News & insights
Meet our new Coatings Production Manager
We are very pleased to announce that Andrew Simpkins has joined us in the role of Coatings Production Manager at an exciting time in the company’s growth. With training in LEAN manufacturing methodology and six-sigma principles, Andrew is a strong addition to our management team. He has previously worked in the exacting electronics and vacuum sectors, providing highly specified products for regulated industry sectors including medical, safety, defence and semi-conductors. Andrew brings experience of managing complex production operations where strong people management skills are needed to guarantee the quality of finished products.
Andrew said, “Working with the team at PSS is a great chance to use my practical experience and training in a company that is moving forward at pace, and to ensure that all clients are provided with the quality of work they expect.”
PowderBondPP shortlisted for an engineering award.
Congratulations to our PowderBond team - we are on the short list for The Engineer UK ‘Collaborate to Innovate’ award, for PowderBondPP - strong, easy to apply and reliable bonding process for PP to metal. Thank you also to Stalcom Automotive Technologies Limited, one of our long time collaborative partners, using PowderBondPP in some of its recent designs.
Introducing our Coatings Engineer
We are very pleased to introduce Ian Manning as our new Coatings Engineer. Ian has a wealth of experience in all things powder coating, having recently been responsible for new coating projects at Triumph Motorcycles Ltd including setting up coatings plants overseas. He also brings practical skills in wet paint, assembly and testing. Powdertech Surface Science is growing in exciting new sectors with new technologies, and Ian’s expertise will be invaluable.
Ian said “I’ve had a very warm welcome at Powdertech and I’m excited by the projects that James, Stuart and Nick have discussed with me. The opportunity for further growth within the company is clear, technically challenging in some instances - and that’s a good thing. I am looking forward to being part of an innovative forward thinking team and helping to bring new and improved solutions to clients ”
Unrivalled strength of PowderBondPP confirmed in independent evaluation.
The metal fastener was bonded to PP composite. Under tests the bond reached tensile bond strength reaching 7MPa. The bond remained intact but the composite substrate failed and remains firmly attached to the surface of the metal fastener.
PowderBondPP® is delivering impressive results in its evaluation by bigHead Fasteners Ltd for bonding polypropylene composite to metal. These results confirm that the strength of the metal-PP bond achieved by PowderBondPP surpasses any current adhesive-based methods.
PowderBondPP is an innovative bonding method, developed by Powdertech Surface Science to address the known shortcomings in current polypropylene-to-metal bonding systems. With no need for an adhesive or composite surface preparation it is a lean manufacturing process, quick and simple. bigHead Lean Bonding® process capability offers a fast, clean and reliable way to bond fasteners onto composites and metal substrates. Bonding to thermoplastics, such as PP, is one area that the company is researching and PowderBondPP is being assessed a means of extending the company’s Lean Bonding capability to include polypropylene (PP) composite.
PowderBondPP demonstrates tensile bonds strengths greater than 10MPa, and lap shear strengths above 15MPa. James Grant, Director, Powdertech Surface Science said, “In developing PowderBondPP the key criterion was strength of the bond. Yes, we were looking for a cleaner, simpler and faster method than traditional adhesive application, but none of these benefits would mean anything if the bond itself was not strong and reliable. The rigorous tests underway with the bigHead team are a valuable independent verification of PowderBondPP’s strength and reliability.”
bigHead fastener surface covered in composite from the failed substrate.
Composite surface showing where the fastener was attached.
Further expansion of our team with a second new post
We are now recruiting a technically skilled Powder Coating Engineer to become the technical ‘go-to’ person for our customers. This will be someone who is keen to solve challenging technical issues and can communicate well with customers and suppliers in order to fully understand the customer requirement. As well as designing coating solutions for complex products the role will involve the coating of prototypes and some low volume commercial products.
This position is a vitally important one as our business growth encompasses new technologies in addition to coating intricate products from niche, regulated industry sectors.
We have a culture of technical excellence, long-term customer relationships and continuous improvement to exceed customer expectations. We are a friendly and enthusiastic team and we look forward to hearing from you.
The position is advertised on a number of recruitment sites. Click here to see the full job description on one of those sites (Totaljobs).
