The company is now part of the Sabian group, one of the world’s leading producers of cymbals.

Billdidit has another division, BDI Advanced Manufacturing, which is engaged in contract manufacturing for the aerospace, defense, intelligence and marine industries, producing a large selection of proprietary components, from metal and plastic parts to final product finishing. The company is currently undergoing ISO 9000 accreditation.

Riley helped the company acquire a redundant Delta electroplating line from the site of a former costume jewelry manufacturer in Ireland. It will be used for chrome and zinc plating by volume and for silver and gold plating in smaller quantities.

The system comprises three sizes of tanks: 600, 1200 and 2400 liters. The 600-liter tanks are predominantly used for the non-electrolytic processes, drag-out and rinse stations. The larger tanks are used for the electrolytic stations, with either three or six flight bars in operation at any one time.

The automatic transporter system carries three flight bars at a time. It uses a horizontal positioning system to close the centerline distance of the flight bars to 150 mm for the tanks without anodic and cathodic connections. This brings the bars out to 380 mm while in the electrolytic stages, giving a maximum envelope size of 1300 x 300 x 800 mm per flight bar.

A technical support team from Riley Surface World will installed and re-commissioned the plant at the company’s Nova Scotia headquarters.

Commenting on the project, John Aylward, Billdidit Vice President of Operations, said, “Whilst price was obviously an important factor in the purchase of the electroplating plant, we also made our decision based on the professionalism, technical expertise and flexibility that we experienced from Michael Riley and his support team. Not only have we made a very worthwhile investment in plant and machinery, we also believe we have found a partner who will help us to realize our expansion plans in the metal finishing sector, both in North America and worldwide.”

Established in 1968, Riley Surface World developed from a traditional machinery merchant into a global marketing platform for the surface finishing industry. It offers new and used machinery and provides technical consultancy, factory clearances, decommissioning, auctions and a wide range of asset realization services.