The situation
The coating baseline in place could not support commercial production. The unit economics did not work.
The coating baseline established at process launch was economically unviable: triple the optimal application rate, with over a gallon of overspray per unit. Unit economics could not sustain commercial production at that specification.
3×
Coating applied vs. optimal rate
The outcome
93%
Overspray reduction
59%
Per-unit cost reduction
How it happened
- Systematic process analysis established correct application parameters from first principles
- 45% reduction in material consumption, eliminating excess application at the source
- 66% improvement in cycle time through process redesign
- Doubled production rate while restoring unit economics to commercial viability
- 25-point thickness measurement across an 80-unit sample; the heatmap guided spray robot pass sequencing, turning overspray into a controlled coverage advantage
- Oval spray chamber identified as the root cause of repeatability failures; moving to a round chamber eliminated the issue
- First principles
- Thickness mapping
- Heatmap analysis
- Robot pass sequencing