Spraying Systems Co, the US-based supplier of industrial spray technology, celebrates its seventy-fifth anniversary this year.

Spraying Systems Co is a global supplier of a range of products, systems and solutions that are offered to the local market by Johan- nesburg-based Monitor Engineering.

The international company, which ope- rates ten manufacturing facilities and 85 sales offices, has pioneered major industrial spraying technologies, ranging from nozzles through to advanced and specialised systems.

Monitor Engineering, which has been Spraying Systems’ sole distributor in Southern Africa for the past 45 years, is a major supplier of industrial spraying products and systems in the region. The product offerings cover all aspects of spray technology – nozzles, fabricated components, control systems and research and testing services. In providing complete systems, the company works closely with customers to provide customised systems to meet their particular production and process requirements.

“Such solutions also often have to be devised in close conjunction with producers and suppliers of specialised liquids, requiring integration of our technologies with theirs.

“A typical partner would be the producer of a specific chemical or coating that has to be sprayed onto the product concerned – such as a protective coating on beverage bottles, for example,” comments Monitor Engineering MD Grant Orsmond.

The variety of industries that use spraying equipment and systems is almost limitless. It includes the steel, paper, petrochemicals, food, mining, chemicals, pharmaceutical, fire protection, automotive, power and pollution control industries, besides others.

Spraying Systems Co, which is based in Wheaton, Illinois, was founded in 1937 by two Scandinavian immigrants, who started manu- facturing operations in a rented garage in Chicago.

The company expanded steadily, developing and patenting dozens of spray nozzles and, thereafter, diversifying its products to include showers, headers, special injectors and lances.

Eventually, it expanded into automated spraying systems for more specialised precision applications. It also took the lead in introducing research and testing procedures, including wind tunnels, drop size equipment and computational fluid dynamics.

The company started manufacturing outside the US in 1960 when it established a plant in Brazil and subsequently set up plants elsewhere around the world, while simultaneously expanding its global sales and distribution network.

The many innovations developed and introduced by the company during the course of its history include:

• The first nozzles in the US for spray drying milk, eggs and other products.
• Automatic air atomising nozzles.
• The first tungsten carbide spray tips used in airless spray painting applications.
• An automatic electronic imaging/scanning type spray analyser for measuring spray drops.
• Large flow rate nozzles for gas-scrubbing applications.
• Miniaturised air atomising nozzles.
• Laser imaging probe and a phase Doppler particle analyser for improved drop size measurement.
• The AutoJet automatic spraying system.
• The PulsaJet 6000 hydraulic atomising gun for high-speed cycling.
Monitor Engineering states that, as one of Spraying Systems’ most experienced and well-established regional distributors, it enjoys an enviable reputation as a significant supplier of spraying equipment and systems in the local market.

The company has access to over 100 000 spraying products produced by Spraying Systems Co and keeps a large stock of the faster- moving items at its Johannesburg headquarters. It operates sales and support branches in Durban, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth.

While sales of spray nozzles remain the major contributor to its turnover, in recent years, Monitor Engineering has successfully diversified into the other areas of Spraying Systems’ business, encompassing turnkey spray systems, custom fabrication and research, and testing services.

In the past five years, the company has landed a number of orders for custom-designed and manufactured spray showers, headers, injectors and lances, mainly for applications in the paper manufacturing and mining industries.

In the last two years, it has also secured a number of contracts for the design, manufacture, supply and installation of a variety of turnkey automated spray systems for, among others, major players in the petrochemicals, food and beverage, mining, steel and cement industries, in Southern Africa.

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