Capital equipment purchases as substantial as an industrial oven deserve serious consideration. Before you buy, you must determine if your oven requires a custom design or whether a standard size and function will meet your needs. Consider the complexities of your production process carefully. Committing to a standard size and layout, only to later discover it doesn't meet your needs, can be a costly mistake requiring additional investment of time and money to rectify.

Reasons to Purchase a Custom-Designed Oven v. Standard Oven:

Part Size

If your parts don’t fit on a standard cart or a pre-selected belt width, you might need a custom oven.

• Some manufacturers make odd-shaped parts, like 50-foot-long light poles or 20-foot-wide wing sections or 65,000 lb. heat exchanger blocks.

It is better to have an oven designed to accommodate that specific type of part.

Part Configuration

If your parts need to be placed or held in a specific orientation, you might need a custom oven.

• Some parts need to be heated with airflow moving in a specific direction.
• Some parts need to be fixated in a specific orientation to facilitate drainage of water.
• Some parts need to be rotated or moved during the curing or drying process.

It is better to have an oven designed to meet that specific requirement.

Process Requirements

If you process calls for more than just heating to a specific temperature, you might need a custom oven.

• Some parts need to be processed before going into the oven.
• Some parts need to be processed after coming out of the oven.

Having a customed designed oven system can accommodate cleaning, painting, cooling or a myriad of other processes without having to off-load and re-load the parts from the cart or conveyor.

Floor Space Availability

If you are limited on floor space or trying to fit equipment into an existing available spot, you might need a custom oven.

• Most facilities are challenged for floor space.
• Sometimes you need to think outside of the box.
• Sometimes it is better to put the oven in the rafters or on the roof.
• Sometimes it is better to have a conveyor system that moves the parts up and down or snaking back-and-forth as opposed to a straight horizontal travel.

In situations like that, you will need a custom-designed oven.

Production Rate

If you need to make parts as quickly and as efficiently as possible, you might need a custom oven.

• With a standard “off-the-shelf” oven, what you see is what you get.
• Standard ovens are typically cheaper than custom ovens, and the delivery time is faster.
• However, an industrial oven is an investment with a useful life of 20 or 30 years.
• It may be more beneficial to take the time and discuss custom solutions to your specific production needs.
• Maybe you and your custom oven manufacturer designer can come up with a design system that removes one person from line.
• They you are saving the wages and benefits for that person not just this year, but every year for the next 20 to 30 years.

If you want to process as many parts as possible while using as few people as you can, you may need a custom-designed oven.