Several Strategic Advancements in China – Impact Coatings Delivers Second IC2000

2024-06-28

Impact Coatings has today delivered a second INLINECOATER™ IC2000 to SEKSUN, an order that was received and announced in a press release on May 14, 2024. This marks an important milestone in Impact Coatings' strategy to shorten delivery times through standardized system production and manufacturing against forecasts. In addition, the company has strengthened its position in the Chinese market through several new agreements and partnerships in 2024.

"Impact Coatings strives to be a long-term strategic partner to customers within PVD coating, from early test stage to volume production. Our strategy to achieve profitability builds on standardizing and streamlining production of coating systems, driving sales and high value as a one-stop supplier for customers independent of their development stage. That we have delivered a system based on our new manufacturing approach with a significantly reduced delivery time confirms that we are making significant progress," said Jonas Nilsson, CEO of Impact Coatings.
 
Impact Coatings launched the PVD system INLINECOATER™ IC2000 in autumn 2022 with the aim of handling the coating of electrolysis plates and high-volume coating of fuel cell plates, both critical system components for the growing global hydrogen industry. During 2024, Impact Coatings have begun producing the coating system in line with market forecasts as a means of shortening delivery lead time. The goal is to be able to receive and deliver an order within the same quarter.
 
Since the launch of the INLINECOATER™ IC2000, Impact Coatings has continuously developed the offering. Being able to offer customers a combination of IC2000 systems and coatings, such as Premium FC and Ceramic MAXPHASE, has been a success factor in customer development, not least in the rapidly developing Chinese fuel cell market.
 
At the end of December 2023, the first INLINECOATER™ IC2000 was delivered to SEKSUN, a manufacturer of precision metal parts for the automotive industry. The order was received and announced via press release on June 7, 2023. In May of this year, it was also announced that Impact Coatings had received an order for an additional IC2000 from the same customer, which has shipped today.
 
In addition to the systems for SEKSUN, Impact Coatings has signed agreements with several new players in China during 2024. In April, an agreement was announced regarding volume production within Coating Services to a Chinese fuel cell manufacturer, a production that has started at the company's Coating Service Center in Shanghai.
 
A Letter of Intent has recently also been signed with Boyuan, another Chinese manufacturer of fuel cell plates and which received a first coating system from Impact Coatings in 2022. In the Letter of Intent, Boyuan has named Impact Coatings as a strategic supplier of PVD equipment for fuel cell plates to their production facilities, as announced in a press release earlier in June this year
 
Impact Coatings is currently in a period of intensified focus on sales and increased presence in key geographic markets, an effort that has strengthened existing relationships and contributes to a growing sales pipeline.