the webinar:  

• Is it possible to integrate LED systems into every machine? Even retroactively?  
• What type of reactive resins are used on UV formulation? is this a solvent-free solution with no VOC emission?  
• What is the cost difference between LED and UV mercury lamps?  

Thomas Behl, DE | Repair Technology Consultant | Allianz Center for Technology

Influence on radar performance by the painting of plastic parts. Methods for measuring paint layer thickness in repair shops. Dependence of radar power on color tone and coating thickness. Experiences from numerous series of experiments.

Daniel Pittaluga, USA | Senior Manager – Paint Group | Production Engineering | Toyota Motor North America

Impact of weld residue on phosphate coating, its causes, and countermeasures. Internal surfaces of closed shape parts, such as front control arms on automobiles, can be difficult to phosphate. A byproduct of the welding process can inhibit phosphate crystal development on these internal surfaces. The source of this byproduct is identified and how to limit its impact was studied. Chemical parameters of phosphate baths were evaluated to access the best coating performance with this contaminant

Dr. Meiko Hecker, DE | Managing Director | AOM-Systems 

Directly measuring the spray cone, not any indirect parameter. Inline and real-time monitoring of the spray cone. Better first-run-rate in production. Digitization of the spray for Artificial Intelligence applications in the spray coating process. Less downtime and lower maintenance costs due to smart maintenance.