Telford based metal manufacturer Wrekin Sheetmetal has taken the COVID-19 pandemic into both hands, and has invested into a new powder coating facility and soon to be sister company “The Powder Coaters.” The new high-tech facility will increase the company's capabilities, improve the firm's efficiency, and will see a new millennial business leader.
Wrekin Sheet Metal is a premier sheet metal fabrication company who is able to punch, fold, weld and finish to an array of requirements. With over 40,000 sq ft of workshops, design studios and assembly areas, the firm pride itself on being able to provide a bespoke service to specify to customer’s exact needs.
The new powder coating facility will include a 3-stage pre-treatment plant and an exceptionally efficient conveyor fast exceeds the quality of painting and lead time expectations Wrekin Sheet Metal is used to receiving. To ensure they can offer customers the best service, they have invested in one of the top suppliers of paint booths and designed and manufactured other areas of the plant themselves, creating a bespoke design to meet customer specifications with a Nordson colormax paint booth.
With their Nordson ColorMax paint booth, the colour change can be delivered in as short as 5 minutes, allowing Wrekin Sheetmetal to deliver superb quality and quantity without limitations.
Wrekin Sheet Metal started their development plan back in January after discovering they were limiting their customer base by not offering in house powder coating.
Poppy Durnall, Operations Director of The Powder Coaters, Wrekin Sheetmetal’s newly established sister company, is only 27 years old and invested her own funds to start the company’s new journey.
Talking about what customers can expect from their new facility, Poppy said:
“Our new powder coating plant has been designed to maximise efficiency, with a competitive track running speed and exceptional quality at each stage of the powder coating process”.
Poppy and the team at Wrekin Sheet Metal used lockdown time to plan the new facility and what it will offer, using a time of uncertainty to take control and get excited about the future.
Poppy said:
“As it turns out, those first few weeks of lockdown and downtime were a blessing. We actually reanalysed what we wanted to achieve with our plant to widen our customer base, such as a faster track, double pass curing oven and finishing options and the modifications we would need to make to enable these.”
Tapping into opportunities during this time, the team also applied for a grant from the Government for Central Business Finance which they received within 3 months and invested in powder coating technology.
Next year the firm will take steps to commission their second line and officially launch their new powder coating sister company - stabilising the development of Wrekin.
Poppy hopes to modernise this new leg of the business to exceed customer’s current expectations, she said:
“I hope to modernise the new business by bringing it in line with the revolution of Industry 4.0 within manufacturing such as paperless work procedures, programming machinery offsite and more reliability than previously offered in such a traditional industry.
Join our virtual festival - Backing Britain Live 2020 from 17th-28th August to visit Wrekin Sheet Metal's virtual booth. Click here to find out more and get your tickets.