Surface Treating Systems

Perform Your Surface Treatment Process Fast & Accurate with Robots

Surface treatment is used to clean, etch, and functionalize surfaces to improve adhesion to a wide variety of plastic and metal surfaces. Just like most automation systems, the use of robotics and automation in the realm of industrial surface treating has benefits such as increasing productivity, safety, flexibility, and efficiency while reducing production costs.

In most cases, automating the material handling aspect of the surface-treating processes is necessary to achieve throughput goals. This is especially true in large-volume industrial manufacturing situations. Some of the areas that MWES has surface treating experience in are printing, coating, bonding, labeling and heat treating.

Automating Surface Treatment

Just like most automation systems, the use of robotic automation in the realm of surface treating has benefits such as increasing productivity, flexibility and efficiency while reducing production costs. In most cases, automating the material handling aspect of the surface-treating processes is necessary to achieve throughput goals. This is especially true in large-volume manufacturing situations.

Painting

Injection molded or thermoformed parts are often treated before painting. Surface treatment allows the paint to adhere to and increase the life and durability of the paint on the object’s surface.

Coating

Products are coated to protect their surface from harsh environments or as decoration. Doors, frames, and extrusions/profiles are often coated. The medical industry uses surface treatment to improve the adhesion of antimicrobial/antibiotic coatings.

Bonding

Bonding is primarily used to increase the strength of an adhesive. The medical and automotive industries rely on surface treatment to remove contaminants such as dust, grease, oils, or mold to improve bonding. Typical cleaning solvents such as methyl ethyl ketone, trichloroethylene, toluene, or acetone may be used for this purpose, but cleaning agents that leave a film residue upon evaporation will retard bonding.

Printing

Surface treating parts before printing enhances ink adhesion. Surface treatment can be used to improve print quality and production speed. In some cases, printing would not be possible without pretreatment.

Labeling

Surface treating caps, bottles and lids ensure that labels will not peel off before the destruction of the label occurs. Air, flame and chemical plasma treatment of materials like high-molecular weight/high-density polyethylene (HMW/HDPE) can effectively improve the adhesion of labels.

Robotic automation is rapidly becoming a crucial component of an already evolving world. High-performing robotic surface treating can be semi or fully automated and custom-built for your treatment requirements. The automation products Midwest Engineered Systems provides can elevate your business to new heights. Contact us today if your business is looking to expand its surface-treating production capacity or to move away from the rigors of a manual labor workforce.