UV curing: adds 'Enviro'mental benefit to panel finishing.

Enviro Finishing of Indiana lives up to its name by using environmentally-friendly technology to finish hardwood flooring and flat wood component parts.

Bob Livesay will heartily disagree with anyone who claims meetings are a waste of time. The creative idea for Enviro Finishing of Indiana, an outsource company specializing in UV finishing, came about after Livesay attended EPA regulatory negotiation meetings.

"I was a representative for the kitchen cabinet manufacturers at the EPA reg-neg meetings in North Carolina," said Livesay, president of Enviro Finishing. "In addition to looking at ways of reducing their VOCs, a lot of people talked about the need for outsourcing because of their location in non-attainment areas."

Livesay knew a good thing when he saw one. Working with Doug Ullery and Frank Hart, two of his co-workers at a major cabinet manufacturer, they developed a strategic plan for a company which specializes in strictly flat panel and solid wood UV finishing. In June 1995, that plan became a reality.

In the past 16 months, Enviro Finishing's clientele has grown from its initial two to 16. "Most of our customers have the capability to do their own finishing, but are at their permit limits and can't grow anymore. So they have to outsource. Also, it's hard to justify an over $1 million investment in equipment and technology for a UV line if they only have enough finishing to keep it busy for one or two days a week," said Livesay.

The two biggest industries serviced by Enviro Finishing are store fixture and flooring, although work has included prefinishing solid wood, veneered and laminated panels. Enviro works as a subcontractor for OEMs, and many of the items it has finished can be found in major retail stores. The UV-cured flooring, for example, graces the grounds of major retail chains and department stores.

Currently, Enviro Finishing is able to offer customers one- to seven-day turnaround, depending on the size of the order. This may change when Enviro Finishing implements its second UV line, scheduled for the spring of 1997. This second line will be dedicated to clearcoating panels, which is a large percentage of Enviro Finishing's work.

Why UV curing

According to Livesay, the decision to use UV vs. other methods of finishing was based on environmental reasons as well as for the quality of finish that it puts on the parts. "We decided to go with UV flatline finishing because it is completely 100 percent transfer efficient, uses 100 percent solids and the system is completely recyclable. There is very little waste generated at all." In addition, the three key members at Enviro Finishing - Livesay, Vice President Ullery and Plant Superintendent Hart - have worked with UV systems since the early 1980s.

Right from the beginning, the company decided to stay within the niche of UV coating flat panels, rather than branching into mouldings, to maximize the production capabilities of the UV line and, more importantly, eliminate material waste from overspray.

"We've decided to stay with flat pieces and not mouldings because that involves (increased) spraying, which is something we don't want to get into presently," Livesay said.

"With flatline finishing we can achieve a greater transfer efficiency than by spraying. Another benefit of using a roll coater, especially for flooring and RTA, is that the finish doesn't get into the grooves and affect the glue bonding," he added.

When requested by the customer, Enviro Finishing will finish edges to match the UV-coated faces. Under the direction of operator Clint Nugent, Enviro Finishing uses HVLP spray guns and water-based finishes in order to minimize its total VOC emissions.

Under EPA permits for small businesses, Enviro Finishing is allowed to generate up to 25 tons of VOCs. However, Livesay is quick to comment, "Our levels are well below 10 tons per year."

"With UV, when the pieces are totally cured, there are no VOCs, no formaldehyde - no fumes. All you smell is just the wood itself," Livesay said.

Traversing the UV line

It takes approximately 4 1/2 minutes for a part to travel the 148 feet of conveyors from the first sanding station down to packaging. During that time, the piece will have been sanded, stained, clearcoated, dried, sanded again, applied with topcoat and fully cured.

The UV line, supplied by Stiles Machinery Inc., is capable of finishing parts up to 4 feet wide by a minimum of 1 foot in length. Most of the panels finished at Enviro are precut, although some customers will have Enviro Finishing prefinish 4-foot by 8-foot panels and then do the edge finishing themselves.

The finishing process itself requires much less labor than conventional systems. An operator feeds the parts into a Costa widebelt sander, supplied by Costa & Grissom. The widebelt sander features a crossbelt drum and pad and has a 52-inch by 128-inch belt.

"The sanders are key to the whole line. Without the right sander, you won't get the right product off the line," Livesay said.

After sanding, parts are conveyed directly into a Sorbini roll coater for water-based stain.

After exiting the roll coater, parts are dried approximately 1 minute in a Cefla infrared oven. On line is a second Sorbini roll coater which applies two coats of a 100 percent solids clearcoat finish. The parts are then fed directly into a Cefla Ecolight UV oven for approximately one-half second of curing.

From there, they are conveyed to a second Costa widebelt sealer sander which has a drum and pad. Next, two coats of a 100 percent solids UV topcoat is applied in the third - and final - roll coater, and the panel is then totally cured for the last time in the UV oven.

Parts are conveyed down the line from the Cefla oven to the packaging station, where one to four employees, depending on the job order, manually box the pieces.

"We can have anywhere from three to six people working the entire line, depending on the product we're boxing. With this line, you only need one operator - the line itself is totally automated," Livesay said.

Customer service is key

One of the key reasons behind Enviro Finishing's success is its dedication to customer service, Ullery said. Enviro Finishing will custom match any color or gloss level on site, and, in most cases, can ship a sample ready for customer approval within 24 hours.

To match the sheen, the company uses a Glossgard II glossmeter to identify the gloss level on a sample piece. Then test samples are run to match the customer's specification.

"We have low gloss, medium and high, which we blend at the machine to match the customer's sample," Livesay explained. Enviro will also custom finish any color or wood "species" to customer specifications.

Enviro also offers its customers experience: Livesay has 27 years experience in the industry, Ullery has 18 years, Hart has 28 years and Nugent has 20 years experience in finishing. Cyndi Montgomery, Enviro Finishing's secretary/scheduler for customer shipments, has eight years experience.

"You need extensive finishing knowledge to be able to look at a board and know what's wrong. In other words, you can't just put a panel through and expect a perfect finish every time. It takes knowledge of the machine and how it works, knowledge of materials, how to proportion them to achieve tile correct look..." Livesay added.

"Our customers have grown themselves by using us. (Outsourcing prefinished panels) has opened up an opportunity for small- to medium-size companies to compete with large ones that do in-house finishing," Ullery said.