When it comes to powder coating Atlas Coating is the market leader driven by a strong investment programme, supported by parent company Bri-Stor Group. In this feature, Coatings Manager Ian Buckley explains how the culture of the business results in the achievement of world class standards.
“Our highly skilled and motivated workforce is at the heart of our success,” explains Ian. “We invest heavily in training to ensure that our team are at the forefront of the industry and we recognise that you can have the best machinery in the world but it’s our team of expert people that really deliver the consistent, high-quality output our customers have come to expect from us.”
Accredited to the quality management standard ISO:9001, the environmental standard ISO:14001 and the health and safety standard OHAS:18001, Atlas is entirely committed to minimising the firm’s impact on the environment, while simultaneously delivering a safe and healthy place to work, Ian continues: “As we all look towards a net zero future, we have a real duty to minimise our impact on the environment and as a business we have made many small changes to our overall operation, from the baling and recycling of all cardboard to the reclaim and filtration system on our ITW powder facilities to help us reclaim powder that would normally be wasted. All these measures add up and get us closer to achieving both local and global targets.”
Amongst its customers, Atlas is known for its ability to flex its operations to meet customer’s often, demanding needs. With a 24-hour shift pattern, employing the vast majority of its long serving and loyal workforce from the local area, Atlas works closely with leading machinery manufacturer ITW to continuously advance its production capability, as Ian explains: “Since Atlas was established in 1989, we have consistently invested heavily in the latest equipment to deliver maximum production efficiency and output quality. Our semi-automated powder coating system enables us to work on multiple parts and multiple quantities at any one time and with a short seven minute cleaning process between batches, we can switch colours really efficiently.
“The real Atlas difference is in the pre-treatment phase of production. We use the most advanced system available in the market called Oxsilan 9810. With zero harm to the environment compared to other Zinc or Phosphate alternatives used by many powder coating plants, the use of this particular material enables us to achieve results that far surpass the 1000 hours salt test. With a rigid adherence to ISO:9001, our quality standards are audited weekly by an external agent supported by our own internal quality team.”
Collaborating with the world’s leading machinery manufacturers gives Atlas a significant advantage and ultimately, gives the customer maximum powder coating flexibility, Ian expands on that point: “From a design perspective we work closely with our colleagues in Alpha Manufacturing to ensure products are designed to maximise efficiencies throughout production which includes the finishing process. Equally, for those customers bringing their finished product to us for finishing, we have the flexibility and variability within our machinery set-up to maximise batch loads, an important consideration in evaluating the overall cost of a product.”
Based in the heart of the Midlands and with the ability to deliver products across the UK, Atlas Coating goes from strength to strength, as Ian concludes: “We are proud of the ‘gold standard’ we bring to the industry and this is achieved by the continual investment in our people and our plant. This is an industry constantly evolving. Quality, environmental and health & safety standards are constantly under review and we need to lead the industry to meet these ever-more stringent regulations. Like everything we do at the Bri-Stor Group, we do it with maximum commitment and maximum effort – it’s the way we do business and it will underpin our continued success.”
