Gain Complete Process Control with a TIMS System.

Many focus on the robots and ovens, but in any high-performance automation coating production line, the most critical stage is pretreatment. It is the absolute foundation upon which the final finish is built; if this stage fails, nothing that follows can save the part. The process typically involves multiple automated stages, engineered by TIMS for optimal results. It begins with an alkaline cleaning to remove all oils and greases. This is followed by a series of rinses. The crucial next step is the conversion coating, often a zirconium or iron phosphate process, which microscopically etches the surface and applies a layer of inert crystals. This layer provides powerful corrosion resistance and creates a perfect mechanical anchor for the powder or paint to grip. After final rinsing with deionized water to prevent spotting, the part is moved through a dry-off oven. A TIMS automation coating production line uses intelligent sensors to continuously monitor and automatically dose the chemicals in each tank, ensuring your foundation is perfect for every part.

For years, the curing oven has been one of an automation coating production line's biggest energy consumers. Today, TIMS is changing the equation with our new Smart-Cure™ technology. This isn't just an oven; it's an intelligent thermal management system. Instead of maintaining a single, static temperature, Smart-Cure™ ovens feature multiple zones equipped with advanced infrared (IR) and convection heating. An optical scanner identifies the mass and geometry of each part entering the oven. The system's controller then creates a dynamic heating profile, applying intense IR energy to ramp the part to temperature quickly and then using convection to hold it there for a perfect cure. This eliminates wasted energy from heating empty space in the oven and prevents over- or under-curing. On a typical TIMS automation coating production line, the Smart-Cure™ oven can reduce gas consumption by up to 30%, delivering a significant operational cost saving and a superior, more consistent cure.

If you are struggling with inconsistent coating thickness, you are fighting a battle against variables—operator fatigue, ambient temperature shifts, and inconsistent gun-to-part distance. In my experience, this is the single most common source of quality rejects and wasted material. The definitive solution is a well-designed automation coating production line from TIMS, which systematically eliminates these variables. Our systems use robotic applicators programmed with precise, repeatable motion paths, ensuring the spray gun maintains the exact optimal angle and distance for every surface of your part, every single time. This robotic precision is paired with a closed-loop flow control system that delivers the exact amount of coating material, automatically compensating for changes in viscosity. With a TIMS automation coating production line, you move from a process of reactive quality checks to one of proactive quality assurance, where a perfect, uniform mil thickness is not an aspiration but the engineered, guaranteed outcome of your system.

Before the first welder strikes an arc, every automation coating production line we build has already run for hundreds of hours—virtually. At TIMS, our design process is built around a sophisticated 3D simulation and digital twin methodology. Once we've gathered your requirements, our engineers build a complete, to-scale model of your future line in a virtual environment. We import 3D models of your actual parts and run them through the system. This allows us to perfect the conveyor path, choreograph the robotic spray movements to ensure 100% coverage without collisions, and analyze the thermal dynamics inside the virtual oven. This process, which I've helped pioneer over my career, de-risks the entire project. We can identify potential bottlenecks, optimize the footprint, and validate the system's performance before any physical manufacturing begins. When you partner with TIMS for an automation coating production line, you're not just buying equipment; you're investing in the certainty that it will perform perfectly from day one.