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Toshiba Elevator and Building Systems Corporation Himeji Operations
Toshiba Elevator and Building Systems Corporation Himeji Operations manufactures escalators. Escalators are supported by a truss structure, similar to a steel tower or bridge, which bears their own weight and the load of passengers. This structure is spray-painted with anti-corrosion paint using an airless paint gun. This anti-corrosion paint contains VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds), making the reduction of paint usage an important issue. However, when spraying a truss assembled from long, thin structural steel shapes such as angles and channels, the proportion of paint that actually coats the product (transfer efficiency) is significantly lower compared to painting a flat surface.
Therefore, we compared the paint discharge from the airless paint gun at various spray widths and pressures, and introduced a low-scatter nozzle tip that produces less wasteful paint overspray.
Through this improvement, in FY2024, we were able to reduce paint usage by 17 cans (247L) and solvent usage by four cans (64L). As a result, this has led to an annual reduction in chemical emissions of approximately 6.4% compared to before the improvement, and cost savings of about 330,000 yen.
