Paint shop with electroless dip coating in XL format

The Dutch contract coater Kamp Coating Groep has invested in a new 42,000 m² building in Eindhoven, which offers innovative electroless dip coating in addition to a completely new wet and powder coating process.

Kamp Coating is the largest Dutch contract coater, which also serves the German market and the Benelux countries. The company has paint shops in Eindhoven, Appeldorn, Emmen and Vianen which strategically located throughout the Netherlands and employ a total of over 250 people. In Eindhoven, the subsidiary Efté Coating, which is part of the Kamp Coating Groep, has now built a new, state-of-the-art paint shop near the airport. The decision was based on capacity limits at the old site and the desire for modernisation. In addition to the innovative “Viant” dipping process, the new site offers the application of both liquid and powder coatings.

Three paint lines for all needs

The new site in Eindhoven has been in operation for several months and offers a high degree of flexibility with three coating lines. One powder coating line is designed for components measuring 4000 x 1800 x 900 mm and another for large components up to 6000 x 2750 x 1800 mm. The conveyor technology is designed for part weights of up to 2000 kg. Both powder lines are equipped with automatic powder coating machines in combination with manual coating and are supplemented by two wet paint booths.

The company is not only proud of the flexibility of the paint applications used. The pre-treatment with a continuous blasting system and two dipping lines with 17 and 14 tanks respectively is also extremely versatile. All relevant surface pre-treatment methods, such as pickling, zinc phosphating, chromating and anodising, as well as the modern Oxsilan spraying variant, can be done here. Which processes are used depends on the customer’s requirements.

Innovative dip coating

The biggest highlight at the Paint shop of Efté Coating is able to offer the so-called “Viant” process. This comes from Chemetall and is an innovative electroless dip coating technology for producing an organic conversion coating and primer on steel. It ensures excellent adhesion of subsequent coatings and offers effective corrosion protection that can compete with conventional dip coatings such as cathodic dip painting.

It is an alternative to electric dip coating, which leads to high energy savings. This is also helped by the fact that the dip tanks only need to be heated to a minimum and only slight circulation takes place.

Reduced carbon footprint

The CO₂ footprint is therefore significantly lower than with galvanising and conventional cathodic dip coating. The process is still somewhat more expensive than cathodic dip coating, but the process is still new and is not fully utilised at the Eindhoven site, says Stefan Behlen, Sales Manager Germany at Efté Coating.

Depending on the development of energy and CO₂ prices, any additional costs are more or less quickly relativised. It also contributes to sustainability in the customer’s production chain without them having to fear any loss of quality. The tanks are designed in such a way that the new process can also be used to coat large items up to 6 metres in length.

Full capacity for cathodic dip coating alternative

Efté Coating has already utilised the process for agricultural and construction machinery manufacturers. Previously, only a small pilot plant for the process was in operation at the old site. Now Kamp Coating has integrated the electroless dip priming process at full capacity. Another key feature of the new process is that it is free from heavy metals such as chrome, nickel or zinc and also ensures significantly better edge coverage and the completely uniform coating of dip-coatable components, including on internal surfaces.

This reduces the environmental impact, making it easier to comply with legal regulations and ensuring lower waste costs. In Eindhoven, it completely replaces traditional cathodic dip coating, although Kamp Coating continues to offer cathodic dip coating at other locations.

Cleanroom for the electronics and pharmaceutical industries

In addition to modern processes, Kamp Coating Groep is proud of the wide range of services it can offer from a single source. In addition to wet and powder coating for small and large components and variable pre-treatment, a clean room is also available in which coated components for semiconductor and medical technology can be assembled and packaged.

Under the umbrella of Kamp Coating, not only Efté Coating has moved into the new plant, but also other companies belonging to the Kamp Group.The second level of the building houses the companies Ano-panel and Duropanel, which offer sublimation coating and screen printing, for example, as well as thin sheet metal processing such as laser cutting, edging and welding or the assembly of metal components. These services can then be combined with wet painting or powder coating.

More information: www.kampcoating.nl