Cube it

Sourced from Italy, the new technology flips the usual powdercoating process on its head by arraying the aluminium extrusions vertically, as opposed to horizontally. Why’s that so useful? For a start, it has allowed us to cater for volume growth while minimising our plant footprint – the Cube is a mere 36 metres long, as opposed to the original horizontal powdercoating line at Te Rapa which spans the length of a rugby field.

As well as being wonderfully compact, this world-class technology allows us to achieve greater capacity, speed and quality of powdercoating, a process whereby powdered resin is applied to an aluminium profile then passed into an oven to cure.

The other great beauty of the Italian system is that it uses a chromium-free pre-treatment solution, reducing environmental impact and greatly simplifying on-site effluent treatment and disposal. What’s more, on the back of introducing the technology, APL updated its other manufacturing processes to the same environmentally-friendly standard. That’s the power of the Cube.