Stovrite Specialist Coatings, a Gateshead based business who have been in operation for nearly 40 years, have seen an expansion in their business after purchasing a new metal pre-treatment machine.
As a company who specialises in powder coating services, Stovrite understands the importance of metal pre-treatment to ensuring a high-quality finish. Before any metal can be powder coated, it must go through a pre-treatment process where it is thoroughly cleaned, and the surface prepared to receive the paint powder.
One of the Directors at Stovrite, Gary Forster, explained that this new pre-treatment machine has “doubled our throughput and has enabled us to take on a new customer in the rail industry. Because of this increased throughput, we can also look for potential new customers as we now have the capacity to take on more work. We’re really excited for what this could mean for our business as it also allows us to diversify our operations into different sectors that we haven’t been able to work in prior to this.”
According to Mr Forster, the response from Stovrite’s staff has also been positive as the pre-treatment process is now much better than before. Not only does the new machine now allow them to process both ferrous and non-ferrous metals before coating, but they have been able to retain the previous pre-treatment machine which has increased the operating capacity of the business.
Stovrite have worked with a variety of industries over their 38-year history, and this variety reflects the amount of products which they can work on. Their speciality, powder coating, works by applying a dry paint powder to metal surfaces through an electrostatic gun. This powder is given a positive charge as it passes through the gun and this, combined with the object receiving the coating being ‘earthed’, helps attract the paint to the surface better. Powder coating is used to give a durable and smooth finish, which is able to withstand harsh environments better than other painting solutions. It is used widely in automotive manufacturing and other big industrial sectors, but is also used to cover household appliances.
Because the pre-treatment of metal is so important to the overall finish achieved with powder coating, Stovrite trusted one of their current machine suppliers when purchase this new machine. As a further sign of the growth this business is experiencing, Mr Forster didn’t rule out the possibility of further new machines arriving at the Felling site later on this year.