Shanghai, August 3, 2010 -ABB, the leading power and automation technology group, recently inaugurated its Robotic Paint Lab at ABB Engineering (Shanghai) Ltd. in the Kangqiao District of Pudong, Shanghai. The advanced paint lab comprises paint workshops for both car bodies and general industry. This lab is the first and unique facility in China to paint a full car body in production conditions. It enables customers to use ABB advanced technology for complete testing and simulation of their automotive paint process.
Robert Larsson, head of the ABB Discrete Automation and Motion division of ABB North Asia Region and ABB China, said, "China is at the centre of ABB's robotics business. The newly announced robotic paint lab provides an ideal location for manufacturers in every industry to test their paint applications. The new lab will allow our customers to use ABB robotic technology at every step of their testing programs, while incorporating ABB's environmentally friendly paint concepts. These efforts will support them to further improve environment performance in their paint operation."
Car body painting is a key process in automotive manufacturing, directly influencing the exterior appearance and quality of the final product. The paint test enables carmakers to upgrade the paint process and improve quality. In an integrated testing environment, customers can perform their painting process with ABB's advanced robotic paint solutions in the lab. Covering the entire automotive paint process, it supports carmakers in simulating, testing and optimizing their manufacturing process in the earliest stages, therefore, remarkably improving customer's process efficiency.
The ABB Paint Lab covers 500 square meters. It reproduces the entire car painting process of a production line, including under body sealing and car body cleaning before painting. This lab utilizes advanced ABB painting robots and equipments. For example:
The painting zone includes the latest generation of wall-mounted robot FlexPainter IRB 5500, the first of its kind in world's paint application. Featuring increased flexibility by an extended working area of up to 6 meters length, this robot is ideal for exterior car body and inside frame painting. Its acceleration up to 25 m/s² and quick colour change with up to 33 colours allow one FlexPainter IRB 5500 to handle jobs that usually require two conventional models.
The sealing and tack-off zones integrate highly flexible ABB IRB 6640 robots, advanced Flextrack system, Dispense pack flow control system, TrueView and other systems to perform under body or inside sealing operations. An advanced Duster Tack-Off system mounted on robots replaces the conventional gantry system to effectively remove dust particles from the body surface in more efficient and cost effective way.
In addition to the automotive car body painting, the lab also includes a workshop for the general industry. Equipped with advanced ABB robots, the paint shop is able to conduct comprehensive paint tests for a variety of products, as small as mobile phones and laptops, or as large as automobile bumpers.
The paint lab fully demonstrates to manufacturers the environmental performance of ABB's paint process automation by using waterborne or advanced primer less applications. These processes enable customers to effectively reduce equipment investment and workshop space, improving efficiency and reducing VOC emissions.
As the pioneer and global leader in robotic technology, ABB currently possesses the broadest range of robotics, technology and services. To date, ABB is the only multinational company to research and manufacture robotic products in China. China is at the center of ABB's robotics business, and Shanghai is home to the group's global Robotics Business headquarters. The company supports the fast development of China's automotive industry through the delivery of its advanced robotics solutions to leading automotive manufacturers such as Shanghai GM, Shanghai Volkswagen, Guangzhou Honda, Dongfeng Peugeot, Geely Auto and Great Wall Automobile.
ABB (www.abb.com) is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve their performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 117,000 people. ABB has a full range of business activities in China, including research and development, manufacturing, sales and services, with 15,300 employees, 30 joint ventures and wholly owned companies, and an extensive sales and service network across 60 cities.
