Emerging Railcar Manufacturer Tackles Potential Bottleneck in Finishing Division

Vertex is the first company to enter the Railcar Manufacturing sector in over 50 years. With such formidable stakes, they wanted to make sure to land a solid first step into the industry. One of the major potential bottlenecks they wanted to avoid in their production process was in their blasting and painting division.

Vertex’s newly acquired manufacturing plant before construction

Vertex Rail needed to make sure their new facility could churn out all types of railcars in high volumes. To drive productivity, they began looking to automate their blasting and painting process. BlastOne became the obvious partners for the project due to their experience and unique partnership with automation companies.

Solution

BlastOne’s proposal to Vertex included the following components:

• Fully automatic blasting system using Blastman robotics for blasting rail car exteriors
• Manual blast booth for touch up and blasting car interiors
• Full downdraft paint booth
• High temperature cure booth with AquaTec

BlastOne’s proposal consisted of 4 in-line booths to maximize space and finishing efficiency, while still allowing room for future expansion.

Results

Vertex Rail’s entered into the railcar manufacturing market with enormous production capability with a fraction of typical finishing labor costs.

Fully automatic robotic blast booth

 

Ultra-high speed AquaTec cure booth