Expanding our team to support continued growth
We feel fortunate and very pleased to announce that we continue to grow as our clients move from busy to busier. We need to add to our team in order to support this growth.
We are starting by recruiting a top-class Production Manager. This is a crucial role for our business and requires someone who thrives in a technically demanding operation, has a flair for creating positive change and can think on his or her feet. Our new Production Manager will lead and manage a team of ten people and also liaise with customers.
We have a culture of production excellence, engagement with our clients and their businesses and continuous improvement to exceed client expectations.
We are a friendly, small (but getting bigger) enthusiastic team and we look forward to hearing from you.
The position is advertised on a number of recruitment sites. Click here to see the full job description on one of those (Totaljobs).
Powdertech Surface Science invests in the latest Gema equipment
This month we are excited to see the instalment of the latest GEMA OptiCentre powder management system and GEMA’s SIT dense phase powder pumps to upgrade one of our powder coating lines. This is a big investment during these testing times but we are busy and our focus is on continuing to provide customers with the most efficient, accurate and prompt powder coating work. The GEMA OptiCentre injector technology integrates with the GEMA Magic rapid colour change process we already have in place and the combined system delivers even higher quality finishes whilst maximising throughput.
This upgrade instalment further enhances our plant facilities which include three pre-treatment lines and two spray booths, one for small and intricate pieces, the larger with capacity for up to 4M lengths. You can find out more about our facilities by visiting Our Facilitiy
Lightweight technology for low emission vehicles: £15m ALIVE project
We are proud to announce that we are one of the partners in a group that has been awarded the £15M ALIVE project with the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK to develop manufacturing processes for lightweight, crash-resistant battery enclosures, for use in ultra-low emission vehicles. We will be working alongside Constellium, BCAST Brunel, BMW Group, Volvo Cars, WMG University of Warwick, Expert Tooling and Automation Ltd and Innoval Technology. In this latest round of Government and industry funding for low-carbon emissions research, the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) has awarded £73m to 10 projects. The collaborative project we are working on, together with the automotive manufacturers, suppliers and academia named above, is one of ten projects seeking to achieve around 60 million tonnes of CO2 reduction.
bigHead Fasteners assesses PowderBondPP for Lean Bonding
Matt Stevens, Director, bigHead (right) with James Grant, Director, Powdertech Surface Science
PowderBondPP ® is under evaluation by bigHead Fasteners Ltd to extend bigHead’s Lean Bonding® process capability to join metal fasteners to polypropylene (PP), the most widely used thermoplastic. PowderBondPP has been developed to address the well-known short-comings in current polypropylene-to-metal bonding methods and delivers an exceptionally strong polypropylene-to-metal bond, unequalled by other products and systems on the market. PowderBondPP demonstrates tensile bonds strengths greater than 10MPa, the composite needs no pre-treatment, the process is rapid and repeatable, and no messy adhesives are used. bigHead’s Lean Bonding system is a fast, clean and reliable way of bonding fasteners onto composite and metal substrates with a cycle time that can be as rapid as 10 seconds and PowderBondPP fits perfectly into this process. As Matt Stevens, Director, bigHead commented “Clearly the two technologies have a natural synergy and our research collaboration seeks to looking specifically at creating strong reliable bonds to PP, with a simple, customer-ready process.”
James Grant, Director, Powdertech Surface Science said, “PowderBondPP is certainly a lean manufacturing process and fits well with bigHead’s impressive Lean Bonding solution. We anticipate exciting results from our collaborative research and testing programme.”
Trusted expertise for specialist industries
We are very pleased to be supporting Manufacturing & Engineering Magazine, a champion of innovation and technological advancement across all levels of the manufacturing chain. Well researched information is key to all disciplines, a fact we are acutely aware of at this point in time. Our advertisement sits alongside a feature on one of our partners, Fablink, specialists in metal pressings including ‘clean build’ of vehicle assemblies. Article at https://bit.ly/2TvOzmh
PowderBond and JEC World 2020 (now cancelled)
We had every good reason to be excited about JEC World 2020. PowderBondPP®,our strong and clean (adhesive-free) bonding system for composite to metal, was to be demonstrated on the Bossard stand as one of bigHead’s Lean Bonding applications. Lean Bonding® is a fast, clean and reliable way to bond fasteners onto polypropylene and metal substrates with a cycle time that can be as rapid as 10 seconds and PowderBond fits perfectly into this process. Lean Bonding can be fully automated for high volumes or applied manually for low volumes. Let us hope that it will be possible to re-schedule JEC World 2020.
