Paint Lines in OnRamp

A Paint Line is a production process in which parts are hung on hooks as they move through a series of curing and spraying paint operations. For instance, most metal parts that get a powder coat applied are painted on a paint line.

To set up a paint line, enter the following information: 

  • Work Center Master - assign the work center as a paint line on the Work Center Sub Type field.

  • Part Master > Engineering tab - set the part surface area in square inches on the Surface Area field.

Once the setup is complete, you can monitor the square inches painted by your paint lines daily or weekly via these dashboards and reports:

  • The Paint Line Total Square Inches Painted By Day dashboard is a line graph displaying the total square inches (in thousands) painted per day for all parts.

  • The Paint Line Total Square Inches Painted Today dashboard displays the total number of square inches painted today or within a selected date range.

  • The Paint Line Square Inches Painted and Earned Hours [R4777] report displays the number of square inches painted and the number of earned hours each day for each Paint Line within a selected date range.

  • The Paint Line Square Inches Painted and Earned Hours Detail [R4778] report displays the square inches painted per part, as well as the cumulative square inches painted for each Paint Line.

  • The Paint Line Part Details [R4779] report displays all parts with a surface area greater than zero inches.

Paint Line Setup

The following is the OnRamp recommended procedure for setting up paint lines based on experience consulting with our clients.

Work Centers [S1019]

In OnRamp, you should have at least 3 work centers, with separate designations, to ensure the paint line is reporting correctly:

  • Preparation - This work center is where the steps to take to prepare the parts for painting are completed, like plugging holes or covering screws. The routing for parts that do not required prep would skip this work center.

  • Direct Hang/ Simple Prep - This work center is where the parts are hung on the line.

  • Paint - This work center is where the actual painting of the parts is done.

These work centers will have two sub-types created and assigned:

  • PAINT_PREP - assigned to paint prep and direct hang work centers

  • PAINTLINE - assigned to paint work centers.

Adding separate work centers for related tasks, but not painting, with a Sub Type of PAINT_PREP excludes the operations from the Total Sq Ft Painted calculation, thus allowing for a more accurate calculation, while still having the operation appear in the Paint queue:

  • For PREP work centers, direct hang operations should be excluded

  • For HANG work centers, prep operations (like plugging or masking) should be excluded

  • You can have more than one PAINT work center.

When setting up Paint work centers, your site should determine the Work Center Rate.

If required, add a Defect Group for paint line defects on Local Codes [S1502].

The following input fields are critical for proper paint line operation:

  • Hook Spacing – the distance between hooks on the paint line
  • No of Hooks – the total number of hooks

The following fields are automatically calculated by the Hook sensor:

  • No. of Hooks (Sensor)
  • Current Hook
  • Current Speed

Part Master [S1009]

The following fields on the Part Master > Engineering tab are relevant to the paint line setup:
  • Color Code – The color code field prints on the work order under the description, allowing you to specify the color per part.
  • Surface Area – This is important for all square feet painted reports. The Square Inch value can be obtained from SolidWorks in the Properties section.

The following fields on the Part Master > Manufacturing tab are relevant to the paint line setup:

  • Hook Type – the type of hook to use. This is added on Local Codes [S1502] under Code Group HOOK_TYPE
  • Hook Quantity – how many parts fit on one hook

Routing Detail [S1014]

When setting up the Routing Detail for PREP or HANG work centers:

  • Do not add a standard time
  • Add the HANG work instructions to the PAINT work center

When setting up the Routing Detail for PAINT work centers:

  • The Time entered should be the cost of painting work.
  • OnRamp uses the calculation Time x StandardRate = PaintCost to calculate the operation cost. This can lead to inaccurate cost reporting for paint lines.

Paint Line Hook Position [S2704]

On Paint Line Hook Positions [S2704], enter the following:

  • Add the physical hook sensor.
  • Add Hook 1 at the sensor location.
  • Auto print will print unload sheets automatically

Paint Line Loading/ Unloading [S2706]

Work Centers with the PAINT subtype will be listed here.

Scan a work order and click Start Loading.

Click Stop Loading once all the hooks for this line have passed. OnRamp will register the parts from the work order as assigned to these hooks.

Notes

  • A paint line requires that the line hooks be set up on the Paint Line Hook Positions [S2704] screen. You can access this screen from Work Center Master by clicking on the View Hooks button.

  • On the Manufacturing tab, the Hook Type and Quantity are hooks that will hang from the paint line hooks.

Paint Line Reporting

Use the following reports for detailed information on your paint line operations:

  • Available Paint Line Operations [R4036] - This report looks at work order operations and shows you parts where the previous operation to either paint or paint prep are reported. Previous operations should be reported to ensure accurate data.

  • Paint Line Square Inches Painted and Earned Hours [R4777] - For each work center, this report displays the number of square inches, square feet, and items painted along with the earned hours for each day in the reporting criteria.

  • Paint Line Square Feet Painted and Earned Hours Detail [R4778] - For each work center, this report displays the work order, part number, paint area per part, and total square feet painted for the work order, the earned hours on that work order, and the cumulative square feet painted for each day in the reporting criteria.

  • Current Paint Line Orders by Area [R4809] - This report lists the current paint line orders by area.

  • Paint Line Square Feet Remaining by Op Due Date [R4904] - For each work center, this report displays the work order, part name and number, the paint area per part, the total square feet to paint for the work order and the remaining square footage, and the cumulative square feet painted and remaining for each day in the reporting criteria.