2022 Paint Booth Industry Forecast: What to Expect

Keith Zralka
December 15, 2021

2022 is expected to be the comeback year for a cross section of industries after the major disruption to business operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The global paint booth sector is no exception. If statistics are to be believed, this industry, and in particular, the automotive finishing field is projected to grow from $231.5 million in 2020 to $322.6 million in 2026, with an annual growth rate of 4.8%. Naturally, there is a wide variety of factors that will contribute to this growth in the spray booth market. One of the most notable of which is the widespread adoption of automation in more and more processes in automobile finishing operations. Here are some of the emerging trends in this industry that are slated to gain more traction in 2022 and beyond.

Why is automation a key growth driver in the paint booth market?

Robotics is not a new concept in the spray paint booth world. Robots have been made use of in finishing numerous industrial products for decades on end. With the passage of time, robotic technology has registered great leaps in innovation and enabled them to deliver many value-added benefits to the whole industry. This, of course, includes substantially improving paint booth operational productivity, efficiency, sustainability, and more recently led to waste reduction.

Sustainability has especially gained plenty of traction. More and more companies are on the lookout for viable eco-friendly solutions which can play a leading role in helping them to greatly minimize their paint booth emissions. Generally speaking, the key objective of embracing automation lies in the evident necessity for consistent improvements in the repeatability of finish quality. Automation now enables more repeatable and controllable processes in ways that were previously not thought possible. Let us now take a closer look at 2 of the most promising innovations, which are helping meet this requirement.

EcoProBooth: Paint Shop of the Future

Earlier this year, Durr (one of the leading global players in spray booth automation technology) introduced its Paint Shop of the Future concept. The key attraction of which is the EcoProBooth unit that has received sensational reviews for its novel features. This spray paint booth leverages a distinctive box layout, which facilitates unheard-of flexibility in adapting it in accordance with the growing number of different vehicles automakers produce.

The EcoProBooth’s modular configuration permits converting and extending it to suit a paint booth’s evolving production requirements. In particular, this unit is well noted for being able to accommodate diverse cars, ranging from compact models to medium-size sports utility vehicles.

Additionally, it incorporates both interior and exterior finishing processes all in one workstation. While, at the same time, making use of a grand total of 8 robots and 4 selective compliance assembly robotic arms (SCARA). As a bonus, this innovative spray booth has been designed to facilitate the carrying out of routine maintenance and cleaning operations without in any way interrupting production runs. To this end, it comes complete with a number of service cubicles which are situated at all corners of the unit. These given cubicles go a long way in allowing technicians to either clean or replace application technology without having to enter the workspace itself. Should any of the robots at any time require maintenance, it will simply pass its arm through specially made windows into the service cubicles. Lastly, the application space, on its part, has been designed to optimize air recirculation in order to minimize carbon dioxide emissions and energy utilization.

ABB’s PixelPaint Overspray-Free Technology

ABB recently unveiled its incredible PixelPaint Overspray-Free Technology that has taken the spray paint booth industry by storm. This solution utilizes an inkjet head as opposed to the usual spray approach in the finishing process.

In turn, this substantially boosts painting speed and reduces waste. As such, this innovative inkjet head totally does away with the ever-present issue of overspray contaminating a paint job finish thanks to its capability of directly printing paint onto target areas. This results in 100% paint transfer efficiency. Also, the PixelPaint technology permits 2-tone paint along with individual designs in a single pass; thereby eliminating the need for masking. According to ABB, this paint booth technology can minimize downtime, boost productivity and accommodate many more customized paint scheme options. PixelPaint is to be made as a cell leveraging ABB’s 5,500 robots. ZPar International is a leading manufacturer of a variety of paint booths that integrate cutting-edge technology and may be just what the doctor ordered to significantly boost the productivity, efficiency, and even profitability of your paint shop.