Category: Blog Articles

At ALIT, we’ve been saying it for a long time, and we still believe it: paint stripping should be an integral part of every manufacturer’s internal process. It’s the most effective way to reduce waste, cut costs, simplify workflows, and achieve higher levels of sustainability. 

But we know that reality is often more complex. 

Some companies run nonstop production cycles with massive volumes. Others simply don’t have the physical space for a system. And some prefer to have a solid, ready-to-go Plan B to manage peaks or unexpected issues. That’s where outsourcing paint stripping comes into play. 

But who should you trust? Which paint stripping method is the right one? And how do you make the right choice? 

Companies that need to strip paint from their components often face a technical, economic, and operational dilemma. It’s not just about finding a supplier, it’s about finding a reliable partner who can guarantee quality, lead times, sustainability, and real expertise. 

In the industrial world, there are several paint stripping methods. Each has its pros and cons. That’s why understanding what’s behind each process makes all the difference. 

Let’s take a look: 

• Mechanical paint stripping: This method uses abrasives, sandblasting, or grinding. It’s fast and works well on simple surfaces, but it can damage delicate materials or create surface irregularities. It also produces dust and waste that isn’t always easy to manage. 
• Thermal paint stripping: This method uses high temperatures to break down the paint (e.g., pyrolytic ovens). It’s effective on thick or complex coatings but can deform or alter the structure of the part. It also involves high energy consumption. 
• Cryogenic paint stripping: This method rapidly cools the surface with liquid nitrogen, making the paint brittle and easy to remove. It’s precise and clean, but costly and not suitable for all shapes or materials. 
• Laser paint stripping: This technology uses high-intensity laser beams to remove paint, rust, or coatings from metal surfaces. It’s highly precise and allows for selective removal without damaging the underlying material. Its main advantages include no physical contact and reduced waste, making it an eco-friendly solution. However, it has downsides: high initial investment, limited effectiveness on large or heavily corroded surfaces, and safety concerns due to high-power lasers. 
• Chemical paint stripping: This is where chemistry, control, and know-how come into play. Chemical strippers selectively dissolve paint without attacking the metal, allowing precision work on complex components. The advantages are many: low operating temperatures, compatibility with various materials, the ability to recover and regenerate the chemical bath, and consistent results. 

The downside? It takes experience. It requires purpose-designed chemical formulas. It demands skill in managing baths, timing, and reactions. And it needs a system built to do it right, with filters, rinses, and constant monitoring. 

In short: you need someone who truly knows what they’re doing. 

Which brings us to a real-world example worth sharing. 

The Value of High-Level Know-How 
(Outsourced Paint Stripping Optimized with ALIT Systems: Inside the Serbia Facility) 

ALIT Service Serbia works daily in the field of outsourced paint stripping, processing thousands of parts each day. Extruded, injected, or stamped aluminum components, bronze, carbon steel, stainless steel, galvanized alloys, Teflon: different materials, different needs, one consistent promise delivered. 

Each cycle is handled by skilled, trained staff in a facility equipped with advanced technologies. ALIT Service uses chemical products and systems developed by ALIT Technologies, ensuring consistent quality, sustainability, and process vision. 

The plant includes: 

• One FASTRIP AP for immersion stripping of aluminum profiles 
• One FASTRIP FP system for chemical product filtration and recovery 
• Two FASTRIP T5 machines — 75 °C compact immersion systems, ideal for small batches, prototypes, or urgent jobs 

On the chemical side, the choice falls on METALSTRIP products: high-performance strippers designed with a clear goal, to ensure not just efficiency, but sustainability too. All ALIT chemicals are developed to be reusable, easy to filter, and low-impact. 

ALIT Technologies is actively committed to supporting the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, an ambitious challenge, especially in the world of chemicals, but one ALIT tackles every day with concrete, measurable solutions. 

Chemical baths are filtered up to three times, and residue management is fine-tuned to reduce environmental impact and consumption. The result? Real operational efficiency and true sustainability. 

Here’s the most concrete fact: parts ready for repainting in 24 hours. No manual rework, no leftover defects, no delays. 

This is where trust becomes action. 

And when theory seems far from practice, some prove that the gap can be bridged, without compromise. That a third-party service can meet expectations, even exceed them. That reliability isn’t just a claim: it’s built. Day by day, cycle after cycle, strip after strip. 

ALIT Service Serbia isn’t a promise. It’s proof that when a company uses ALIT chemistry and systems, it has everything it needs to meet real production demands: expertise, quality, speed, and sustainability. 

So, back to the very first question:

Is it still worth outsourcing paint stripping? 

The answer is: it depends. 

From a strategic point of view, nothing beats a proper feasibility study to bring stripping in-house. Optimization, control, waste reduction, all of these are key levers that can truly make a difference when managed internally. 

But if you need a Plan B because of space issues, production loads, or flexibility, then choosing the right partner is crucial. 

And here’s where we can confidently say: 

If your supplier uses ALIT systems and certified chemistry, just like ALIT Service Serbia, then risk becomes reliability. 

Because trust is built like this: with the right technologies, real skills, and a vision of sustainability that’s no longer optional, it’s a shared responsibility. 

In the world of industrial manufacturing, process optimization and quality control are crucial for competitiveness and outstanding results. COLMA, a respected name in the design and manufacturing of window systems and curtain walling, has always relied on innovation to enhance its processes and deliver top-tier products to clients. In this context, their partnership with ALIT Technologies has marked a significant leap forward, especially in the aluminum surface treatment process, enhancing product performance to even higher levels.   

