A major process plant installation has now been completed by George Koch Sons Europe Ltd (www.kocheurope.com), with the Lichfield company’s UK office designing, manufacturing and installing systems at JCB’s manufacturing plant in San Paulo, Brazil.

Tom Mercer, general manager at George Koch Sons Europe, said: “The turn-key project installed in Brazil has centred on a powder coating facility that is used in the manufacture of back-hoes, excavators, wheeled loading shovels and telescopic handlers. Importantly, we addressed a particular requirement of JCB, whereby a single paint shop installation had to accommodate a wide range of components.

“Historically, JCB has painted parts of each machine in dedicated paint shops; here, both the processing and the handling systems allow the company to undertake powder coating operations on a diverse range of parts.”

Mr Mercer says that most components undergo a multi-stage process of shot-blasting, pre-treatment and drying off prior to powder application and cooling, but George Koch also installed a dedicated wet-paint facility — for telescopic parts, in particular.

The new systems also address the need to use components that are readily available in Brazil — plus they allow remote modem access from George Koch’s UK office.