Overview
Linings and Coatings is a large part of UTLX’s business and competitive advantage. They needed a high production blast room for refurbishment of railcars.
Tank car linings serve two main functions:
- To protect the commodity from contamination by the base metal of the tank or hopper car
- To prevent the base metal from corroding due to the chemical nature of the commodity being shipped
UTLX had an aging wheel machine at one of their facilities in Arkansas that needed to dramatically increase its production, but couldn’t afford to be out of service for a long time.
Solution
BlastOne worked with UTLX to replace the old wheel machine—a now out-of-date way of performing surface preparation on railcars—with a new robotic blast room inside the existing facility.
To limit production downtime while waiting for the robotic components to arrive, the blast room was built initially for manual blasting with temporary access platforms for operators. These platforms were later removed once the robotic components were in operation.
Results
Union Tank Car (UTLX) now has a state-of-the-art robotic blasting facility which gives them a substantial competitive advantage. The cycle time and subsequent cost reduction gives them excellent return on investment, and the quality and consistency of the blast process provide further key advantages.
