Photo: ŠKODA
Just as the skin is the protector against harmful external factors, so is the paint for a car. But unlike human skin, the colored outer layer of a vehicle has harmed the environment over the years. Skoda is taking care of it now!
Skoda has now found an innovative solution to helping the environment: minimizing the amount of primer used in the painting process of a car, thus applying a much thinner layer while maintaining the same quality.
"By applying a thinner layer of paint, we save 720 tonnes of material per year without making any compromises in terms of quality. The savings will eliminate approximately 50,000 kilometers that would otherwise be covered by trucks carrying material from the supplier," explains Christian Putz, quality control leader for vehicle exteriors in Skoda Purchasing.
This new primer is obtained by mixing the same four classic ingredients: pigment, binder, filler, and solvent, where the solvent is water. The latter is an advantage for the environment compared to the harmful solvents used until now, such as lacquer, urethane, or enamel, which contain many VOCs (volatile organic compounds) that pollute the air. It's not like they found some super ultra magical ingredient, but the magic is found in the amount of each component used, a secret that they obviously won't reveal to us because that's what magic is, right?
The new recipe was tested for 10 months, during which time the cars painted with the new primer were exposed to various weather conditions and temperatures. The results of these tests were positive in terms of durability, thus giving confidence to the company's experts to apply the key to success in the other steps of the painting process.
Skoda invested 214.5 million euros in the paint shop in Mladá Boleslav in August 2019. Its technologies and processes earned the 'Special Award – Excellent Start-up of a New Paint Shop' in 2021.
P.S.: did you know that each of the four layers that make up a car's paint is as thin as human hair?
[VIMEO=https://player.vimeo.com/video/750614902?h=d8630af5a1&dnt=1&app_id=122963]
"By applying a thinner layer of paint, we save 720 tonnes of material per year without making any compromises in terms of quality. The savings will eliminate approximately 50,000 kilometers that would otherwise be covered by trucks carrying material from the supplier," explains Christian Putz, quality control leader for vehicle exteriors in Skoda Purchasing.
This new primer is obtained by mixing the same four classic ingredients: pigment, binder, filler, and solvent, where the solvent is water. The latter is an advantage for the environment compared to the harmful solvents used until now, such as lacquer, urethane, or enamel, which contain many VOCs (volatile organic compounds) that pollute the air. It's not like they found some super ultra magical ingredient, but the magic is found in the amount of each component used, a secret that they obviously won't reveal to us because that's what magic is, right?
The new recipe was tested for 10 months, during which time the cars painted with the new primer were exposed to various weather conditions and temperatures. The results of these tests were positive in terms of durability, thus giving confidence to the company's experts to apply the key to success in the other steps of the painting process.
Skoda invested 214.5 million euros in the paint shop in Mladá Boleslav in August 2019. Its technologies and processes earned the 'Special Award – Excellent Start-up of a New Paint Shop' in 2021.
P.S.: did you know that each of the four layers that make up a car's paint is as thin as human hair?
[VIMEO=https://player.vimeo.com/video/750614902?h=d8630af5a1&dnt=1&app_id=122963]
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