Who is COLMA s.r.l.?

Founded in the 1990s, COLMA has become a leading company in the window and curtain wall sector, with manufacturing facilities spanning over 30,000 m² of covered space. Specializing in multiple processes such as sheet metal cutting and bending, curving, painting, and aluminum decoration, COLMA provides certified and guaranteed solutions. Their mission is clear: to support window manufacturers, design studios, and showrooms with high-quality products and highly customized services.

Alongside their commitment to quality, COLMA prioritizes environmental sustainability. They utilize photovoltaic systems to power their plants and have achieved an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), confirming the optimization of production processes and significant reduction of waste.

The Challenge: Enhancing Performance and Customization

As a continually evolving company, COLMA pursued an advanced solution to optimize chemical conversion treatment on aluminum before painting. Their traditional spray-based process, which involved immersion tanks, presented limitations: it was neither selective nor tailored enough for different types of metal sheets and paints, making precise control difficult.

COLMA clearly required a system that allowed enhanced customization of surface treatment, minimized waste, and provided greater accuracy and automation throughout the process.

ALIT’s Solution: The Drizzling System

In response to this need, ALIT Technologies introduced the Drizzling system, an advanced technology for metal surface treatments offering significant advantages compared to traditional methods.

ALIT’s Drizzling system enables remote-controlled and customized dosing of the conversion product, tailored specifically to client requirements and the type of metal sheet used. The system also offers remote and local alarm monitoring, ensuring continuous control and enhanced operational safety.

The operating principle behind the Drizzling system is straightforward yet revolutionary: the passivation solution is continuously and precisely mixed with demineralized water, ensuring the freshness and purity of the solution. This freshly prepared mixture is then atomized directly onto metal surfaces, eliminating the need for a recirculating passivation tank.

Advantages of the Drizzling System

Adopting this innovative technology delivered concrete and measurable benefits for COLMA:

• Elimination of the passivation tank: Thanks to the minimal volume of atomized solution required, there’s no longer a need for a chemical recirculation and recovery system.
• Always-clean solution: Using a reduced volume of liquid ensures the passivation solution remains consistently fresh, preventing the accumulation of contaminants.
• Optimized space utilization: The demineralized water supply tank can be conveniently located outside the production line, making integration easy, even in existing facilities.
• Enhanced precision and control: The Drizzling system provides uniform and precise passivation, significantly improving chemical conversion quality and reducing painting defects.

In terms of production optimization, the new system has allowed COLMA to:

• Reduce chemical product and demineralized water consumption;
• Improve reproducibility and consistency of chemical deposits;
• Minimize waste and optimize resource management;
• Integrate continuous remote monitoring, increasing accuracy and reducing corrective interventions.

COLMA CEO Giuseppe Colantonio’s Perspective

The collaboration with ALIT Technologies was warmly received by Giuseppe Colantonio, CEO of COLMA, who stated:

“A year ago, we decided to partner with ALIT to enhance the performance of post-painting sheet metal bending. The improvements were tangible and impressive. Recently, we were looking for a direct dosing system for conversion products, and ALIT proposed a remotely integrated solution, exactly matching our requirements. We are extremely satisfied with their support and the results achieved. Now we can consistently guarantee top-quality deposits under any substrate conditions.”

Adopting ALIT Technologies’ Drizzling system marked a turning point for COLMA in managing aluminum surface treatment. Thanks to this solution, the company has optimized processes, reduced operational costs, and guaranteed superior product quality for its customers.

This collaboration demonstrates how technological innovation, coupled with a strategic focus on continuous improvement, can significantly impact the industrial sector. ALIT and COLMA continue their partnership, committed to refining processes further and developing increasingly tailored solutions for manufacturing needs, with a pragmatic and results-oriented approach.

Case study in a paint pretreatment line

Some projects don’t end with installation, they evolve. Because even a well-functioning system can be pushed further, refined, and adapted when production needs shift. That’s what happened after a Drizzling system was installed at Reynaers’ facility in Poland. Specific requirements emerged during operation, involving passivation thickness and process consistency under real production conditions. 

To address them, we didn’t just provide support, we launched a dedicated R&D effort, involving both our technical team and the experts at Alufinish Germany. 

A shared approach to a shared process 

Since the Drizzling system operates in synergy with Alficoat chemistry, developed by Alufinish, close coordination was essential. Their team joined us at ALIT headquarters for a full-scale testing session, using our pilot Drizzling system to replicate part of the aluminium pre-treatment process with maximum control. 

Together, we worked on fine-tuning dosing parameters, process stability and material preparation. The joint effort gave us new insight into how chemistry and technology interact in non-standard scenarios. 

Post-sales as a platform for innovation 

This wasn’t just troubleshooting it was a case where post-sales turned into structured development. It involved close collaboration among the companies involved, each contributing their expertise to respond effectively to a complex technical scenario. 

The collaborative tests delivered clear improvements and helped define new application strategies. The work is ongoing, but the value is already evident: turning field feedback into technical progress, through shared know-how and fast, focused action. This project also reflects ALIT’s commitment to listening to our customers and providing the support they need to pursue and achieve their process goals. 

Want to know more? 
The full article is featured in the new issue of Uncoated, now available in our magazine section with a downloadable PDF.