Why the Internet is the Future of Paint Booths
By: Jeremy Winters
Coming from the body shop industry as a painter for 18 years, we have seen our share of changes. New repair methods and advancements in the refinishing process alone have been enough to make your head spin. For us long-time techs, think back to when backup cameras first started coming out and the video quality they had compared to the video quality now. These days, millions of lines of coding in the computer are constantly managing hundreds of electrical components, sensors, and even Wi-Fi connections. We all know things are moving faster and faster, so the repair process has to be faster, but it also has to be more efficient as well. How does this parlay into the paint booth though? We already have LED lighting available, air movers to help dry waterborne paints, IR heating systems to ramp up the curing times. Where can there be improvements to efficiency in the booth? The answer isn’t in the booth. It’s ON the booth.
In today’s environment, we all understand that it can be hard to get parts. Especially if you are just shooting from the hip at what might be wrong. If you have a booth company servicing your booth, it can be days before they even get out to you. Then they have to diagnose the problem and find the parts. It’s how we have always dealt with fixing booths when the breakdown happens. But you see, that’s the problem. Dealing with it when it happens. Wouldn’t it be nice if in today’s day and age, we could actually be prepared for a breakdown and not have to wait days on end for help? It’s actually something that’s being implemented currently and it has a lot more advantages than you may even realize. By converting your booth to a “smart booth” and installing the sensors and control panels needed, everything can be a click away.
This is where a system like Accudraft LIVE comes into play. LIVE is a system that’s been in development at Accudraft for the past few years. It gives the painter and managers metrics of each car going through the booth. Cycle numbers, time per job, energy costs, alarms, filter change alerts. you name it, Accudraft LIVE gives it to you. But here’s the best part; it gives you a platform to get help when a breakdown happens. Being able to diagnose problems on the booth remotely saves money as well as the most vital thing we cannot replace, time. Being able to access your booth’s data remotely and see where a problem lies can now be done within minutes and not days. This platform can also help with scheduling maintenance, ordering filters, and much more. If you’re interested in finding out more about Accudraft LIVE, contact us today!