Above: The new Gema coating system at J-Star reclaims as much as 61 percent of the raw material.
October, 2025- Ergonomics is one factor driving an enduring trend in office furniture: the adjustableheight desk. Employers and employees are seeing the health and wellness benefits of these workstations, which allow the user to work while standing or sitting with just the push of a button.
Employees working from home, especially during the pandemic, also helped create additional demand. Some industry sources estimate that the annual growth rate of adjustable height desks will nearly double in the decade between 2024 and 2034 from $5.5 billion to $10.2 billion.
Supporting this trend is a company that produces linear actuators and lifting columns for the commercial furniture industry, J-Star Motion. To keep up with demand from nearby customers, Cedar Springs, Michigan-based J-Star decided to more than double its production capacity and upgrade plant equipment. Key to the manufacturer’s capital upgrades was the 2022 installation of an automated powder coating system from Gema.
DENSE PHASE
To accommodate increased capacity, J-Star designed and built a 465,000-sq.-ft. greenfield plant a few miles from its existing 130,000-sq.-ft. factory. Operations were consolidated into the new space that opened in December 2022. Prior to this, J-Star was using an older model Gema coating system —a Smart Series, cartridge-style, manual booth commissioned in 2018.
“A key consideration was an automated system, using dense phase powder pumps, that would reclaim powder, deliver consistency in film build and enable fast color change,” explains Jacob Dornan, engineering manager at J-Star.
After site visits to see multiple suppliers’ coating equipment in action, J-Star selected a complete system from Gema. “We were already familiar with Gema’s track record regarding service. I was impressed with the design of Gema’s smart in-line dense phase application pumps. And the operators demonstrating the equipment told us about how easy the system was to use and maintain,” says Dornan.
Quick color change and consistent film build were key selection criteria when J-Star selected the Gema automated powder coating system.
The Gema system at the new J-Star facility (the legacy Gema system continues to run at the new plant) includes the OptiSpray AP01 pump. OptiSpray has smart in-line technology that features a single-channel powder path with a broader spray pattern that accurately delivers coating.
The smart in-line technology and the pump’s straight-through design ensure powder flow. “This dense phase design ensures consistent and stable powder supply,” reports Jeff Hale, marketing director for Gema.
FILM BUILDUP
Consistency is a critical aspect of the coatings operations at J-Star. “Our adjustable height desks feature metal tube components that telescope inside each other to raise and lower the desk surface. For the desk to operate smoothly, a very consistent lm build is necessary,” notes Dornan, referring to the coating applied to the tubes. With the new Gema system, he says, J-Star maintains 0.5 mils of powder consistently, compared to a 1.5 mil-thickness of powder with the legacy Gema system. This reduced—yet consistent film thickness allows J-Star to reduce material costs while maintaining quality.
Such performance also means J-Star can avoid a lot of reworks. “When the film build was too thick, which would sometimes occur with the manual coatings system, we would have to sand down the coating and rework the legs,” says Dornan of a task that slowed productivity and lowered profit margins.
“With the dense phase system, the new level of consistency has remarkable endurance,” says Dornan. It was almost a year after installation before J-Star rebuilt the new Gema system. “The time between rebuilds is outstanding. And the rebuild is easy. We just pop the top off the equipment and replace two pinch valves. It takes less than five minutes,” explains Dornan.
QUICK COLOR CHANGE
During any given shift (the company operates a single shift each day), J-Star may apply as many as 16 different colors, including metallics and matte finishes. “The ability to change colors quickly was a key factor for us in selecting the Gema system. We wanted to have minimal downtime when doing changeovers,” emphasizes Dornan.
At J-Star, powder coating is applied via twenty OptiGun automatic guns and twenty OptiSpray application pumps from Gema.
To achieve quick color changes, J-Star’s new Gema system features MagicCompact EquiFlow color change technology and an OptiCenter OC07 powder management center.
Now, J-Star can change colors in about 10 minutes, compared to the 90-minute process required with the previous system. “There really is no comparison when it comes to the color change metrics, the difference is so dramatic. Equally important, the changeovers occur without any color contamination, even with dark colors or metallics,” adds Dornan.
The powder coating is applied via 20 OptiGun automatic guns, 20 OptiSpray application pumps and 2 OptiSelect Pro manual guns—all from Gema. The J-Star system is supported by two Gema reciprocators and a MagicControl 4.0.
With faster color changes and less downtime for rebuilds, J-Star is experiencing increased productivity in the coatings department. “Our output has increased more than 50 percent with the MagicCompact technology,” says Dornan.
RECLAIMED POWDER
Another feature of the new Gema system is its powder reclaim capabilities. Dornan estimates the company has cut the cost of raw materials in the coatings department in half, thanks to the Gema coatings system. “We are reclaiming and respraying about 61 percent of our raw material. This has a direct effect on our productivity and profits,” adds Dornan.
The ability to reclaim raw material contributed to J-Star’s qualification for LEVEL, a Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association sustainability certification program.
J-Star takes advantage of the various service offerings provided by Gema and the local distributor, F.A.C.T. This includes a quarterly inspection of the Gema system and associated maintenance recommendations. “This is an add-on service, but it’s definitely worth it,” notes Dornan.
“It’s amazing what J-Star has accomplished in less than 10 years. They brought a new perspective to a mature market. The quality they achieve and their approach to manufacturing is leaving a positive mark on the industry,” Hale remarks.
“We were already on a growth trajectory before the pandemic. The Gema system is helping us significantly increase volumes, while maintaining consistent quality and quick color changes. It’s almost magic what the Gema system has been able to do for us,” remarks Dornan. That’s the kind of magic that will help J-Star continue to rise to meet customer demand for the decade ahead.”
Gema USA Inc., 800/628-0601, gemapowdercoating.com
J-Star Motion Corp., 616/952-0630, jstarmotion.com
