Every once in a while, a project comes up that is a little outside the normal grid. Hudson Plating & Coating’s Delta facility is such a project within the construction industry.

In a time where steel is becoming a hot commodity, Hudson Plating & Coating, which has been around since 1948, is making a name for itself as one of the few industrial hard chrome electroplating facilities in Canada serving the forestry, aeronautics, automotive, and commercial construction sectors in the industrial metal plating of chrome, zinc, and cadmium, among other heavy metals.

Hard chrome is an engineered industrial chroming process that sees raw metal deposited with a varied thickness of chromium in order to achieve stronger metal surface durability. By hard chroming metal, it achieves corrosion resistance, ease of metal cleaning and grinding, and protection of the raw metal from wear and deterioration. (Article continues after photos)

Industries dependent on steel-based equipment, such industrial blades and construction parts, seek increased hardness of metals in order to avoid wearing off of the expensive core metals that they use in sharpening processes. Chromium protection maintains core metal integrity and long-term endurance. For reference, in the chroming industry, chroming processes are governed by ISO 25.220.40 standards and regulations.

Hudson’s President Bob Scott, Vice President of Sales Bruce Gavin, and Vice President of Plating Yogi Reddy, worked closely with Vinny Maharaj, owner of VRCA member Taranis Construction Inc., to complete the heavy industrial tenant improvements of an existing warehouse in Delta that was initially used for paper manufacturing.

The project needed to transform an empty warehouse into a facility that could hold steel mezzanine structures, cranes, air-control systems, ovens, powder-coating booths, large grinding machines, and multiple concrete containment tanks with proprietary liners designed to contain any leaks of toxic acids (mainly hexavalent chromium) used by the metal plating and coating process.

Taranis Construction, which normally provides construction management for low-rise and multi-family residential projects welcomed the new challenge, and set out to migrate their thought processes from residential construction to an industrial electroplating environment.

Taranis researched at length the electroplating processes on a whole, including: steel structures and cranes; chemicals for the processes and their toxicity; use of large scale polarity switching; transformers and rectifying units; large capacity air scrubbers; and water-pollution control systems. Taranis ensured all methods of eliminating toxic waste came to net zero, working tirelessly to ensure Hudson became a state-of-the-art plating and coating facility.

“For any and all electroplating processes, methods and systems were designed and implemented to recycle chemicals so there is minimal to no wastage,” Maharaj said. “Every process takes place in a specially designed containment tank with proprietary liners that are resistant to chromium acid.

“Any spillage that is found is contained within its respective containment areas, pumped to a robust pollution control center where these spillages are chemically neutralized, thru a computer managed system, to achieve safe measures set by Metro Vancouver before any discharge.”

Taranis installed specialized valves to act as a failsafe to ensure extra back up of toxicity screening for water and waste removal on this project.

“To understand the importance of the chromium toxicity, and the dangers of the electroplating industry, all one has to do is watch the movie Erin Brockovich,” Maharaj said, referencing the real-life story of the Southern California town that saw its drinking water contaminated with hexavalent chromium.

With the tariffs on steel being what they are today, companies will be looking to source alternate methods to make metal stronger and reduce wear on the core material. It is nice to know we have a facility like this in our backyard.

A big thank you to Vinny at Taranis Construction Inc. and Bruce at Hudson for keeping me safe around the hexavalent chromium.

Maharaj says a construction management company’s success is only achieved by the team it assembles to do a project, and he thanks his team for yet another successful project delivery. Accolades to:

Harris Rebar Ltd. /Nucor, Delta (Thanks Wayne. Your reinforcement design and implementation team were excellent.)

Richard Fu Land Surveying Inc, Richmond (Thanks Richard. All containments and pile positions worked out perfectly.)

Vivid Green Architecture Inc, Richmond (Thanks Rosa. Your planning, crane layouts, floor plans and monitoring of the project made this project flow beautifully).)

Great Northern Engineering Consultants Inc. (Thanks Colin & Darcy. Your electrical engineering expertise, guidance and support was very crucial for this project.)

McIntosh Perry Engineering, Coquitlam (Thanks Doru & Florin. Your team’s engineering expertise on this project, from civil, mechanical, envelope, to structural was excellent.)

i3bcs Engineering Services, Coquitlam (Thanks Iraj. Your pile engineering and installation was right on the spot and very efficiently done.)

Deway Fabrication Ltd, Delta (Thanks Ming. Your team was very crucial in fabricating and implementing all the crane and mezzanine structures.)

MEC Mechanical Ltd, Vancouver (Thanks Jimmy. Your magnanimous attitude, the mechanical expertise, mechanical layouts and implementation were second to none.)

Torro Electric Ltd, North Vancouver (Thanks Mauro. Your team handled 6000 – 12000 Amp rectifiers like child’s play. It was a pleasure watching your team energize those rectifiers and perform your wiring layouts so tidily.)

Allanco International Environmental Consultant, Delta (Thanks Bernie. You guys sure know your air scrubbers. You did great in your design, implementation, and team work.)

Unicon Construction Ltd, Coquitlam (Thanks Danny. Your team did great in doing all the containment forming.)

High definition Concrete Ltd, Surrey (Thanks Sid. Your team was great in placing and contouring the containment tanks for an excellent flow to a central pump point.)

Westport Mechanical Ltd, Maple Ridge (Thanks Chris. Your implementation of the industrial chiller system to regulate electroplating temperatures, and overall team play was excellent.)

Carbonet Holdings Inc, Richmond (Thanks Bobby. Your team did an excellent job designing and implementing the pollution control system for this project.)

Precision Crane Ltd, Port Coquitlam (Thanks Quentin. Your services in guidance, outfitting the project with hoists and crane equipment, and being part of the greater team was greatly appreciated.)

For more information on how you can become a member of the VRCA and/or showcase your innovative projects, email [email protected].