APROPOS’ POWDER COATING PLANT IS OFFICIALLY OPEN FOR BUSINESS

The Civic Mayor of Tameside opens £15m-a-year plant at civic ceremony

31st May 2011

The Civic Mayor of Tameside, Cllr. Susan Quinn, has officially opened Apropos’ new state-of-the-art polyester powder coating plant in Dukinfield.

The £15 million-a-year plant was opened at a special civic ceremony last Thursday, in front of an audience of civic dignitaries, business partners and Apropos staff members.

Guests were treated to a tour of the plant, followed by refreshments and musical entertainment by the West Hill School Jazz Orchestra.

At the opening ceremony, the Mayor paid tribute to Apropos’ eight decades of heritage, built around its local base. She also highlighted the company’s renaissance over the last decade, which saw it break the £1million-a-month sales barrier for the first time in 2010; and launch its highly successful garden studio, sister company Atelier.

To listen to the Tameside Radio broadcast from the opening please click here.

The opening of the high-tech plant means all powder coating for the country’s leading designer and manufacturer of bespoke glass and aluminium conservatories, orangeries and structures will now be undertaken in-house - providing a timely boast for Tameside’s manufacturing economy.

The plant has been operational since the beginning of April, and is already producing higher standards of paint quality than previously experienced when the process was outsourced to external companies - with finished paintwork consistently achieving optimum coverage and thickness via a six-step testing process.

It is envisaged that the plant will eventually handle annual orders worth £15 million, including processing external orders for other companies.

In a further boost, the new powder coating plant will also be environmentally friendly, using an innovative process to aid paint adhesion that replaces unsafe chromate with harmless Phosguard.

David Waxman, Apropos’ Director of Operations, said:

“We were delighted that the Civic Mayor kindly agreed to open our new powder coating plant, on what was one of her first official engagements since being sworn in a few days earlier. It was a very special day for Apropos, and her presence made it all the more special.

“We have always been proud of our local roots, and the talent of our local employees, and it is this talent that has seen Apropos extend its influence nationwide and engage with clients overseas.

“The opening of the powder coating plant represents a significant investment into the local economy by Apropos. We are confident that it will raise our standards even higher, leading to increased business and further investment in the years to come.”

FURTHER INFORMATION

Powder Coating Process

Powder coating is an alternative, environment friendly method of applying paint.

The basis of any good coating is preparation. The vast majority of powder coating failures can be traced to a lack of a suitable preparation. Therefore, Apropos follows a six-step testing and application process in the preparation treatment for all its aluminium products.

Powder coating produces a high specification coating which is relatively hard, abrasion resistant (depending on the specification) and tough. The choice of PPC colours and finishes is almost limitless. When powder coated items are installed without damage to the powder coating and they are maintained regularly, they should be relatively permanent. Correctly applied coating - although not metallurgically bonded to the metal - will not crack, chip or peel as with conventional paint films.

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