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Two robots paint

22.000 m² per week
Muehlhan has the world’s most advanced surface-
treatment plant for offshore wind turbine towers.
Three or four large offshore tow-
er sections pass through Muehl-
han’s new factory in Give every
day. The factory is located on
the tower manufacturer Welcon’s
site, and it is basically a factory
within the factory.

The production started approx. 1

year ago in the 6.000 square-me-
tre plant, where two production
lines treat approximately 22 tower
sections per week. Each produc-
tion line has three large cabins,
where the towers are respective-
ly sand-blasted, metal­ lized and
spray-painted.
The ton-heavy sections are trans-
ported between the three cabins
using rails, trolleys and a remote
control.
The metallization is achieved by spraying a molten layer of zinc onto the steel
surface. All together, Muehlhan surface-treats 22 tower sections per week,
where each section has a typical surface area of 10,000 sqf. One tower con-
sists of three to four sections and may way up to 250 tons. Shown here is a
painting robot in action. Photo: Muehlhan
a manual process. It is a produc- the contrary, the production vol-
tion line with a fixed flow through ume has increased to the double,
to achieve an optimum produc- and as a result there are more
tion flow, says Jens Mørk, Man- employees. At present 55 em-
aging Director of Muehlhan A/S. ployees work at the factory. At the

The complete process - with

the exception of the interior
sand-blasting - is automated with
robots. Each of the processing
rooms has a wall mounted robot
that moves back and forth, and
carries out the process, without
any man power in the rooms.
Photo: Muehlhan
- ‘We have come a long way
with automation. The factory is Saving on man hours and paint same time, employees have now
the most advanced in the world. The high level of automation has gone from being regular factory
The robots are much faster than not meant fewer employees. On workers to being machine oper-

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Vandad Pachai Nyvang 16, 2.sal Tel. +45 64 47 13 13 E-Mail: Pachai@muehlhan.com
Sales and Marketing 5500 Middelfart Mob +45 23 74 90 81 Web: www.muehlhan.com
Director Danmark

ators, and by far the largest part
of the process is now automated.
Muehlhan has jointly developed
the technology with external part-
ners, and of course Muehlhan
owns the IP right of the automat-
ed process.
- ‘We have saved 8 men in the
process through automation. The
quality has improved because
the robot operates accurately
and consistently. It also means
that the wastage of paint is mini-
mized’, explains Jens Mørk.
The ambitions demanded that the
parties invested in a new plant.
The investment is put together in
such a way that Welcon owns the
buildings while Muehlhan owns
the equipment.
We have spent a huge amount of
time finding the best equipment
for each individual process. ‘It’s
everything from sand pots to ro-
bots’, says Jens Mørk
There were also increased de-
mands from the customers driv-
ing the investment. For ex­ample,
one customer required that all
of the treatments had to be per-
formed under one roof.
- ‘Welcon has also been good
to secure orders, which there of
course need to be, in order to be
able to recoup such a large in-
vestment’, says the managing di-
rector, adding that the entire tow-
er production is undergoing rapid
development, which amongst
other things means that the fac-
tory area is doubled in two years.
The sixth newly built factory
This is the sixth factory that Mue-
hlhan has built from green field
up. And although the surface
treatment company has plenty
of experience - also with paint-
ing robots - it takes time to get
an automated production up and
running. It took three months be-
fore the technology was fully im-
plemented.
- ‘We started sand-blasting with
the first robot, and once it was
operational, we went on to met-
allization. We spent a month on
each robot’, explains Jens Mørk.

Managing Director, Jens Mørk stands

here in the heart of the factory, where
a walkway divides the two production
lines. All of the production equipment
is assembled here.
Photo: Dan S. Frandsen

High ambitions
are the basis for investment
It was the vision of being the
leader in offshore towers, which
originally provided the basis for The onshore towers are still coated in Muehlhan’s old factory halls at Welcon
the investment at Muehlhan and in Give. Onshore towers only need to be be sand-blasted and painted, and
therefore do not come through the automated factory, which performs three
partner Welcon. processes. Photo: Dan S. Frandsen

Article from Jern & Maskinindustrien, 23. juni 2016, By Dan. S. Frandsen

www.muehlhan.com