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New ERP brings Order to Powder Coating Operations
How an Indian software start-up is digitalising industrial powder coaters business – and why the system could soon find its way into other markets.
Industrial powder coaters usually work with an enormous variety of incoming materials. Profile shapes, perimeters, lengths and weights differ from job to job, while customers expect quotations, planning and invoicing to be both accurate and fast. Standard ERP solutions rarely fit this reality. The Indian software company Creviz has therefore developed a dedicated platform for powder coating plants – and is now looking towards markets outside India.
Co-founder Vedanth Yelemane explains the background: “We noticed that when you talk to several powder coaters in the Indian market, they didn’t have an ERP system to digitize their operations.” Existing platforms, he says, simply cannot map a process in which the raw material, its quantity and its specifications change with every incoming batch. After roughly a year of close collaboration with an architectural powder coater in Bangalore, Creviz developed a tailored ERP for the sector.
Visibility instead of spreadsheets
The first effect powder coating plant operators notice when leaving Excel and Google Sheets behind is transparency. “Once they enter our system, they have a very good visibility of all the things that are happening within the paint shop,” Mr. Yelemane says. Owners and plant managers can see which customers send the largest volumes, which projects deliver the highest margins and which warranty levels – ranging from short-term coatings to 25- or 30-year systems – are being requested. That information feeds directly into procurement: powders that are not readily available can be ordered 15 to 20 days in advance, avoiding production stoppages.
According to Vedanth, industrial powder coaters using the software have been able to increase revenues by 20 to 30 per cent in their paint shops with the same installed capacity, with a direct effect on profitability.
Sequencing as a lever for powder coating productivity
A central feature is colour sequencing. A standard colour change in powder coating takes two to three hours. “But colour change from similar colour, say black to grey, then dark grey to light grey, light grey to white – the colour change only takes 20 to 30 minutes,” Vedanth Yelemane explains. The planning module arranges incoming jobs so that changeovers run from light to dark or within a colour family, minimising downtime.
The same plan also serves as a communication tool towards customers. Delivery dates can be committed 15 to 20 days in advance, and updates are issued automatically when coating starts. “This has reduced their negotiating with the customers,” he notes.
From pre-treatment to packaging
The ERP follows the entire process chain. For pre-treatment and chromating, bath temperatures, chemical dosages and dipping times are scheduled according to the promised coating quality. Packaging instructions are derived from the geometry of the parts: profiles with a perimeter of more than 800 to 900 mm are bundled in units of one or two, while smaller sections of around 100 to 200 mm perimeter can be combined into bundles of four or five.
Job cards are generated automatically as soon as material is booked in. Progress is recorded by scanning, and the stock statement updates in real time – including partial dispatches to different project sites for the same customer.
Quality data and equipment integration
Quality management covers mechanical tests, boiling water test, scratch test, drop test and, most importantly, the dry film thickness measurement together with gloss readings. If values fall outside the permissible range, the plant manager is alerted immediately so that rework can be initiated before the customer raises a complaint. Quality is a key value to Creviz, which is shown by its associated membership at Quali Coat Middle East (QMEA).
Where coating equipment, guns or ovens are PLC-enabled, the ERP can be connected directly. “If it is able to capture the amount of powder usage online, we can integrate with the equipment software,” Vedanth says. The system then correlates powder consumption with the parts processed and the measured film thickness – a key lever, given that powder is the most expensive raw material in the coating process.
Master data and AI-assisted entry
To keep pricing consistent, Creviz works with a structured master data set covering extruder, section number, coverage and total perimeter, and a cross-section diagram. Powder data includes RAL code, manufacturer, finish, warranty class, product code and price in multiple currencies. Powders from suppliers such as Jotun, AkzoNobel, PPG, Sherwin Williams or Axalta can be imported via bulk upload from supplier quotations; live integration with Jotun and AkzoNobel is currently being prepared.
Incoming documents are processed with AI and RPA functionality. The system recognises the customer, the requested colour, the sections and quantities, and calculates the coating area from perimeter and length. Quotations that previously took up to one and a half hours can now be produced in around two minutes, with margins set according to volume, customer profile and lead source.
Reference plants in Bangalore
The software is in productive use at Aspect Coatings and Ace Coatings, both based in Bangalore. Aspect Coatings processes around 250 tonnes of aluminium per month – architectural sections as well as façade elements – using powder coatings from Jotun and AkzoNobel for builders and fabricators across the region. Customers from northern India ship material thousands of kilometres to have it coated there, accepting higher transport costs in exchange for consistent coating quality.
Looking towards Europe
With its Indian reference base established, Creviz is now in dialogue with powder coaters in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Europe to verify which adaptations are needed. “I want to check whether the problems that we have solved for Indian powder coaters are the same across regions,” Vedanth Yelemane says.
These insights are now feeding into the next development steps. The objective, Vedanth concludes, is an ERP that supports every stakeholder in the plant – from owner and plant manager to the supervisors for pre-treatment, powder application, wood finishing and packaging – regardless of the region in which the coating line is operated.
More information: www.creviz.io