Publication date: 14 January 2008
Three members of staff at Weymouth-based Tecan, a leading metal finishing and plating specialist, have each achieved high praise from the Institute of Metal Finishing (IMF) - a prestige organisation which is recognised internationally for its expertise in all aspects of surface finishing, surface engineering, plating and coating.
James Hope, John-Paul Latham and Joe Pheby have each achieved 'distinctions' from their recently completed IMF foundation training course 'Metal finishing and surface coating'. The four-month course involved studying a wide range of challenging course modules both at work and at home. The three now plan to take on the next level IMF training scheme which will take them to 'Technician' level - allowing them to put the letters TechIMF after their names.
Seamus Bourke, Tecan's Metal Finishing Division manager said: "James, John and Joe have shown a great deal of commitment and dedication to achieve these results. We are indeed proud of them and hope to see their success continue to the next level and beyond. They have inspired others at the facility who will now be following their footsteps. These levels of achievement are globally recognized and as such are crucial in the standing of this company in the professional engineering community - offering the best is one thing - it is entirely another to assure proven capabilities to recognised standards."
The company has developed a dedicated high-quality metal finishing facility at its 6000m2 Weymouth base. This Nadcap-approved, purpose-built facility is staffed by some of the industry's leading specialists and offers a wide range of standard and bespoke finishes to meet the most demanding requirements.
For a wide range of 'high-tech' companies, particularly those involved in the aerospace sector, Tecan's Nadcap-approved metal finishing facility has proved to be invaluable as a fast-turnaround sub-contract resource, and in recent years has developed proprietary new techniques. For example, TECfin Anti Friction, a new range of high-performance PTFE-impregnated finishes, specifically designed to alleviate the abrasion and galling caused by day-to-day metal-to-metal contact.
The company has also developed TECfin Connect, a range of gold-based finishes designed to provide optimum durability, reliability and / or solderability dependent on the application. The finishes have been exclusively developed to change surface properties for specific electronics applications from consumer electronics products to aerospace, medical and military needs.
In-house laboratory facilities are used extensively for process analysis, quality assurance and control. Qualified chemists and technicians use advanced systems and equipment to assure finishes are technically correct and meet the requirements of individual specifications. Prior to processing, atomic absorption spectrometry is used to analyze all metal solution samples. Post-processing, non-destructive X-Ray fluorescence testing is used to ensure surface finish thickness meets with specifications. Salt-spray testing can be used to perform accelerated corrosion tests to ensure long-term performance requirements are met. Micro-hardness testing is a further tool in the QA portfolio.
For Further Information Visit: http://www.tecan.co.uk
