Ford Motor Company is expanding its 3-wet paint capacity by 50% this year, adding the environmentally friendly paint process, already in use in its Maraimalainagar plant, Chennai, to four more plants on three continents. Ford India's Chennai plant is the first Ford car plant in the world to use the 3-wet high-solids paint technology.
Ford was the first automaker to implement the 3-wet high solids solvent borne technology in 2007 and it currently has eight plants in North America, Asia Pacific and Europe, equipped for using the process to paint vehicles. The 3-wet process is named so because three layers of paint are applied one after the other before the prior coats have been cured.
The process eliminates stand-alone primer application and a dedicated oven required in the conventional process. Advanced chemical composition of 3-wet paint materials allows for the three layers of paint - primer, base coat, and clear coat - to be applied while each layer is still wet without baking in between.
The plant also does heat recovery by utilizing exhaust heat air to heat fresh air, and propane gas has been introduced as a fuel in its ovens instead of diesel, making for an environment-friendly paint process.
The results of this process are staggering, Fords Chennai plants CO2 emissions are down by 21%, water consumption is down by 15000 kl/annum and it also saves 27.6 million kWh/annum of electricity which is enough to light up all the streets lights in Chennai for close to four months. This operation will expand to 12 plants in 2013 and then to additional facilities worldwide over the next four years.
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