AERO Sustainable Material Technology is proud to announce that the FUSE Automotive Coloring System, known as the “Ultra-Wide TOM Machine”, won the Grand Prize at the 2021 Nikkei Superior Products and Services Awards celebration on February 2, 2022, in Tokyo, Japan. An alternative to the wasteful, resource intensive and environmentally damaging assembly-line process of traditional spray paint, the “Ultra-Wide TOM Machine” is a highly innovative and efficient system for coating automotive body panels and other exterior components by applying AERO’s environmentally sound film-based coatings.
The “Ultra-Wide TOM Machine” incorporates new “Neo-TOM Thermoforming technology”, developed by Fu-se Vacuum Forming Co. Ltd. (FVF) in Osaka, Japan. This recently developed and innovatory process redresses the difficulties of traditional compressed air thermoforming where hollow parts (such as an automotive hood) cannot withstand the air pressure, resulting in deformation. With “Neo-TOM,” the film is heated and softened in a vacuum and placed close to the component to allow air to be introduced to the front side of the film, and then the air pressure difference between the inside and outside of the film causes the film to be attached to the component without deformation. Although this process has been previously utilized for automotive interior components, it had been difficult to apply films uniformly on large automotive parts until the advent of the FVF Neo-TOM process.
“This world’s largest Ultra-Wide TOM Machine using AERO’s environmentally sustainable film-based coating technology, has the ability to uniformly coat large parts and therefore entire automotive vehicle bodies,” said Jim McGuire, CEO of AERO Sustainable Material Technology, Inc. “The amount of electricity used can be reduced to one-third or less compared to the conventional method of painting and drying repeatedly,” continued McGuire. “Incorporating the ‘Ultra-Wide TOM Machine’ with AERO Sustainable Material Technology for coating vehicles will revolutionize the automotive industry with cost savings, energy savings and numerous environmental benefits.”
