Paint shops and solvent
Spray booths, mixing rooms and solvent stores are the highest fire load on most plants, and vapour travels further than people expect.
Industries we protectFire Protection for
Fire Protection for
the Automobile Industry
Paint shops, robot lines and big assembly halls put flammable material and heavy electrics under one roof. We design, install and look after the systems that find a fire there early — and deal with it before the line stops.
Industry overview
Fire Safety in Vehicle and Component Plants
A car plant is not one building. The paint shop is a solvent risk, the press and body shops are heat and sparks, the assembly hall is a vast open volume with a roof too high for ordinary detectors, and behind all of it sits more electrical infrastructure than most factories ever carry.
Protection has to be picked area by area, because a system that works in one of those places is the wrong answer in the next. And it has to work without stopping the line — a detector that cries wolf at paint overspray or welding fume costs you real money very quickly.
We work across vehicle assembly plants, component and tier-one suppliers, paint and coating shops, press shops and the EV battery lines that are now going into many of them.
- One contractor, start to finish Survey, design, supply, installation, commissioning and maintenance, all by us.
- Designed around the line Phased so production keeps running, with any shutdown agreed up front rather than sprung on you.
- Equipment from named manufacturers We supply the brands we hold partnerships with, and the datasheets come with them.
- Paperwork for the fire NOC Drawings, test records and handover documents in a form the authority and your insurer both accept.
Risk profile
Key Fire and Safety Considerations
The six points we look at most closely when we survey an automotive site.
Robot cells and control cabinets
Most plant fires start in something electrical, and it usually begins inside an enclosure where nobody can see it.
Very high assembly halls
Smoke cools and spreads out long before it reaches a roof 15 metres up, so ceiling detectors are far too slow.
Conveyors and cable trays
Long runs through the building that no point detector covers properly, and that carry fire from one area to another.
EV and battery lines
Lithium cells fail in a way that is very hard to cool, and the risk sits right next to the rest of the plant.
Downtime per hour
A stopped line is the real number here. Early warning is cheap against it.
Recommended solutions
Recommended Solutions for Automotive Plants
Most plants end up with a mix of these. Which ones you need, and where, comes out of the site visit rather than off a list.
Addressable Fire Alarm Systems
The system everything else waits on — addressable panels, detectors and notification devices…
Solution detail
Optical Beam Smoke Detection Systems
Cover large, tall volumes with a single detector — for warehouses, atriums and production halls…
Solution detail
Electrical Panel Fire Protection
Deal with the fire inside the cabinet, in the first seconds — tube-based suppression that needs…
Solution detail
Sprinkler and Deluge Systems
The layer that works with nobody present — wet, pre-action and deluge systems designed to your…
Solution detail
Fixed Gas Detection Systems
Know a concentration is rising while it is still a ventilation problem — fixed toxic and…
Solution detailLithium-ion Battery Safety Systems
Catch thermal runaway in the only window that matters — off-gas detection for battery rooms,…
Solution detailProducts & technologies
Products and Technologies We Supply
Supplied and commissioned by us, from the manufacturers we are partnered with. Each page carries that manufacturer's own product information and datasheets.
Simplex Fire Alarm & Detection Systems
Intelligent fire detection and alarm solutions for modern buildings — addressable control…
Product detail
FFE Fireray Optical Beam Detection
Beam smoke detection for large, tall volumes — one device covering what a grid of point…
Product detail
Thermocable ProReact Linear Heat Detection
Heat-sensing cable that makes the whole run the detector — for conveyors, cable trays, tunnels…
Product detail
Firetrace Panel and Enclosure Suppression
Tube-based suppression that deals with the fire inside the cabinet, in the first seconds, with…
Product detail
Oldham Fixed Gas Detection
Controllers and fixed detectors for toxic and combustible gases — selected per gas, placed by…
Product detail
HYGOOD Clean Agent Suppression
Engineered clean agent suppression for equipment rooms — sized to the volume and proven to hold…
Product detailApplications by area
Protection by Plant Area
What suits a spray booth is the wrong answer in an assembly hall. These are the things we weigh up in each area.
Paint and coating shops
Flame and gas detection for the booths and mixing rooms, with suppression chosen to suit how the area is classified.
Press and body shops
Heat, sparks and oil mist. Detection has to cope with the conditions without nuisance alarms.
Assembly halls
Beam detection across the volume, because the roof is too high for point detectors to be any use.
Electrical and control rooms
Detection inside the panel and suppression in the cabinet, so a fault stays in the enclosure.
Battery and EV lines
Treated as its own zone — early detection at the cells, suppression that suits the chemistry, separation from everything else.
Stores and finished vehicles
Height and what is stored drive this one, usually beam detection with sprinklers sized for the racking.
Our clients
Clients We Protect in This Sector
Our expertise
Our Areas of Expertise
The parts of an automotive project that need the most care, and how we handle them.
Detection sized to the space
Beam detection aimed so overhead conveyors and lighting runs do not sit in the path, and air-sampling where the airflow would defeat anything passive.
Suppression that suits the risk
Clean agent in the rooms where water would cost more than the fire, deluge where the hazard needs volume, and in-cabinet systems for panels.
Protection inside the panel
In-panel detection and suppression, so an electrical fault is dealt with in the enclosure instead of becoming a building fire.
Handover you can actually use
Drawings, zone plans, cause-and-effect and test records, written so your team and your insurer can both read them.
Upgrades to what is already there
Extending or replacing what is already in the plant, including systems we did not install, once we have checked the panel has the capacity.
Keeping it working afterwards
Scheduled servicing and testing under an AMC, with a record of every visit and the same engineers coming back.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
The questions plant and EHS teams ask us first.
Still have a question?
Speak directly with one of our fire safety engineers.
Call +91 88795 33000How do you detect a fire in a high assembly hall?
Ceiling detectors stop being much use above roughly 10 to 12 metres, because smoke cools and spreads out before it ever gets to them. The usual answer is beam detection — a beam sent across the space, with anything in the way of it registering. Where the airflow is awkward or an area is critical, we add air-sampling detection just for that part.
What protects a paint shop?
Spray booths and mixing rooms are normally covered by a combination: gas detection to warn about vapour before it becomes a fire, flame detection where a release could light quickly, and suppression chosen to suit how the area is classified. Where the classification is hazardous, the equipment itself has to be rated for it.
Will detectors go off because of welding or overspray?
They should not, and that is a design question rather than a product one. Detection type, siting and sensitivity are chosen for the conditions in that area. If a system is giving you nuisance alarms now, that is usually fixable.
What about our EV battery line?
Treat it as its own area rather than part of the floor. There is no single settled Indian standard for lithium-ion yet, so the design follows the cell manufacturer's guidance, your insurer's requirements and international practice — early detection at the cells, suppression suited to the chemistry, and separation from the rest of the plant.
Can you install while we keep operating?
Usually, yes. The work is phased around your hours, area by area. If a short shutdown is genuinely unavoidable we tell you at design stage so you can plan for it, rather than you finding out on the day.
Can we extend what we already have instead of replacing it?
Often you can. It depends on the panel you have, whether it has spare capacity and whether the equipment is still supported by its manufacturer. We check that on site before we propose anything, and we will say plainly if extending it is the wrong call.
What does a site assessment involve?
An engineer comes out, walks the site with you and looks at each area. You get a written view of where the gaps are and what we would recommend, with the reasoning behind it. There is no charge and no obligation.
Contact our industry experts
Get an Automotive Fire Safety Plan
Tell us what runs in each part of the plant and an engineer will walk it with you and come back with a design built around it.