Graf Hardenberg, Karlsruhe

New body and paint center in Karlsruhe

Equipping the new painting center from A to Z with SEHON Innovative painting systems.

The 4,000 m² body and paint center is an independent company within the Graf Hardenberg Group and not only works for all Graf Hardenberg car dealerships in the region, but is also open to all vehicle brands. The logistics between the dealerships and the new facility are handled by several special vehicle transporters that act as a shuttle service.

Process-oriented and energy-saving SEHON painting systems at Graf Hardenberg Karlsruhe.

A special feature is that the body and paint center was integrated into the second floor of a five-story building of the Audi Center. Access is via a ramp. Above this are three parking decks with a total of 414 parking spaces. In addition, a new Volkswagen Commercial Vehicle Center, a large gantry car wash for commercial vehicles, a sales area with office units and a spacious outdoor area complete the site.

Implementation

Managing Director Christian Welling on the new company: “With our new future-oriented body and paint center, we can significantly increase our capacities. The work processes have been perfected and our sustainability strategy has been fully implemented. And most importantly: we offer our customers absolute top quality”. The new paint center was planned and implemented in collaboration with SEHON. According to Christian Welling, the Swabian system manufacturer’s holistic concept was convincing, from planning and product selection to implementation and assembly. This also included important requirements for maximum sustainability, effective processes and the highest quality.

Sustainability

Graf Hardenberg is particularly proud of the sustainability of its operations. To this end, SEHON has implemented an integrated energy management system with 2 combined heat and power units. This has enabled Graf Hardenberg to massively reduce its energy costs. According to Christian Welling, the holistic energy-saving system in conjunction with the CHP technology used means that 100% of the electricity and 75% of the heating energy is generated in-house, saving around 380,000 kg of CO2 per year.

Painting systems

Graf Hardenberg works in 2-shift operation. Two complete painting lines with SEHON painting booths and dryers are available. The booths and dryers are high-tech systems with minimal energy consumption, which is primarily ensured by special energy-saving technologies and modules in the unit technology and in the control system. For example, intelligent control systems ensure that the painting systems only consume as little energy as is absolutely necessary for the work process. The spray booths react fully automatically to whether painting, drying or retooling is taking place in the spray booth. Further energy-saving options are utilized, for example, through year-round heat recovery and LED lighting. It should also be emphasized that Graf Hardenberg has integrated perfect filter systems consisting of several high-quality filter stages to ensure 98 to 99% particle-free exhaust air. According to Tiemo Sehon, CEO of SEHON painting systems: “The perfect symbiosis of high-tech and green technology”.

Multifunctional cabins

In addition to the traditional paint booths and dryers, Graf Hardenberg uses two modern multifunctional booths with fully equipped multi-workstations. The advantage of a SEHON multifunctional paint booth is that all work steps of a refinish can be carried out at a single workstation: Preparation – Painting – Drying – Finishing. In contrast to traditional spray booths, which work with circulating air, multifunctional spray booths use infrared for drying. These spray booths are particularly suitable for small and medium damage (spot repair) and are an excellent addition to the recirculating air booths used. Graf Hardenberg can thus react very specifically to different types of damage with the perfect painting technique. This saves time and makes the paint store flexible.

Preparation, masking, finish

The new facility also has 10 universal preparation stations and 2 parts preparation stations, all workstations are equipped with floor extraction including a central ventilation unit with heat recovery. A separate masking workstation is available for masking. In the finishing area, 6 finishing workstations with 2 additional SEHON SE-Inspector finish lighting sheets have been integrated for quality control. There are 61 employees at 48 workstations in the body and paint area.

Processes

An external sign of short distances and processes in the paint center is a rail system that directly connects the paint booth, dryer and finish. The vehicle to be painted is no longer moved from one workstation to another by motor power using a so-called cross transfer. Instead, the vehicle is moved manually on transport trolleys via the rail system through the masking, painting, drying and finishing processes in the shortest possible way. The rail system has a total length of 41 m.

Graf Hardenberg also has 8 central supply terminals SE-Mega-Supplier, which ensure more order, safety and efficiency at preparation, body and finish workstations. The terminals integrate various connections for power supply, compressed air, sanding machines (electric/pneumatic), sanding dust extraction, spray guns, lifting platforms and diagnostics in a central, compact and clean way.

Multi-material mix workstation

The body contains an innovative special body workstation for vehicles in mixed construction, i.e. bodies made from a mix of steel, aluminum and carbon. The unique SEHON Cameleon multi-material mix body workstation is designed for all necessary work such as welding, cutting, sawing, grinding, gluing, riveting, assembling, pulling, forming, vacuuming and cleaning. Cameleon meets all legal requirements for material mix body workstations. The core innovation is the multi-dust separator used for the safe and spark-free one-way direct extraction of a wide variety of dusts without the risk of a dust explosion.