You Want Me to Work Where?
26 June 1998
WIXOM, MICH. – When Chrysler engineer Gary Christian was asked to work on a cooperative research project with competitors from Ford and GM, he expected an interesting change of pace. But he didn’t expect to be working behind enemy lines.Christian works at a Ford plant.
More accurately, the Chrysler employee works at USCAR’s – the United States Council for Automotive Research – powder paint prove-out facility, which is inside Ford’s Wixom assembly plant.
Christian remarked, "I never thought I’d be working for Chrysler in a Ford facility." How does he like working with competitors five days a week? Christian said, "It’s been a great learning experience. Not only have we had to deal with an entirely different paint process, but we’ve learned a lot about each other. This definitely isn’t ‘business as usual.’"
Like Christian, Ford’s Tim March works at the facility every day. He noted, "It’s not as strange for me, because I would have probably been here anyway. But still, every time I see Gary or Brian with their Chrysler or GM logos on their coveralls, I think, ‘Now this is something else.’"
The Brian to whom he refers is GM engineer Brian Prylon, who also works daily at the USCAR’s facility. "When I found out about the possibility of going to work five days a week at a Ford plant, I said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding.’ It took a little while to get used to the idea of working with Chrysler and Ford, but I think it’s interesting, important and challenging work for all of us," Prylon remarked.
Since July 19, 1996, when automotive parts were first painted at the USCAR Low Emission Paint Consortium’s (LEPC) facility in Wixom, employees of Chrysler, Ford and GM have been working together to develop ways to use powder clear coat paint finishes for automotive applications. But even before the three automakers started working together under the USCAR/LEPC umbrella, they shared background information, tests and plant experience with powder paint.
The R & D engineering specialists are conducting tests on powder clear coat paint because it is a potential environmentally-friendly alternative to liquid-based paint. Liquid-based paints, while providing a high quality and a durable finish, release ozone-forming gases into the atmosphere as they are applied to vehicle bodies and parts. Additionally, the paint over-spray is wasted; it’s collected as sludge and hauled to landfills. The over-spray on powder paints, however, is able to be reclaimed and recycled, thereby minimizing waste.
While powder paint has been used for some time now in automotive primer and some color coats, no one has successfully developed the materials or processes to apply a powder clear coat paint that achieves the durability, luster and affordability of liquid-based coatings.
