LEXINGTON, SC, May 05, 2026 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Prince Manufacturing, a leading contract and shelter manufacturing company with operations across the United States and Mexico, today announced the expansion of its automated metal plating operations in Santa Catarina, Nuevo León. A first fully automated rack plating facility is now operational, and a second, larger state-of-the-art plating facility is scheduled to open in June 2026.

The first Santa Catarina facility features a fully automated gantry-type rack plating line specializing in electrolytic nickel plating and electrolytic tin plating. The line's 14-stage process sequence — from chemical degreasing through plating, rinsing, hot rinse, and precision drying — is engineered for high-volume throughput, process consistency, and rigorous quality control. Key specifications include three dedicated nickel plating tanks each with a 2,156-liter bath volume, rectifiers rated at 1,000 A / 12 V per tank, and total heating power of 190 kW. The facility is equipped with a FISCHERSCOPE XRAY XDL 230 X-ray coating thickness measurement system to ensure precise plating verification and full process traceability.

The second facility, expected to be operational in June 2026, will be a purpose-built automatic plating operation designed for large and heavy profile components. It will offer:

- Electroless Nickel — uniform, autocatalytic deposition for complex geometries and precision components

- Electrolytic Nickel — corrosion protection, wear resistance, and surface hardening

- Electrolytic Tin — solderability and electrical conductivity for connectors and busbars

- Electrolytic Silver — maximum conductivity for high-current, high-load applications

The new facility spans approximately 50 meters in length by 14 meters in width and incorporates integrated water treatment, reverse osmosis, and scrubber systems — delivering a self-contained, environmentally controlled plating environment that meets the compliance and sustainability expectations of global OEM customers.

Prince's key competitive advantage with the new line is its ability to plate and epoxy coat components up to 2.8 meters in length — a significant step up from the 2.0-meter capacity of the existing line. This large-format capability opens the door to oversized busbars, structural power rails, and long-profile industrial assemblies that most plating operations in the region cannot accommodate. For EV battery systems, data center power distribution, and high-current switchgear, the ability to plate a full-length component in a single pass eliminates the need for sectioning, reduces assembly complexity, and maintains the finished part's electrical and structural integrity.

The expanded Santa Catarina campus is designed to serve leading technology customers across the aerospace, data center, communications, power management, and EV electrification sectors. A formal grand opening announcement for the June 2026 facility will follow.

"The capability we have now — from automated nickel and tin plating to the upcoming electroless nickel and silver processes — gives our customers a level of flexibility and precision that is hard to find in this region. We built these facilities to support EV, aerospace, and high-demand industrial customers, and we are proud of what our team has accomplished."
— Francisco Correon, VP of Operations, Prince Manufacturing

The Santa Catarina plating operations complement Prince Manufacturing's broader finishing and fabrication network, which includes powder coating, e-coating, fluidized powder coating, CARC painting, liquid paint, full metal fabrication, and contract assembly services across facilities in Monterrey, Juárez, Asheville (NC), and Garrett (IN).

About Prince Manufacturing: Prince Manufacturing, Inc. is a contract manufacturing solutions company started in 1998, but its roots go back to 1965 when it was founded as Prince Corporation in Holland, Michigan. Mr. Iram Chavez is the President and CEO of Prince Manufacturing, Inc. Prince is a contract manufacturing solution provider. It focuses on eliminating waste by fabricating, forming, finishing, and assembly of metal and composite products. Prince Manufacturing's capabilities and processes include Contract Assembly, Metal Fabrication, Sheet Metal Forming, Powder Coating, Liquid Coating, E-coating, CARC, Metal Stamping, Sequencing, and Shelter Manufacturing.

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