With the help of Dauber Chemical, Collins Bus Corporation of Hutchinson, Kan., recently implemented LEAN manufacturing principals. Daubert contributed improved product performance, improved packaging and reduced downtime.

On peak days, Collins Bus used multiple 55-gallon drums of undercoating per day said the company. The problem was the company was experiencing excessive overspray of its undercoating. The overspray drifted into the plant creating a hazard for plant personnel. What’s more, the overspray fell onto finished buses, causing additional clean-up and thus additional production delays.

In addition to these issues, the 55-gallon drums, installed in the spray booth, caused further production delays, because when a drum emptied, spray operations had to stop until another drum could be installed. This took a half-hour or more out of production for each changeover to a new drum.

Daubert took a proactive role in helping Collins Bus achieve its objectives by first examining how it could solve the overspray situation. The result was a reformulation of the undercoating which became Tectyl 6430, a water-based asphaltic coating with a chemical additive that reduces product drag, offers greater atomization at the spray gun tip and thus reduces the overspray of the product.

The new product was formulated at a lower viscosity allowing the use of drums or 330-gallon totes for packaging.

These and other modifications saved up to one and a half hours of downtime per day in changeovers, eliminated the complications of clean up due to the previous overspray problems, and improved plant safety. In fact, in December 2010, the company was recognized as a national model for workplace safety and health by the Kansas Department of Labor and OSHA.