With a multitude of spray booth manufacturers around the globe, it can be easy to compare paint booth specifications and only look at the price of each paint booth. However, recognizing the full value of a custom paint booth means looking beyond the purchase price.
Most spray booth manufacturers can provide a big metal box and adequate airflow to get your company off the ground, but when it comes to custom paint booths, it is often the engineering upfront and the support after the sale that elevates the paint booth buying experience. Designing a custom paint booth that works for your business is of the utmost importance to unlock and maximize your business’ potential.
Engineering is one of the most important services needed when designing and purchasing a custom paint booth. Having the capacity and experience to custom design and engineer products for the unique needs of customers is a service that is hard to come by.
The strength and quality of Global Finishing Solutions (GFS) products comes from precise structural engineering and continuous product development. We will design, engineer, manufacture and build equipment to your unique requirements. This level of customization requires an expansive and experienced design and engineering staff.
“Many spray booth manufacturers do not have custom ceiling heights or adequate ductwork or blowers in their systems,” said Ellen Reinig, co-owner of JAS Powder Coating. “GFS was able to design/build our equipment to meet our specifications. The custom sizes were a big selling point, too.”
GFS’ in-house design and engineering teams consist of electrical engineers, software developers, licensed structural engineers, airflow specialists, code compliance specialists, mechanical engineers and systems designers. They provide anything from pre-contract, mechanical, electrical, AutoCAD, PLC and programming functions on custom and standard equipment orders.
For instance, GFS engineered a custom paint booth for Kindig-It Design’s paint shop in Salt Lake City. Since solvent paints are not permitted in Utah, GFS engineered a custom carbon filtration chamber to combat the release of vapors and particles into the air from solvent-based paints. The paint booth’s filtration chamber captures solvent vapors and particles before they are released into the atmosphere, a process GFS engineers frequently use in aerospace applications.
Custom engineering is a must in aerospace applications since the types of aircraft can range from personal planes to C-17 Globemaster aircraft. Energy conservation is at the forefront of GFS’ technical advances for aircraft paint booths. Recirculation, energy-efficient lighting, conformal-shape designs and heat recovery systems are just a few of the ways GFS has worked with customers to reduce their energy usage.
On large projects, it is important to ensure your project has a dedicated project manager to follow your project through from start to finish. This person should be able to:
From the time the sale is complete through startup and final commissioning, GFS’ project management department will work with a cross-functional team to help ensure that your equipment meets your expectations.
“I would like to thank the GFS and IDS Blast teams for assisting us throughout this long journey,” said Mary Habegger-Fox, president of Poseidon Barge. “Their professionalism, knowledge and experience enabled us to have a very successful installation and startup. We greatly appreciate everything they did for us before, during and after the sale to ensure Poseidon was completely satisfied. That was no small task!”
Once the booth is built, who will be there to support your business and booth?
GFS’ startup technicians will get your booth up and running so you can begin painting. Then, you can rely on GFS and our experienced distribution network for lifelong support and service of your custom paint booth. GFS’ unmatched Technical Services department and a local distributor are available to assist you with any emergency repairs or maintenance issues to ensure your booth is always running in peak condition. Preventative maintenance plans are also available to extend the life of your equipment.
“It’s a good time to be a consumer in the booth market, but it really came down to service — at some point I am going to need it,” said Chris Speck, general manager of K-Ceps Auto Body. “I was leery about purchasing an Italian booth, as I may not have access to local service and maintenance. Who’s going to help me? I liked that GFS is based right here in the U.S.”
A local distributor can help you make the most of owning a custom paint booth. From the planning and installation of your custom paint booth, to regular maintenance and service, local distributors make the entire life cycle of your booth a much easier and profitable experience for your business.
GFS is proud to be represented by the finest distribution network in the paint booth and finishing equipment industry. Our experienced, dedicated distributors span throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico and around the world. This expansive distribution network allows us the ability to provide consulting, training, installation, service, maintenance, and parts and filters support on a local level to all of our customers, including custom paint booths.
