Old Industrial Cleaning & Coating Habits Cost Manufacturers 35% Too Much

Phil Black - PII Editor 07/04/2017

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Established but under-utilised industrial cleaning and coating processes in rail, offshore, manufacturing, food processing and aviation would cut refurbishment and repainting costs by around 35% if adopted more widely.

Colin Atkins, Managing Director of PCL Industrial Cleaning and Coating, says opportunities to cut both costs and environmentally-damaging by-products of the cleaning, preparation and painting of a vast array of heavy machinery and parts are perhaps misunderstood, and so often overlooked.

“We have developed and deployed industrial cleaning, prep and painting processes alongside a number of clients which have produced a cost-saving of up to 40%, and significantly reduced the volume of some very nasty by-products – but it”s a market of two halves,” said Colin Atkins.

“Our clients have embraced the processes and raced off over the horizon celebrating cost and time efficiencies, while in contrast there are industrial and engineering businesses out there who are still using expensive, slow and comparatively more environmentally-harmful processes that have been round for decades.

“We were so struck by the “we”ve-always-done-it-this-way” approach of one business that we took on the work and actually changed the process without telling them, and saved them a pile of money they only spotted once we presented them with the invoice for a job which was ultimately also far more resilient in finish.

“But then one of our typical clients, one of the major rail engineering businesses – adopted the process five years ago and, on average, saves 30-40% on every cleaning and coating refurbishment.”

PCL”s processes involve high volume solids paints, which, contrary to industrial beliefs, reduce the overall production of volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

PCL Industrial Cleaning and Coating Ltd was established in 1998 and provides industrial cleaning, preparation, painting and coating services for offshore, rail, automotive, food, printing and general industrial equipment, machinery and plant owners and operators.