Challenge
Scania is one of the world’s leading providers of transport solutions, including trucks for heavy-duty companies, and coaches and buses for public transport operators and bus companies.
The Scania Production site at Angers, which has 1,400 employees, is responsible for the production, assembly and all painting work of more than a hundred trucks per day.
The Painting team, made up of 21 employees, is in charge of painting the chassis of the trucks, the tanks and other parts such as tank supports according to the requests of their customers. They use solvent-based paint in 98% of paint jobs; the remaining 2% is water-based paint used for customisation work.
In order to guarantee production deadlines and maintain quality, the painting teams must clean 50 paint spray guns per day, as well as other equipment such as spatulas and brushes.
The team at the Angers site had been using Safetykleen’s all-in-one service through a combination of Paintkleen Automatic spray gun cleaners with traditional thinners.
The Paintkleen Automatic machines, which can clean two spray guns simultaneously, freed the team to do other tasks while the machine was cleaning. And the cleaning results were very good, preventing any paint defects.
However, sustainable development is one of Scania’s strong commitments. They ensure that their activities are as sustainable as possible and respect the highest social, ethical and environmental standards. (For example with frequently replaced PPE for the Painting Team to improve their working conditions.) And thinners do come with some risks to the health and safety of those exposed to them for long periods, and for the environment.
Scania’s HSE Manager therefore asked Safetykleen to find a parts cleaning solution that would reduce the team’s exposure to hazardous materials, in accordance with Scania’s policies and current legislation.
This request was very much in line with Safetykleen’s ambition to replace thinners and other hazardous solvent solutions with products that are more respectful of OHS best practise and environmental conditions.
Solution
In order to meet the customer’s expectations, our Parts Cleaning Expert offered Scania the Paintkleen Automatic Super Series spray gun cleaner, together with our 2-in-1 chemistry Multipaint, which can clean both solvent-based and water-based paint from a spray gun in less than six minutes (including disassembly, cleaning cycle time, rinsing and reassembly).
The Paintkleen Automatic Super Series spray gun cleaner offers both manual and automatic cleaning of all types of spray guns, including those that are suction-operated, and includes a clean-rinse function to remove any paint residues. What’s more, it is equipped with a highly powerful and fully compliant ventilation for ATEX zones.
Multipaint, our 2-in-1 product, is a paint cleaner that has half as much VOC as traditional thinners and has been formulated in collaboration with professionals in the paint industry to ensure their expectations on cleaning quality and occupational health and safety are fully met. It solved Scania’s problem in every way.
Scania’s teams were trained and supported by Safetykleen on the product changeover, from thinners to Multipaint. They were shown the correct process of cleaning and drying with the machine’s integrated air gun.
Scania is very committed to the occupational safety and health of its employees and to the sustainable development of all its activities. So we decided to change the cleaning solution for our paint guns as the products used were harmful. After comparing with several other cleaning products, we chose Safetykleen’s 2-in-1 product, Multipaint, to use in their Paintkleen Automatic Super Series spray gun cleaners:. Safetykleen’s solution met our expectations the best because it is the best cleaner to remove all types of paint, it is environmentally "Kleen" and it is better for the health of our teams. It is an excellent choice, in line with our values and our vision of sustainable development.
Thierry Sejourne, Process Methods Technician Paint and Adaptation Sectors, Scania Production Site, Angers
The benefits
Our new cleaning solution has fully met the expectations of Scania’s HSE policy (Health, Safety, Environment) and has been satisfying their teams for almost five years.
Safer health and safety conditions in accordance with legislation
Our 2-in-1 cleaning chemistry Multipaint is non-corrosive, non-flammable, contains 50% less VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) than thinners, and is non-CMR (not classified as carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic to reproduction). It also makes it possible to comply with all the regulations in terms of health and safety at work in accordance with article R.4112-15 of the French Labour Code, which requires the substitution of dangerous chemical agents of the solvent type with washing solutions.
Our Paintkleen Automatic Super Series machine is also equipped with a ventilated extraction with an automatic suction system that meets all the requirements of the ATEX regulations (Explosive Atmospheres) and those of the DREAL.
Our 2-in-1 Multipaint chemistry at the service of quality
Our 2-in-1 cleaning product removes both water-based and solvent-based paint from the painting equipment used for all painting jobs at Scania, and contains no silicones or derivatives that could cause paint defects or colour transfer. It also cleans gun cups where the paint was impossible to remove with thinner previously. The cleaning results achieve the best paint finish and meet all Scania quality criteria.
Reduced environmental footprint
Thinners can be toxic to the environment. Our 2-in-1 Multipaint cleaning chemistry not only provides Scania teams with a safer alternative, but also a reduced environmental footprint. What’s more, as part of our all-in-one service, our service teams collect the waste product from Scania’s site which is then delivered to our authorised centres for full compliance management.
