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PRODUCTS FINISHING — pfonline.com 19 MAKING PLATING LINES NEW AGAIN PKG's extensive expertise was one reason Rowe called on the company to help, and that expertise proved vital when Rowe heard about a line that was shut down at a facility that was closing in southern New York near Horseheads. The line was a great candidate to be relocated to Monroe Plating, especially since PKG had rebuilt the line and its systems just a few years earlier. Modifications From Nickel-Tin "It was a tremendous prospect for them," Pontarelli says. "We knew this line very well because we had worked on it, and it helps to know the history of the line if you can." The only drawback was that the used line was set up to run nickel-tin coatings, so there needed to be some modifications to it for Monroe to use it, which is what PKG is expertly quali- fied to do. "We knew that we were going to have to do a major change- over to enable the line to do what we wanted it to do," Rowe says. "But you could tell it was well taken care of." In addition, Rowe says the new line had "way more bells and whistles" than the current line in the shop in Rochester, which made it even more attractive. The line had two hoists and individual rectification, among other attributes. "It was going to give us more plating tanks and flexibility that we never had before," he says. "Our current line had only had one rectifier for three cells, which limited its efficiency. The new line was going to let us run at least six different parts and different thicknesses simultaneously, and it had a lot of other great features." Once Monroe purchased the line early in 2015, the company had to make plans to get it moved to PKG's facility to begin refurbishing it, as well as get its own shop ready for its instal- lation. That included ripping out an existing line that was no longer needed and getting the infrastructure prepared, such as readying the floor for the new system. PKG designed pumping stations for the Monroe wastewater system. Monroe coated the floor and raised the line so it was off the floor and fully enclosed. It also improved the lighting system to make the work area bright. Line Refurbishing At the PKG facility, the team spent about two months rebuilding the line and getting it prepared to go into Monroe's plant. Pontarelli says about 35 percent of the overall business is rebuilds, so this wasn't anything new to the company, or some- thing it couldn't handle. "It just made more sense for us to bring the line into our shop and do the work, as compared to taking it to the custom- er's shop and trying to do all the work there," Pontarelli says. "Especially when they needed to prep their shop, it was better