Lights….camera….action!
A few lights, some very exciting cameras and continuous action meant that Ben Cottman of Aerial Film and Photo was on site, filming a typical working day at the Powdertech Surface Science plant.
Ben used a range of filming techniques including drones, cable-cam, hand-held, static and under-water cameras. The final video captures many of the different aspects of powder coating work, making an interesting and informative addition to our website.
Some of our customers may be fully aware of the different stages involved in preparing and coating specialist parts but others may not, and besides, it is always fascinating to be a fly-on-the-wall for a few moments and go behind the scenes in someone else’s plant. The video runs as a continuous loop at the top of our website home page.
Tiny - our first retiree
We will all miss Tiny (aka Rex Smith). He has been at the heart of all Powdertech’s projects over his thirty-two years of dedicated work, making thousands of jigs, building enough barriers to cover the Forth Road Bridge and demonstrating a masterclass of welding. His efforts over the years have most certainly helped Powdertech grow to become the company that we are today.
We were very grateful to Oxford Welding Supplies Ltd, Vanessa King KJNorth, Oxford Bearings Limited, ADEPT Pure Water Ltd, and Advanced Electrical (Oxford Ltd) for giving us a generous and varied selection of items to make a customised ‘retirement survival pack’ for our first retiree and longest serving employee . Tools, screws, seals, a welding mask and more – these should keep a retiring Maintenance Manager happy for years to come.
Thirty-five years of Powdertech – Proving the worth of exceptional customer relationships
September 2019 saw Powdertech proudly celebrating thirty five years as a highly successful business, providing powder coatings and specialist metal surface treatments. We look forward to further achievement in the coming years as we continue to advance the business in line with market needs.
Powdertech was founded on one man’s understanding of the over-riding importance of excellence in customer relationships. Martyn Green had a conviction that ‘things could be done better’. He recognized a significant gap in the market for a company combining consistently reliable high-performance coatings with an interest in and understanding of customers’ own industries and markets. That focus on mutually beneficial, close customer relationships has been our constant philosophy.
Evolving into two companies for specialist markets
Powdertech started life in Bicester in 1984, concentrating on coating aluminium Georgian bar - horizontal and vertical bars placed across windows and doors to give a Georgian appearance. From a small company operating two shifts of six people the business grew rapidly as it concentrated on specific aspects for customers in different niche markets.
In 1989 the volume and variety of work led to Powdertech (Corby) Ltd being established in Corby with a purpose-built plant to deal with architectural work. Powdertech (Bicester) Ltd started to offer specialised pre-treatment services on aluminium and zinc castings for the automotive sector, in addition to powder coating for aluminium and magnesium. We installed chrome-free pre-treatment in 2001 (the first UK powder coating plant to do so) and acquired work in the aerospace, medical and specialist engineering sectors in addition to automotive. Our re-branding as Powdertech Surface Science reflects our capability in many aspects of metal surface technology. We are continually researching and developing improved surface treatment systems and in 2018 we launched PowderBond, an innovative system for bonding light-weight metal to composite without using a separate adhesive.
Thank you for letting us be part of your own business success
Across thirty five years the Powdertech philosophy remains unchanged. We deliver high quality finishes and processes with an emphasis on technical innovation, but our greatest strength remains a willingness to thoroughly understand a customer’s own business and market, and to work together to achieve a final product at the highest level.
