OLDBURY, England - Applied Coatings Technology (ACT) has completed a major £1.4 million investment program as the company continues to establish itself as a leader in the application of functional and cosmetic coatings for plastic components.

In the past two years, the Oldbury, West Midlands, England-based outfit has seen sales in its Automotive Coatings Division double, and ACT continues to win new projects in this competitive and demanding sector. To support automotive customers, the company completed installation of a third robotic coating line in 2015 and now paints over 10,000 parts per day with capacity to double that production level.

Commenting on the investment program, Yasin Zaka, ACT’s Managing Director, said, “We recognize the vital importance of offering the same high level of service to our many non-automotive customers in sectors ranging from white goods, sanitary products, medical, electronics and defense. These customers are characterized by having much lower volumes but requiring significant technical support and fast turnaround times.”

He continued, “To support this business, we opened a dedicated facility for manual spraying of low- to medium-volume projects in 2014. Thanks to the latest investment, the 20k square-foot facility, also based in Oldbury, now boasts additional state-of-the-art spray booths to offer the highest levels of quality and consistency for the application of cosmetic coatings and EMI/RFI shielding coatings.”

ACT now possesses one of the largest facilities in Europe for applying conductive coatings to provide protection against EMI/RFI interference. Spray booths in a fully enclosed clean room environment ensure that cosmetic coatings — both water- and solvent-based — can also be applied to the highest standards. In addition, the company has developed expertise in applying high-gloss metallic/chrome-like finishes as well as satin-chrome, soft-feel and pearlescent textures.