Leading metal finishing specialist Wolverhampton Electro Plating (WEP) has significantly increased its capacity and range of finishes it offers after safeguarding a dozen jobs following the collapse of another business.
WEP, part of The Anochrome Group, purchased two divisions of The Electrolytic Plating Company Limited (EPC) after the Walsall business fell into administration following more than 120 years of trading.
BDO was appointed as administrator and worked with WEP to salvage sections of the stricken business, which had a reputation as one of the largest barrel plating and surface coating companies in the UK, second only to WEP.
The move saw eight EPC employees transfer to WEP, along with key pieces of machinery that will allow WEP to continue to offer outstanding service to its customers.
A further four EPC employees were reassigned to other areas of the The Anochrome Group.
Denis Rainbird, General Manager at WEP, said:
“EPC was a business with a rich heritage and it was very sad to see it cease trading recently.
“We were pleased to be able to work with the administrators to save 12 jobs which otherwise would have been lost.
“The deal strengthens our position in the market and brings about major benefits for our customers.
“We look forward to working with customers old and new as we continue to enhance and elevate our offering, cementing our position as one of the UK’s premier metal finishing companies.”
Through the acquisition WEP has acquired equipment related to dip spin coating for zinc flake and organic finishes, along with thread locking and patching equipment which has already been relocated to Inlex Locking ltd, part of the Anochrome Group.
The biggest of the dip spin machines, which can process around six tonnes of material per hour, will be moved and installed first.
Denis added:
“We apply a wide range of Zinc flake and organic topcoats and finishes from leading suppliers including, NOF (Geomet), Magni, DÖRKEN and PPG (Xylan). We offer electroplating finishes such as barrel Zinc and barrel Zinc nickel and we are the only job coater to provide mechanical plating to the UK.
“The addition of the EPC dip spin equipment will also result in efficiency gains as more machines mean fewer changeovers, leading to less idle time and improved turnaround times.
“We are excited about how our continued investment will further improve the service we can offer our customers.”
WEP works with some of the biggest tier 1 suppliers into OEMs in the automotive, construction, rail, petrochemical, wind energy, highways and commercial vehicle sectors and holds numerous accreditations, including ITAF 16949:2016, ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001:2015.
Its industry-leading testing facilities include two salt spray chambers, two torque and tension machines, an X-ray fluorescence machine, various coating thickness measuring devices and access to cyclic corrosion testing.
For more information, visit www.anochrome.com