Powdertech 1980s
Powdertech (Bicester plant) 1990s
Powdertech Surface Science 2019
Powdertech TiZr and the new Morgan Plus Six
We are excited to be working with Fablink on the new Morgan Plus Six built around an entirely new platform and billed as the most dynamically capable Morgan ever produced. Morgan’s innovative CX Generation platform is a bonded aluminium and ash construction, assembled at Fablink’s Brixworth site. A total of 160 component parts make up the chassis, held together using a heat cure adhesive and over 1000 structural monobolts and self-piercing rivets, along with 450 threaded inserts. At Powdertech Surface Science we apply a TiZr coating to the numerous aluminium extrusions and turned parts, in a ten stage PLC controlled immersion treatment process which cleans and etches the aluminium surface removing the existing oxide deposit and converting it to a consistent TiZr oxide layer. This layer greatly improves the durability of the heat cured adhesive resulting in an incredibly strong, rigid and lightweight structure weighing less than 100kg.
Our new Production Manager
We are very pleased to introduce you to our new team member, Jurgita Kairyte, who joins us as Production Manager.
Being responsive to customers and nurturing close working relationships are critical to Powdertech’s service offering and we prioritise investment in our valued team. As a result of this, Jurgita will work alongside the operations manager and commercial manager in a 360-degree role, accelerating the delivery of process improvements whilst simultaneously running large elements of production and account management, providing our customers with a personal and highly reliable service.
Jurgita has gained practical experience in project and people management throughout her career in the manufacturing industry and has a Degree in Leadership & Management.
“I am looking forward to developing my career with Powdertech, “ said Jurgita, “I have a natural drive and desire for excellence and will be seeking further enhancements in efficiency, consistency in quality and timely delivery for customers.”
Our Iridite NCP process achieves top marks
We are pleased to announce an impressive ‘pass’ in results for our Iridite NCP coating process. Aluminium panels pre-treated with Iridite NCP and coated with a polyester powder coating were put through an automotive corrosion cycle – an aggressive acetic acid salt spray test running at 49C. This is a more hostile environment than the standardised corrosion tests used for Iridite NCP. The results were excellent showing creep of <1mm against the scribe cut through to the metal surface; this is classed as ‘minimal’. The test panels had been processed alongside production parts which means you can have full confidence in the reliability and high standard of our Iridite NCP process.
Supporting Oxford Brookes Racing
We are very pleased to play a small part in the exciting times ahead for Oxford Brookes Racing. Following twenty years of success with combustion engines, the students have spent the last year planning, designing and building ‘Lily’, the team’s new electric car for the 2020 season – and we have powder coated the aluminium roll hoops in satin black. A small part but nonetheless vital.
In designing and building the car the students research and use the latest technologies, 3D printing being one example. Formula Student is the world’s largest student motorsport competition and challenges university motorsport engineering teams from across the globe to design, build and race a single-seat race car in one year. Oxford Brookes Racing is the most successful UK team in the winner’s circle of the Formula Student competition held at Silverstone. The cars are judged on their speed, acceleration and endurance, while the teams are put through their paces in terms of design, costing and business presentation skills.
We wish Oxford Brookes Racing every bit of luck for 2020.
Working on the new Land Rover Defender
We are delighted to announce that we have won business to supply surface treatment on components for the new Land Rover Defender. This could lead to business worth £3million, over the life of the vehicle. Our customer has been with us for over ten years and has confirmed that it is our experience and reliability, combined with a willingness to work together in partnership that cements the working relationship. Regularly working on exciting new projects for prestigious clients such as JLR enhances Powdertech Surface Science’s position as a highly regarded powder coater for closely regulated industries such as automotive and aerospace. http://bit.ly/2VRUf8E
Supply Chain Cluster for Automotive Light-Weight Structures
We are very pleased to announce that we are members of the Composites Large Scale Project(C-LSP) set up to create a UK-based supply chain cluster to deliver light-weight structures for automotive applications from 2020 onward. The group benefits from an advisory body of McLaren, Nissan, Bentley, JLR, Aston Martin, Ford, Lotus & GKN and the wider pool of 50+ UK businesses of which we are one.
C-LSP has been set up by HVM Catapult, established by Innovate UK to offer world-class equipment, expertise and collaborative opportunities to UK manufacturers and to turn great ideas into commercial applications. C-LSP organises events and conducts supply chain studies to identify the gaps and opportunities for the wider supply chain in automotive light-weight structures.
We are proud to be contributing to this group and helping to establish impressive and globally competitive supply chains to take the UK to the forefront of this emerging global market.