Novel Filtration System Improves Performance of Pre-Treatment and Electro-Deposition Stages of an Automotive Assembly Plant

A filtration study was performed at an auto assembly plant on phosphate and electro-deposition systems. Information was collected on a) service life; b) weight of contaminants trapped per filter; c) filter integrity; d) quality - average daily hood “dirt” counts; e) cost savings as well as operators' comments. A novel, patented, filtration system* lasted not only 3.2 times longer but also trapped 4.8 times more “dirt” than the standard bag/magnetic rod system when evaluated in the dip-cleaning stage. The superior performance of the innovative filter system (IFS) was even more striking in the first city-water, spray-rinse stage. For example, an increase of 5.3 times the life was observed and the weight of contaminants trapped during that time was 6.5 times the standard filter bags without the assistance of magnetic rods. Additionally, after six months the average hood “daily dirt counts” dropped by at least 87% once the new filtration system was installed. During the first year of conversion, the assembly plant attributed at least $160,000 in cost savings to the innovative filter system. Part of the savings came from the elimination of “oil logs” in the electro-deposition tank. This plant is now applying this filter system on all filtration stages in the pre-treatment and electro-deposition areas.