Enthone recently conducted two Plating Academy technical training sessions on decorative chrome plating at the request of Volkswagen (Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA) and Volkswagen de México (Puebla, Mexico). Lupini Targhe, one of the world’s leading manufacturers and suppliers of decorative components for the automotive industry, hosted the Volkswagen de México training at the company’s world-class production facility also located in Puebla, Mexico. Volkswagen personnel spanning management, engineering, and research with responsibilities ranging from supplier quality, manufacturing, testing, laboratory and purchasing participated.
Extensive training was conducted by Enthone team members Ms. Linda Wing, automotive industry manager, and Mr. Rob Collin, technical development manager and Six Sigma Black Belt. For the Mexico training, Rafael Covarrubias, technical service manager – Enthone Mexico, joined the team in providing instruction. The training provided production-proven operating performance standards and best practices to optimize plated part quality, increase productivity, and extend product reliability. Specific topics of the training sesions included:
- Effect of molding conditions on chrome plating ABS and PC/ABS parts
- Corrosion mechanism
- Chrome plating part and rack design
- Failure mode analysis
- Best practices
Additionally, the team detailed how the use of ENTHONE® copper-nickel-chrome plating systems deliver precise deposit thickness and reliable adhesion to meet automotive thermal cycle and CASS requirements.
“We greatly appreciate the invitation by Volkswagen and Lupini to conduct the technical training sessions that were customized to meet Volkswagen’s current and emerging technology roadmap requirements," Wing stated. "Enthone looks forward to continuing our collaboration with two of the automotive industry’s benchmark manufacturers.”
The Enthone Plating Academy is the company’s central training program for employees and customers to gain technical knowledge about Enthone's key processes and technologies. Training modules range from
obtaining a basic understanding of Enthone best-in-class processes to acquiring comprehensive, advanced training on specific troubleshooting and preventative maintenance procedures for a particular application.
About Enthone
Enthone Inc., an Alent plc company, is a global and leading supplier of high-performance specialty chemicals and coatings. Enthone creates customer value by providing innovative and cost-effective technology solutions to the automotive, building hardware, energy, aerospace, jewelry, industrial finishes, printed circuit board and semiconductor industries. For more information, please visit enthone.com.
