stainless keeps the lid
on at Kalmar Industries

One of our customers is Kalmar Industries, the world leader in loading equipment for harbours, terminals and internal transport for industry. Our cooperation began when the company needed help with the finish on some of its bigger trucks.

Fuel filler caps corroding apart

“Our trucks are used in extremely tough conditions,” says Ken Rasmussen,  Project Manager Purchasing, at Kalmar Industries. “We had problems with fuel filler caps corroding apart. It was obvious that the corrosion protection we used was not sufficient. Proton had a reputation for being capable, so we invited them in as advisors.”

A higher quality alternative

Together with Kalmar Industries we went through all the requirements and looked at the finish in use. Then we quickly got back to them with a higher quality alternative. We suggested a small change to the filler cap design so that the plated layer would adhere better. Kalmar developed a prototype; we gave it a surface treatment, followed by thorough tests in our lab to verify that it met all the demands. And that got things moving along.

Stainless customer calls

Ken is happy. “With the new surface treatment we have completely eradicated the corrosion problem. We have not had a single complaint since we made the change.” Besides the filler cap, we are plating many other parts for Kalmar Industries these days. It has made their customer calls both painless and stainless.