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Peter Kwasny GmbH is a leading manufacturer of paint sprays. The company uses link chain conveyors from MiniTec to ensure that the cans are reliably transported and, if necessary, buffered on their way through production.
Professional paint aerosol systems are the speciality of Peter Kwasny GmbH. The family-run company with 450 employees produces paint sprays, touch-up pencils and preparation products for a wide range of requirements and markets. Around 35 million spray paint cans leave the factory every year. Customers include the international automotive and paint industry, the specialised trade, the processing industry and DIY stores. In addition to the headquarters in Gundelsheim near Heilbronn, there is a logistics centre in Sinsheim and several foreign branches.
Production has an exceptional vertical range of manufacture and extends from mixing the paints to the finished labelled can. After production and refinement, the paints are first packed in containers of various sizes, from IBCs (intermediate bulk containers) to five-litre buckets. This is followed by aerosol filling. Once the aerosol cans have been filled, they are sealed with valves and gassed. In the next area, the cans are packaged, i.e. the spray head cap is fitted and the labelling and coding are applied. Finally, the finished products are palletised in an automatic carton sealing system.
MiniTec link chain conveyors have proven their worth because they ensure that the cans are transported cleanly in line.
Long-standing partnership
The collaboration with MiniTec goes back a little longer. Michael Seidler, Senior Production Engineer at Kwasny, recalls: ‘We started in 2016 with a project in which we equipped continuous weighers and spray head machines with link chain conveyors. We built accumulation sections behind the machines, where the cans are buffered for the next assembly step.
Two years later, we expanded this constellation with larger conveyor sections in several lines. All four continuous weighers and all four spray head machines were equipped with them. In 2020, a new machine was added, our 2K special production, in which we load a spray can with a hardener cartridge. This system, i.e. the entire transport and turning process for cans, was also fully interlinked by MiniTec.’
Good reasons for MiniTec link chain conveyors
Kwasny has a continuous production process in which the spray cans are produced in a ‘first in, first out’ line. They have to be evaluated by the quality assurance department according to the production sequence and also coded according to date and time. The MiniTec link chain conveyors have proven to be the best solution here because they ensure that the cans are transported cleanly in line.
In the past, Kwasny used conveyor lines based on steel frames, but these are increasingly being replaced by MiniTec systems. There are many reasons for this, according to Seidler: ‘One advantage of MiniTec's link chain conveyors is that they allow very small curve radii, which means we can buffer more tightly.
This also makes it easy to divert the route and continue in a different direction. And as we are very cramped, we can easily add a shoulder or swerve a little to the left or right and not just drive a straight line.’
Another advantage is the flexibility of the MiniTec system: ‘We often reorganise details in the production processes. And as the machines are very easy to connect to the profile system, we can easily integrate small additional solutions such as stoppers etc.’.
Holes always had to be drilled in the stainless steel plates when changes were made, some of which look like Swiss cheese.’ Last but not least, the MiniTec conveyors are easy to clean: ‘It's easy for a small accident to happen with paints, i.e. something leaks somewhere. Such contamination can be removed very easily from the aluminium profiles, which is another reason why we are very satisfied with this system,’ adds Seidler.
A solution in the tightest of spaces: the height of the conveyor has increased the storage capacity enormously.
The link chain conveyor from MiniTec allows different curve radii.
Space-saving height buffering
In order to meet the increased demand for its spray cans, Kwasny needed to further increase its productivity. The company therefore wanted to automate the existing line even more. The most recent project, a buffer line for the last remaining assembly line, was launched at the beginning of 2024. The cartons are currently still packed manually there, but will soon be automated as well. And the buffer line from MiniTec was necessary for this - to buffer the spray cans during format changeovers. In addition to a normal GKF line, the latest system also uses a unit with an ascending conveyor.
‘The fact that we went up for the first time was because there was so little space. There simply wasn't enough space to buffer the cans. The concept of conveying the workpieces upwards and then back down again gives us an enormous amount of capacity in a very small space,’ explains Seidler. Another measure to gain space and optimise space utilisation in the new system was to raise the upstream, normal conveyor section so that large cartons of material could be stored under the conveyor section. The buffer capacity has increased enormously with the new system. Up to 400 cans, depending on their diameter, could be buffered on the section before the packing area. Up to 600 cans can now be stored on the section with the height buffer, which runs between the packing area and the planned packaging line.
Goal achieved
The entire project was completed within a few months; Michael Seidler praises the good cooperation: ‘It was very easy, MiniTec is always easy to contact. The exchange of drawings and agreements went very smoothly. The assembly on site also went very smoothly, everything was perfect!’ After three months of practical operation, the head production engineer states that the system is running very well so far: ‘Of course, the system will only be complete once the new automatic packaging system has also been implemented. But even now, the MiniTec system is already bringing a noticeable improvement. We can buffer more. The hectic pace of the employees has calmed down. The fact that there are larger buffer areas means that they can now go to a fault without stress, because the whole system doesn't stop immediately. That's what the buffers were intended for, and it works very well.’
Flexible collaboration
In general, the design of the respective conveyor solution and the division of tasks vary from case to case in projects with MiniTec, says Seidler: ‘Sometimes we only have a conveyor system with a drive motor, in other cases a control system is also connected to it. Everything happens hand in hand in close coordination and co-operation.
The control cabinets for the latest system were also supplied by MiniTec, and Kwasny created and integrated a few interfaces. Where another stopper has to be placed, etc., so that the back pressure for the box is not so high.’ In such cases, the company's own electricians then carry out a bit of reconfiguration, because you can only really see where there is still a need for optimisation during the production process.
Further projects in the pipeline
Due to the consistently successful cooperation over the past few years, the next projects with MiniTec are already being planned, says Seidler: ‘Firstly, we will be converting some more conveyor lines from steel belts to the MiniTec system. We are also currently planning an automatic depalletiser that places empty cans on an assembly table. And as we are - as mentioned - very cramped in the hall, we are also planning a so-called Omega conveyor, which conveys cans up and down again so that there is a passageway. So there's still a lot to do.’
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