“Local support has been one of the biggest deciding factors for us,” said Ryan Cropper, owner of Able Body Shops. “In our remote location of Anchorage, Alaska, local support is a big factor in my decision of what equipment to buy. We’re not in a big metro area, and we’re a long way from GFS’ headquarters in Wisconsin. Our local support has been really key to a lot of our decisions.”
You will also want to make sure your paint booth manufacturer offers a product warranty. The written guarantee promises to repair or replace parts if necessary within a specified period of time. Not all spray booth manufacturers offer this, and when building a custom paint booth, you want to ensure that your custom paint booth’s warranty doesn’t get overlooked.
Dedicated to ensuring your GFS custom paint booth is worth every penny and to follow through on our warranty, we carry a complete line of high-quality replacement parts and accessories for all our products, including most legacy brands. By stocking our most common parts and filters at our headquarters in Osseo, Wisconsin, we offer quick turnaround and fast shipping throughout North America and around the world.
“We had a couple of pieces to our booth that were missing,” said Chris Soule, owner of Clean Cut Painting, a woodworker in Connecticut. “Once we realized it and called GFS, we had them in hand within 24 hours. I expect a company to stand behind their product, but I did not expect it to be that quick. It’s not like you are in the next state.”
When evaluating paint booth manufacturers, look into how long they have been in business. Ensuring that the company has the stability to support you through the lifespan of your equipment is a key factor. This is important not only from the standpoint of equipment service and replacement parts, but future expansion as well.
With decades of experience, GFS has an extensive history dating back to our roots in Osseo, Wisconsin, in October 1975. Owned and backed by the Curran Group, a family-owned and operated holding company based in Illinois, GFS gains additional strength and resources from the Curran Group’s financial stability, while continuing to run our business independently.
GFS is dedicated to continuous improvement and developing industry-leading products and technologies. As such, we have invested in our Center for Excellence, a building dedicated to research, development and training. The Center for Excellence allows GFS to complete rigorous validation processes, ensuring that our products meet quality, budget and timeframe requirements.
The Center for Excellence training facility also showcases our latest, advanced automotive refinish paint booth technologies. The automotive refinish training center features a working body shop environment fully equipped with paint booths, prep areas, paint mix rooms, REVO Accelerated Curing Systems and other body shop equipment.
In addition to offering a complete line of premium paint booths and finishing equipment, GFS provides customized solutions to meet your business’ needs. We can design shop layouts for collision centers and body shops to maximize productivity, as well as train automotive refinish technicians, leading to improved finishing processes.
Many paint booth companies rely on field inspections after installation to determine if modifications are necessary to make their paint booth code compliant. This can result in unforeseen costs and delays.
Rather than gambling on field inspections, in which outcomes vary widely, a better option when selecting a paint booth is to choose a manufacturer and distribution network that is dedicated to ensuring their products are code compliant.
GFS manufactures and designs custom paint booths to meet applicable industry codes and standards. Please be aware that local requirements may vary from national codes. GFS recommends consulting local authorities before purchasing paint booths or finishing equipment.
The options are limitless when it comes to your next paint booth purchase. If you are looking for a custom paint booth, be sure to look beyond the purchase price, and focus on the services beyond the sale. Expert engineering through the design phase, project management support through installation and startup, as well as continued service and support throughout the lifespan of your equipment.
As the leading manufacturer of paint booths and finishing systems for many industries — including automotive refinish, aerospace and defense, industrial manufacturing and woodworking — GFS manufactures virtually every component of our pre-engineered and custom paint booths at our state-of-the-art facility in Osseo, Wisconsin. With manufacturing, sales, service and support all under one roof in the United States, we are able to better control production, quality and support to set your business up for success.
One of the best ways to highlight your business is through a story that you can share across your online platforms. It humanizes your business and shows that your business can make a meaningful impact. Your testimonial would be used as a project profile on the GFS Booth Blog and can be shared on your website and/or social media channels.
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Located at GFS’ headquarters in Osseo, Wisconsin, the Center for Excellence is an innovative facility featuring an automotive refinish training center, as well as a separate space dedicated to technical product training.
GFS is continuously searching for talented, ambitious individuals to join our team. We aim to provide our employees with every opportunity to make an impact on the company and find their niche along the way — weather in a production, field services or an office position.
