Everyone knows them ... everyone uses them ... everyone needs them ... screws, nuts or washers - everything for fastening and securing ... They are, the "hidden champions" among securing and fastening elements - but who protects them from corrosion and gives them a long life?

Metallveredlung Döbeln GmbH, a company of KAP Surface Technologies - a special service provider in the field of surface coating, put a new zinc-nickel coating system into operation on April 7, 2021, which is primarily intended to refine small parts for the screw industry using the galvanic drum process. This catapults the company into a new and rapidly growing business area.

The investment in the very difficult Corona time should also send a signal to the market and be a positive commitment for the location, the region and the local workforce. With an investment of around 5 million euros, this is a big boost for the plant in Döbeln as well as for the further growth of the KAP Group, which currently employs around 500 people in Saxony. We are still looking for employees to accompany this growth path. Thanks to our research and development department, we are on a future and growth-oriented path and will
also make further investments in our KAP Surface locations in the future.

The size of the new facility at this location alone gives it a unique selling point. It can be used to electroplate over 9,000 tons of screws, nuts and small parts in perfect coating quality. For comparison, 9,000 tons are approx. 1,300 trucks for a 12t truck, which corresponds to a truck queue of approx. 16km. The location is very proud of the new line and its extensive capacities and thanks to all customers, suppliers, planners and the entire team on site for the strong support during the construction phase.

Another plus is the implementation of a complete process chain, from cleaning to Coating with zinc-nickel, through “patching”, i.e. application of a screw locking device (you can often recognize this by a colored point in the thread) up to packing and sorting. The whole process is almost fully automated and is state-of-the-art in terms of environmental technology and energy. All this, the process and the control, including the optimization in terms of time and the saving of resources, is highly efficient and economical, explained CEO of KAP Surface Nicolai A. J. Baum in his address.

The new coating line is to go into 3-shift operation in the second half of this year. The planned throughput time of the goods takes about 3-4 hours within the system, then the screws, nuts or other small parts "rattle" into the boxes provided and go to the subsequent processes, such as "patching", control (for example, cracks after the Drawing process) and fully automatic packaging.  The articles are then picked up, brought to wholesalers or even directly to the automobile manufacturers, for example - because no matter which car you get into - KAP Surface Technologies is sure to be there.

KAP Surface Technologies is the competent contact for every type of electroplating and represents locations in Saxony, Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Poland, Hungary and also the USA. We will continue to grow in the interests of our customers and employees, we will open up new business areas and look forward to every challenge, because….

We take “making the world better - layer by layer” literally!