Pickersgills’ new investment paints a positive picture

Citation

(2012), "Pickersgills’ new investment paints a positive picture", Pigment & Resin Technology, Vol. 41 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/prt.2012.12941aaa.006

Pickersgills’ new investment paints a positive picture

Article Type: Industry news From: Pigment & Resin Technology, Volume 41, Issue 1

The recent purchase of a new paint plant by Pickersgill Electroplating, part of Joseph-Kaye Holdings Ltd, is already proving a wise long-term investment for the Leeds-based powder painting, electroplating and metal pre-treatment company.

The bespoke spray booth, gas oven and track system was specially configured for Pickersgills by Grand Prix Paint Plant Ltd to provide the flexibility to work as both an off-line batch oven, for larger items, or with an automatic tracking system as an integral part of the production line.

Although planned as part of a structured programme of process and equipment improvements, the new plant comes at an ideal time, following the winning of several new contracts earlier this year, and guarantees the company the capacity for greater production without compromising on the quality standards or fast turnaround times for which it is renowned.

Pickersgills purchased the system to give it greater flexibility to manage workloads and maintain production and delivery schedules and, with the new addition, has now assembled a complete range of powder painting facilities to complement its highly regarded metal finishing and electroplating services.

The new paint plant adds new colour options, including metallic paints, to a portfolio of services that already includes anti-graffiti powder paint and an anti-bacterial paint specially formulated to actively inhibit the growth of bacteria on equipment in healthcare, medical and food industry facilities as well as in the leisure and childcare sectors. The company provides a variety of flexible options for school, workplace or hospital furniture, and retail signage, that are less than the cost of wet paint, whilst being significantly more durable.

For Pickersgills’ technical manager, Andy Watts, the new purchase represents a determined commitment to the future of the business: “Like many companies, we have had our difficulties over the last couple of years but, with our order books filling up, we can now look to the future knowing that we have the resources and flexibility to take advantage of any opportunities”.

He added: “We are always looking to better our services and realised, a while ago, that our existing equipment would eventually become a restriction on our potential so planned this upgrade as part of a programme of improvements. The new system means that we have the capability to deliver additional work without affecting existing commitments and we are already winning new contracts as a result”.

Pickersgills is experiencing strong growth in demand for its paint finishes in the construction, electrical and furniture sectors, particularly in education, but also includes graphic designers among the clients benefiting from the new equipment. Demand from the medical and retail sectors also continues to grow with several new projects already underway, including producing the signage for 180 new, “local” supermarkets throughout the UK.

This remarkable upturn in demand coupled with the flexibility provided by its new paint plant means that, despite the continuing threat of recession, Pickersgills is confident about the future and believes it now has the capacity to sustain further growth.

In addition to powder painting, Pickersgills offers a wide range of metal finishing solutions including pre-treatments such as chromating, phosphating and blasting, electroplating processes, with zinc, nickel and chrome, anodising and polishing all completed entirely in-house to ensure a complete and consistent finish.