Junair Replaces 100 years run booths.

Junair have recently installed three Spray Booths at Solus NU site in Park Royal, North London. Not very extraordinary you might say – but the Junair Booths that they replaced had run over 100 years use between them in 12 years. Twelve years ago, Grahame Kitchin at Junair took on the challenging project to design and install a workshop at Solus Park Royal.

This incorporated a range of equipment from spray booths to jigs, dust extraction to compressors and equipping the parts area and services connections . When Junair were awarded the contract it was a huge one; the site at Park Royal was one of the first large volume repair shops, originally designed to process 60 to 70 jobs per week. Since Solus acquired the site in 1997, volume at Park Royal has risen to approximately 120 jobs per week and the site works 24 hours round the clock. The profile of the business has also altered from high volume to prestige repairs so each repair requires more hours.

Eight years after the workshop was installed the three old booths totalled over 100 years running hours between them, having run over 230,000 hours all told – with virtually no breakdowns and very few spares replacement, thanks to the reliability of the original Junair design and excellent service and maintenance throughout their life. Wally Terroni, Technical Director for Solus said “The original Junair Booths had been extremely reliable and performed faultlessly over many years so naturally we replaced them with new Junair Booths.” Junair replaced the existing car spray booths with the most up to date generation of 4 Series Combi Booths, carrying out a wholly managed project incorporating all building and roof works. The new Booths include the latest energy saving technology from Junair with their patented QADS accelerated drying system and Variable Speed drives to control Booth airflow to ensure minimal running costs and the quickest cycle times.

The installation had its challenges as the new booths had to replace the old booths exactly and as they required new pits, so the builders’ works had to be carried out swiftly and efficiently to minimize disturbance Gordon Fenton General Manager for Solus Park Royal said – “The installation was not as simple as just replacing three old Booths with three new ones – we work 24/7 here so disruption [or lack of it ] was absolutely paramount. Junair held detailed meetings with me and my staff to ensure everyone understood the programme of works and their own responsibilities and they did everything – removed the old Booths, builders works, new Booths installation and relocated all the services to suit. And they completed ahead of schedule with even less disruption than I had allowed for. Junair did what they promised and delivered on time in budget.” Rob Hurley, Contracts Director for Junair added “I am very pleased that once again we completed a very complex and demanding project on time and with another happy customer on completion. People often under-estimate the degree of detail in a project like this but we have skilled in-house teams to manage the complexity.”

Learn more about spray booths produced by Junair.

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