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BMW Has Developed A New Painting Technique That’s Not Only Faster, But Saves The Polarbears, Too!

BMW has revealed a new painting process that not only allows cars to be painted faster and more efficiently while lowering the cost of the work, too.

The new method is being called EcoPaintJet Pro, and it allows painting machine arms to paint with much greater accuracy. The new approach works without electrostatics; instead, it employs jet application and spins at 35-55,000 rpm.

An orifice plate is used in the process, which allows for high edge definition with a range of thicknesses from 1 mm to 50 mm (0.039 to 2 inches). It allows the german company to paint with enough precision to be able to carry out intricate designs with no covering of any existing surfaces. Want racing stripes down the center of your car? Simple. Flames? Not a problem.

The customization possibilities are, according to BMW, “nearly limitless,” since no one has to manually cover body panels. Instead, the machine is able to print onto the body panels like an inkjet printer. Just put the graphic together on software, and click go.

In order to reach more customers, BMW has implemented this new paint and staff-saving methods. This lowers costs by enabling personalized designs to be offered to a wider audience much more easily. All while using less paint which reduces waste and requires less air, allowing the paint shop to save electricity by not compressing it – anything to save the polar bears!

The company predicts that this new method will actually save about 6,000 megawatts of energy and reduce the paint shop’s carbon footprint by over 2,000 tons each year. This is a significant saving.

BMW is experimenting with its new manufacturing technique on a tiny number of M4s that will be used in the company’s fleet and are anticipated to be launched in 2022. Hopefully, we’ll be able to have a closer look if they apply this technology to the cars that go out to the press.

“We expect the highest standards of efficiency, sustainability, and digitalization from our production,” said Milan Nedeljković, head of production at BMW. “This smart painting technology meets all the requirements for an innovative production process and also offers unique customer benefits.”

Cheaper, greener, and faster? This is the innovation we love from BMW. Not those weird front bumpers. I wonder if they can paint over them?

Alex Harrington

Alex started racing at a young age so certainly knows his way around a car and a track. He can just about put a sentence together too, which helps. He has a great interest in the latest models, but would throw all of his money at a rusty old French classic and a 300ZX. Contact: [email protected]

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