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F4 â€" FORD â€" Wednesday, March 23, 1994 ; or John Driscoll and his teram of paint specialists, painting 1,200 minivans a day is better than painting the town red. Driscoll and a fiveâ€"member team are Dupont Canada Inc. employees superâ€" vising the painting of Ford‘s new Windstar. As the assembly plant gears up to produce 1,200 minivans a day by year‘s end, the Dupont team is supervisâ€" ing the new paint : process, which heavâ€" : ily involves the use | of robots. Dupont painted Ford‘s Tempo/Topaz | series, so with all § that experience hanging around, Ford felt Dupont should be brush stroking the Windstar too. ; ‘"‘The Windstar is : the most ambitious ; launch in Ford‘s hisâ€" tory, so getting the : Windstar was a sigâ€" nificant achievement : for Dupont," says John Driscoll, Dupont account manager at Ford. We consider this to be a valued partnership with Ford." The Windstar minivan is Ford‘s most challenging product to date. And to accomplish the daunting task of designâ€" ing, building, and launching a new vehiâ€" cle for market, Ford called on a lot of its friends to help. One of those allies is Dupont, world famous for its automotive paint finishes. It has been Ford‘s automotive painter since 1986. Dupont‘s reputation of producing deep lustre long lasting finishes conâ€" vinced the auto giant that Dupont was the right company to supervise Ford workers painting Windstar with the new Ford of Canada, paint system recently installed in the Oakville Assembly plant. The paint facility can paint 88 Windstars per hour. There are two spray booths for the vehicle‘s interior; two for the exterior, one for prime coating, one for twoâ€"tone paint applications, and one special operâ€" ation paint booth for fleet orders. The paint plant itself is a 1.1â€"million square foot facility which took 18 painting. Sealer is manually applied to the body joints and also by a ditch sealer robot, which automatically seals the six feet long seam between the roof section and body sections. A clear primer coat is then applied to the lower body sides to protect them from sand, gravel chips, and other roadâ€" side debris. Bodies then go through an infraâ€"red oven to harden the sealers. The entire body is next wiped down with solvent removal cloths to remove any contamiâ€" nants on the surface. On the plant‘s second floor, the first operation is a sealer/gel oven which is used to prepare the vehicle for paint application. It also ensures that no sealer smears surface in the paint finish. The prime spray booth runs 88 jobs per hour to match the speed of the sealer line. It is completely automated for the Windstar‘s exterior. There are four different exterior primers used and their application depends on the final color of the vehicle. Following this, a manual operation is undertaken where 11 different color speâ€" cific primers are applied. The next step is a dualâ€"pass oven, pressurized to keep contaminants out of the paint. . After the bodies pass through the Thanks John Driscoll, of Dupont Canada Inc., admires the paint finish on one of the completed Windstar models outside the Ford Oakville Assembly Plant. prime spray booth, they go through the twinâ€"spray booths which are supplied with 23 painting robots. Oakville was the first Ford paint plant in North America to use these robots, which are the latest technology robots and makes Ford Oakville North America leader in paint autos. The final base coat/clear coat is applied by robot to the miniâ€"van‘s lift gates, under the hoods, and through the interior. Bodies pass through reciprocator machines which provide a smooth deep final paint coating. At this point, the bodies enter the watching paint dry is exciting. (Photo by Peter McCuske curing ovens and are transported masking). through the system to the inspection Each Windstar is painted completg decks. A protective wax is added. in less than a day. But does the finish Finally, a noise control foam is ever get ruined during painting? sprayed into the vehicles cowl and cerâ€" tain interior points. But don‘t get the idea that machines do all the work by themselves. The paint system is being operated by more than 200 Ford workers per shift, including Driscoll smiles, "If it does, we just! send it back through the system to ge right." Driscoll says that when the proce: up and running full steam, it will be a to handle Ford‘s target goal of produc; support staff and paint technicians. a couple thousand Windstars a day by Most are involved in the automated _ the end of 1994. paint process, but there is still some "Dupont had the best appearance i manual work being done, including Ford with the Tempo/Topaz series, an operating the robots and preparing the we figure to keep that standard with miniâ€"van for painting (sanding and Windstar," says Driscoll. At DuPont Canada, we‘re proud to be the exclusive topâ€"coat paint supplier of the new Ford Windstar. After all, making a vehicle like Windstar shine is a cinch. Nevertheless, DuPont employees are dedicated to working sideâ€"byâ€"side with Ford employees to ensure the utmost in paint quality. Because it‘s not only a Canadianâ€"made vehicle, it‘s Canadianâ€"made paint. And we‘re proud of that. DuPont Canada employees across the country would like to express our congratulations to Ford of Canada during the launch of Windstar. Because creating a masterpiece is easier when you‘ve got the perfect frame. DuPont Canada