Dürr receives BMW Group Supplier Innovation Award

With the EcoPaintJet Pro painting process, cars can be efficiently painted in two colors - with absolute separation, no overspray and fully automated. What's more, there is no longer any plastic waste, as the body no longer needs to be masked for two-tone painting. The BMW Group is the world's first automaker to use the EcoPaintJet Pro in series production painting at its Leipzig plant. There, the EcoPaintJet Pro is used to give the Mini Countryman its characteristic contrasting color on the roof. At the heart of Dürr's robot-based high-tech system is a special applicator that does not atomize the paint as conventionally, but applies it with absolute precision in parallel jets. For this purpose, the applicator has a nozzle plate with around 50 barely visible holes with a diameter of approximately 1 tenth of a millimeter. This allows the paint to be applied from a distance of 30 mm without any overspray and therefore without any material loss. With the technology used in Leipzig, each hole in the nozzle plate can be opened and closed individually. This opens up even more possibilities and precision in decorative painting.

Dr. Jochen Weyrauch, CEO of Dürr AG, accepted the award in Munich: "Every good innovation needs good partners on the customer side who recognize the potential. The BMW Group is such a partner. With the overspray-free process, together we have revolutionized series painting." The BMW Group Supplier Innovation Award went to Dürr for the second time. The machinery and plant manufacturer had first received the award in 2011 for its energy-saving EcoDryScrubber technology for dry separation of overspray. "With the EcoPaintJet Pro, we have now succeeded in taking another major innovative leap: The first award was about better separation of overspray, this time we have achieved its complete elimination," says Dr. Jochen Weyrauch.