Two coating processes, one company, for repeat production that has to hold spec
Manufacturers need the same finish on part number one and part number ten thousand. Great Dane coats brackets, enclosures, frames, and fabricated assemblies with powder coating, electrocoating, or both. Two dedicated plants, a sub-1% rework rate, and a 5-day standard turnaround keep your production schedule moving.
What manufacturing parts does Great Dane coat?
Great Dane coats parts for OEMs, fabricators, and contract manufacturers. Common jobs include brackets, enclosures, housings, panels, and covers. We also coat machine frames, weldments, bases, and fabricated steel assemblies. Smaller work includes fasteners, hardware, clips, and stampings. We run aluminum extrusions, tubing, sheet metal parts, and castings. We coat steel, galvanized steel, aluminum, stainless steel, and alloy steels. Volumes run from a single prototype lot to repeat production releases. Part sizes run from small hardware to large welded frames. Some parts ship straight to your customer, so color and finish carry your brand. Others go inside an assembly, so corrosion protection and film control matter more. Many parts need both at once. This page covers manufacturing work that does not fall under one of our other industry pages. If your product line has its own page, start there. Because we run powder coating and electrocoating in two dedicated plants, we can take the whole list. Send a part list and we will tell you what fits.
How do powder coating and e-coating protect manufactured parts?
Manufactured parts fail at the finish more often than at the metal. A bracket that rusts in your customer’s field application becomes a warranty claim, a return, and a phone call. Powder coating applies a charged dry powder that heat cures into a hard film. That film resists chipping, scratching, abrasion, corrosion, chemicals, and UV fading. It also holds color and gloss across a full production run. Electrocoating works differently. Our e-coat system runs an eight-stage zinc phosphate pretreatment, then the electrocoat application. Racked parts enter a charged bath of Axalta AquaEC 6000 series coating. An automatic voltage control system delivers uniform film thickness regardless of the square footage being coated. That last point matters to a manufacturer. Film build stays consistent whether a rack holds fifty small brackets or one large weldment. The coating also reaches seams, weld joints, interior cavities, and recessed edges that a spray gun cannot. Complex weldments and hollow assemblies gain the most from it.
When is a dual-layer finish the right choice for manufactured parts?
Some manufactured parts need more protection than either process gives alone. For those, Great Dane applies a dual-layer finish. We start with an e-coat primer that covers the whole part evenly. Then we add a powder topcoat for hardness, color, and impact resistance. The e-coat guards the metal from the inside out. The powder guards the surface from the outside in. Together they outlast either coating by itself. This suits parts headed for outdoor service, road salt, or a coastal customer. It suits welded assemblies with cavities a topcoat cannot reach. It also suits any part where a field failure costs far more than the finish did. Most coating shops offer one process. A dual-layer job then means two vendors, two shipments, and two quality systems. It also means nobody clearly owns the result when something goes wrong. Great Dane runs both processes, so the part never leaves our control. Learn more on our E-Coating and Dual-Layer Coating pages.
What color, finish, and masking options are available?
We work from stock colors when speed matters, and from special order colors when the match has to be exact. Send us a color number, a paint code, a sample panel, or a part from your current supplier. We will confirm what we can match before you commit, and we will tell you which route runs faster. We also offer a range of gloss levels and textured finishes. Masking is where manufacturing work gets particular. Threaded holes, bearing bores, sealing faces, ground points, and mating surfaces all have to stay bare. Through holes and blind holes call for different plugs. Leading threads and exit threads behave differently through cure. Plug material, insertion depth, and when the plug comes out all affect the edge you get. Our masking program uses conductive silicone plugs that mask the hole and support the part on the rack. For ferrous parts, we use custom silicone masks with high-temperature magnets molded in. Mark your bare surfaces on the print.
How does Great Dane fit into a production schedule?
Coating sits in the middle of your schedule, not at the end of it. Parts arrive from fabrication and have to reach assembly on a date somebody already promised. Great Dane runs a 5-day standard turnaround on most work. When a job needs to move faster, we can often accommodate it. Ask us early and we will tell you honestly what is possible. Capacity is part of the answer. Our 18,000 square foot powder coating plant and 6,000 square foot e-coating plant handle production volume. We take blanket orders with scheduled releases, and we take one-time lots. We also handle the work around the coating. That includes sandblasting, pretreatment, masking, labeling, kitting, and line-ready packaging. Light assembly is available as well. Parts can reach your dock labeled, sorted, and ready to go straight to the line. Every step we handle is a step you do not have to schedule, ship, or manage yourself. One point of contact stays with your program.
How does Great Dane hold quality across a repeat program?
A repeat program lives or dies on consistency. The first lot is easy. The fiftieth lot, run a year later, is the real test. Our rework rate stays below 1%. Plant Manager Colton Adams drove that number down from about 3%. Quality Manager Kendrick Bolish oversees the systems that hold it there. He brings more than ten years in quality engineering, a Six Sigma Green Belt, and an ISO 9000 background. Quality here is built in upfront rather than caught at final inspection. That means watching pretreatment, film thickness, cure, and racking while the job runs, not sorting good from bad at the end. Parts that meet spec the first time do not come back onto your schedule or into your receiving inspection. Tell us at quoting what documentation your program requires. If your customer asks for film thickness readings, a first article, or a certificate of conformance, raise it before the first lot runs. We will tell you what we can provide.
Are these coatings environmentally responsible?
Both of our processes are cleaner than traditional liquid paint. Powder coating uses no solvents and emits negligible volatile organic compounds. Overspray is collected and reused, so material waste stays low. Electrocoating uses a water-based bath and recovers excess material in the rinse stages. The Axalta AquaEC 6000 series is formulated to meet current environmental standards. Neither process creates the solvent waste stream that spray painting does. For a manufacturer, there is a practical side to that as well. Outsourcing your finishing moves the emissions, the permitting, and the waste handling off your own plant floor. There is a second, quieter benefit too. A part that lasts longer gets replaced less often. Fewer replacements mean less raw material, less energy, and less scrap across the life of the product. That life-cycle math matters as more OEM customers ask their suppliers to report on it. If your program needs documentation for a supplier scorecard, tell us what you need.
Why choose Great Dane for manufacturing?
Great Dane has coated industrial parts for manufacturers since 1991. Owner and General Manager Gary Lamolinara has led the company from the very beginning. We offer powder coating and electrocoating from one company, in two dedicated plants. Most competitors offer one process or the other. Offering both means we recommend the process that fits your part, not the process we happen to run. That matters more on this page than anywhere else on the site. A manufacturer rarely has just one kind of part. A single purchase order can cover a sheet metal enclosure, a welded frame, and a box of small brackets, and those three call for different answers. One vendor who can give all three answers is worth more than the lowest price on any one of them. Our client list includes Caterpillar, Manitowoc Cranes, and Spartan Motors. We serve manufacturers throughout the eastern United States and across the eastern seaboard from Southwestern Pennsylvania.
Ready to quote your next production run?
Send us your part list, annual volumes, release schedule, color requirements, and any quality documentation your customer expects. Prints help. We will recommend powder coating, e-coating, or a dual-layer finish, then quote it. Call 724-537-9709 or request a quote today. We deliver on time and on budget, with no hidden fees.
You can learn more about the markets we provide coating services for on our Industries Served page.