More speed, less loss: How Herberts optimized their production with the ProLine-2100 EXi

Herberts, a well-known name in the world of laquers and wall paints, has built a strong reputation since its founding as a manufacturer of high-quality products for professional use. Following the acquisition by Global Paint Products in 2004, Herberts' expertise has been integrated into a wider range of innovative solutions for the paint and coatings industry. For Herberts, one thing has always been central: an efficient and reliable production process to meet the high demands of their customers.

When Herberts ran into challenges in the mixing and production process, such as inefficiency and risks of contamination, RAVAS' mobile weighing technology proved to be the ideal solution.

Before the acquisition in 2004, Herberts was responsible for the Hoechst Group's global activities in automotive, powder and industrial coatings. At their production site in Wuppertal, they produced 130 tons of automotive repair paints in as many as 18,000 colors every day. These colors were composed of standardized mixing paints according to strict recipes that required exceptionally high mixing accuracy. To ensure the quality of this "high-cost" product, weighing was carried out at various points in the process.

In the past, the mixing of pigments and additives used pipe systems that ran from the semi-finished goods warehouse to fixed scales. To avoid concentration differences in the pipes, expensive circulation systems were necessary. With every recipe change, the pipes - including couplings, pumps and valves - had to be completely cleaned. Despite these efforts, small contaminants regularly remained, leading to entire product batches being declared unusable.

In addition, containers and barrels had to be moved manually to a stationary scale. The automatic line was not capable of filling these 200-liter tanks and barrels, making this a manual and time-consuming process.

In short, Herberts was struggling not only with high investment and maintenance costs, but also with significant product losses. A more flexible, efficient and reliable solution was needed to improve their production process and avoid waste.

With the introduction of explosion-proof weighing hand pallet trucks, the RAVAS ProLine-2100EXi, the weighing process was fully integrated into the logistics flow, leading to significant improvements in both efficiency and accuracy.

Instead of fixed weighing stations and complex tube piping systems, the mixing paints were now weighed directly on the pallet during transport. This made it possible to take accurate weight measurements at any time and in any location. The hand pallet trucks were specially designed to meet the chemical industry's strict safety standards, including explosion-proof certifications, making them perfect for use in Herberts' production environment.

Thanks to the flexibility of the mobile weighing system, recipe changes could now be made without downtime in the production process. In addition, contamination risks were minimized, as pipelines were completely eliminated. This approach ensured not only a more efficient production process, but also significant cost savings and a drastic reduction in product losses.

It used to be necessary to stir intensively during the mixing of solid pigments with liquid binders and solvents to prevent the formation of lumps and agglomerates. The exact color of the product depended greatly on the lead time through the stirring machine. To control this time, production workers had to take small samples regularly, which were taken manually to a stationary scale. Here, the weight of the sample was extrapolated to a turnaround time in pounds per hour. This method was labor-intensive, inaccurate and unreliable.

Today, the hand pallet truck is driven directly under the mixing tank, where a tare is performed, and the clock is started. After only three minutes, the weight gain can be determined, which allows for a quick and reliable calculation of throughput time.