Industrial washing, coating, and impregnation systems for the automotive industry
The Industry
The automotive and automotive components industry has always been at the heart of Tecnofirma’s business: it represents the broadest and most established area of our expertise. With over a thousand systems installed worldwide for vehicle manufacturers, systems manufacturers, and Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers, we are an international leader in the design and manufacture of industrial washing systems, industrial coating systems, and impregnation systems. The automotive sector is a market that demands tight tolerances, high volumes, and some of the most stringent standards for cleanliness, finish, and reliability in the industry.
We handle the entire range of vehicle components—from engine and transmission assemblies to chassis and braking parts, as well as lighting components and systems for new electric mobility such as stators and battery housings—with lines designed to customer specifications and capable of being integrated into automated production cycles.
Tecnofirma supports the automotive sector through all three of its technology divisions, offering a single point of contact for the design and construction of surface treatment, washing, and coating systems, as well as impregnation systems for electric motors used in new electric mobility applications.
Tecnofirma’s Plant Solutions
Industrial Washing Systems for the Automotive Industry
Washing is a fundamental process in the automotive sector, where component cleanliness—in terms of residual particulate matter and contamination—is a functional requirement, not merely an aesthetic one. Tecnofirma designs custom systems for every process need: from standard washing machines for high-volume degreasing to specialized, high-precision washing systems for components that must meet measurable technical cleanliness specifications. Our range includes spray, immersion, ultrasonic, and drum washing solutions, configurable for the treatment of engine blocks, cylinder heads, pistons, gears, brake calipers, battery housings, and stators. The washing systems are integrated with drying stations, inspection, and automatic handling, allowing them to be seamlessly integrated into the customer’s production lines.
Industrial Coating Systems for the Automotive Industry
In the automotive sector, coating serves a dual purpose: corrosion protection for components and high-quality finish. Tecnofirma designs and manufactures systems for liquid coating, powder coating, and cataphoresis dip coating, ensuring uniform coverage even on complex geometries and hard-to-reach cavities. The lines are designed to handle both structural metal parts and technical components such as reflectors and polycarbonate lenses for lighting assemblies, where environmental cleanliness and deposition precision are critical. Pretreatment, application, curing, and handling systems are engineered as a single, optimized cycle tailored to the required production volumes and cycle times.
Impregnation and Potting Systems for Electric Motors and Stators
With the growth of electric mobility, impregnation has become a key technology in the modern automotive industry. Tecnofirma supplies systems for the impregnation of electric motor stators and windings—including hairpin stators—using processes that seal the windings and improve their dielectric strength, thermal conductivity, and resistance to vibration and humidity. Our impregnation division also includes potting solutions for encapsulating electrical and electronic components that require protection and insulation. These systems operate in close coordination with manufacturers of stators and electric powertrain systems, often based on confidential and rapidly evolving process specifications.
For e-mobility and electric powertrains, we process stators and rotors with traditional wire windings and rectangular or square cross-sections—including hairpin technology—using dedicated plant solutions:
- Ring. For mass production, offering high productivity and process repeatability.
- Modular. A flexible, configurable solution for a wide variety of components and production cycles.
- U-Line. For motors requiring both impregnation and gel coating in a single cycle.
- Pilot Multispindle.For small production batches, prototyping, and R&D laboratories.
Powder coating is available for hairpin stators to cover the welds. In motorsport applications, for high-performance stators, the product line is rounded out by vacuum potting machines, which can also be combined with the trickling process from the Pilot line.
The Challenges Facing the Automotive Industry
The automotive sector is undergoing profound transformation, presenting Tecnofirma with several recurring challenges:
- The transition to electric power. The shift from internal combustion engines to electric propulsion is driving demand toward stators, battery housings, and impregnation, requiring new process expertise and rapidly evolving production cycles.
- Increasingly stringent technical cleanliness standards.Residual cleanliness is becoming a measurable and contractually specified requirement, especially for e-mobility components and safety systems.
- High volumes and short cycle times.Systems must combine high productivity with repeatability, integrating into automated lines without becoming a bottleneck.
- Sustainability and efficiency.Reduced consumption of water, energy, and chemicals, with recovery and treatment of process fluids.
- Global presence.Customers operate on an international scale and require systems that can be replicated and supported across multiple continents—a need that Tecnofirma meets through its international network.
To address the challenges of the automotive industry, Tecnofirma utilizes T-Lab (its in-house laboratory) to develop and validate plant solutions, including directly on its customers’ components and processes. This approach allows us to optimize the performance of washing and impregnation systems from the earliest stages of the project, reduce time-to-market, minimize startup risks, and ensure compliance with required standards in terms of technical cleanliness, finish quality, productivity, and reliability. The result is equipment designed to meet the customer’s actual production needs and ready to support their long-term competitiveness.
Design your automotive industry plant with Tecnofirma
Whether you’re setting up a new production line or optimizing an existing process, our engineers are here to help you identify the most suitable plant solution.
From industrial washing systems to industrial coating systems, and even impregnation systems for electric motors and e-mobility components, we design custom technologies that guarantee process quality, production continuity, and long-term reliability.