Strategic partnerships built on customization and shared vision deliver superior finishing solutions for industrial manufacturers
When it comes to building a complete IntelliFinishing system, Midwest Finishing Systems is a key partner—and for good reason. As John Claman of IntelliFinishing explains, the partnership isn't just based on quality equipment, but on years of close collaboration and a shared commitment to delivering top-tier finishing systems.
The partnership isn't just based on quality equipment, but on years of close collaboration and a shared commitment to delivering top-tier finishing systems.
One of the biggest advantages of working with Midwest is their equipment customization. For example, they've developed split-top ovens specifically to accommodate IntelliFinishing's overhead friction-driven conveyor system. Since IntelliFinishing carriers operate above the oven and rely on synthetic rubber wheels, it's crucial to keep that heat-sensitive material out of high-temperature zones. The split-top oven design solves that challenge, making it an ideal match.
In cases where heat levels are lower—such as with liquid coating systems—the conveyor may pass through the oven like in traditional setups. But for most systems, the energy-efficient, carrier-friendly split-top design from Midwest is the better option.
Midwest Finishing Systems also streamlines installation. Much of their equipment is pre-assembled and tested at their factory, reducing on-site troubleshooting and speeding up project timelines. Their ability to ship components ready for quick setup saves time, ensures quality, and simplifies the entire build process.
Midwest's extensive experience in finishing equipment makes them an invaluable resource. Their deep expertise in washers, ovens, cooling tunnels, and environmental rooms complements IntelliFinishing's focus on smart controls and modular design.
Together, the two companies have created a seamless, turnkey partnership that began in 2008 and continues today—delivering reliable, high-performance finishing systems backed by close coordination across sales, estimating, and operations.
Video TranscriptExpand ↓
Hi. This is John Klayman with Intelli Finishing. One of the questions that I sometimes get asked, why do you always work with Midwest Finishing Systems when you build Intelli Finishing Systems? And I have to say, it's a pleasure for us to work with Midwest Finishing Systems on the systems we build. They build great equipment. They're really a fantastic company. But in particular, they've modified some of their equipment to fit especially well with an Intelli finishing system. One of the things that they've done is they've created split top ovens, and that's important for many of the IntelliFinishing systems because our conveyor runs above the ovens. Our carriers are above the ovens. Now one of the reasons that we often design the system to have the carriers above the ovens is because the carriers rely on friction wheels that rub against the tube, and that propels that whole carrier through the system. Well, the friction wheels themselves, and sometimes depending on the model, the load bearing wheels are made of synthetic rubber. And that rubber is not gonna withstand the heat of, let's say, a typical powder coating oven or a powder curing oven or a dry oven. Now there are occasions when we're dealing with a liquid system where the heat is maybe only a hundred and twenty degrees to a hundred and sixty degrees or something like that. And in that case, we may allow the conveyor to run through the oven like traditional systems tend to do, but it's typically decided on a case by case basis. And in general, we find that the split top ovens in the way Midwest has designed them are far superior in terms of their energy efficient abilities than a traditional finishing system oven where the carrier and the conveyor and the support structure are all inside the oven. One other thing about Midwest Finishing Systems process equipment is that they're able to build their equipment oftentimes in their factory, and they ship it in components to the job site. So our ability to move it into place, get it set up is greatly enhanced and speeded by that process. Plus, they can do quality check factory acceptance tests at their plant before the product ever arrives. So there's much less troubleshooting of the equipment on-site. So for all of these reasons, plus the fact that Midwest Finishing Systems constructs many systems per year, more than IntelliFinishing does because we're really more of a niche finishing system provider. They provide conventional monorail systems and sometimes power and free systems quite often, many more systems per year. And so they really have a ton of experience in the finishing world. And if anything, we rely on them to be our finishing experts. And so we really appreciate the opportunity to work with Midwest Finishing Systems to install Intelli finishing systems, and it's been a great partnership that started back in two thousand and eight and continues today. We're very close in sales. We're close in our estimating teams, and we're even close in our operational and project management teams, all of it working together to create a seamless experience for our customers and a turnkey approach. So that's why we use Midwest Finishing Systems for their washers, for their ovens, for cooling tunnels, and for environmental rooms when we build finishing systems. Thanks.
