Wolverhampton Electro Plating has installed what it describes as the UK metal finishing sector’s first industrial bulk laser cleaning and pre-treatment system, bringing a new processing step to its zinc flake dip-spin operation in the West Midlands.
The company, part of the Anochrome Group, has taken delivery of a LAMA machine from German specialist SLCR Lasertechnik after a development programme lasting more than two years. The system is designed to clean nuts, bolts and other metal parts in bulk before coating, replacing conventional preparation stages that typically rely on water, chemicals and shotblasting.
For a business built around corrosion protection and finishing quality, that shift is significant at process level as much as at equipment level. Surface preparation remains one of the more resource-intensive stages in many coating lines, particularly where bulk fasteners and engineered parts must be cleaned consistently before zinc flake application.
Denis Rainbird, General Manager at Wolverhampton Electro Plating, said: “All parts need to be thoroughly cleaned before they are coated by dip-spin to ensure they are completely free of contaminants. Up until now, this has involved huge amounts of water, chemistry and power.”
WEP has already been expanding zinc flake capacity. Last year, it added a fourth dip-spin line at its Wolverhampton site, increasing throughput and giving the business more room to manage a wider mix of finishes and customer schedules. The arrival of the laser system suggests that the next phase of investment is now focused on simplifying the preparation stage itself, cutting utilities and reducing handling steps rather than adding volume alone.
SLCR developed the LAMA platform specifically for bulk metallic components rather than flat or large-format workpieces. According to the company, the process uses repetitive laser pulses to vaporise coatings and contaminants without damaging the substrate, a method intended to reduce consumables while keeping preparation consistent across mixed part batches.
Olav Schulz, Managing Director of SLCR Lasertechnik, said: “WEP is the first coatings business in the UK to be using lasers for preparation of parts, which is a significant step forward for the industry.”
Final testing is now under way at WEP’s Wolverhampton facility, with the company planning to bring the machine into use for customers later this year. If it performs as expected in production, the installation will mark a notable change in how bulk pre-treatment is handled in UK metal finishing, particularly in high-volume fastener and component lines where water, chemistry and blasting media have long been accepted as part of the process.
