Small space, big opportunities: a new compact e-coat system is helping a shopping cart manufacturer increase its market share.(technology in coating industry)

Quality and innovation are the tenets that drive Tote Cart Co., a shopping cart manufacturer based in Rockford, Ill. The 63-year-old company prides itself on its highly durable nickel-chrome plated product, and also offers a plastic cart as a lighter-weight alternative. But when the market started shifting toward electrocoated ("painted") shopping carts several years ago, Tote Cart had a problem: The company didn't have an e-coat system, and it had a limited amount of space in its facility to install new equipment.

"In the supermarket industry, many of the smaller stores are being bought up by larger companies. To remain successful, shopping cart manufacturers need to be a one-stop supplier, offering plastic, painted and chrome-plated carts. We were not able to do that, so we were missing out on market share. We knew we had to integrate e-coat into our facility; we just had to figure out how," says Jesse Leigh, finishing manager. …