Covington Casket Company made some big changes earlier this year with installation of a new powder coating system.

Company Vice President Alan Williamson said it’s one of the biggest additions that the company has made since starting business in 1924.

“It was one of, if not the biggest upgrades, we have done since we opened the business,” Williamson said. “This new system is a lot more cost effective and produces a more durable high gloss finish. It’s really great for our business and we will do more stuff with it in the future.”

Williamson said that the upgraded system allows them to increase production.

“With our old system, we could only do one casket every 15 minutes,” Williamson said. “With the new system, we are able to do six caskets in that same time frame.”

The powder coating system is a three-stage process, Williamson said.

“The process starts by washing the bare metal steel with a pressure washer,” Williamson said. “Once it’s dry it gets coated with powder out of a spay gun. When we put a positive charge to the powder and a negative charge to the casket, the powder attaches to the steel and forms a bond. The final stage is where it goes into the oven to bake for 15 minutes.”

Williamson said the powder coating has many more uses than just for the caskets.

“In the future once we get the process down, we are going to open it up to the public,” Williamson said. “The powder coating is great on ATVs, aftermarket automotive parts, outdoor furniture or really anything that is going be outside. The best part about it is that it’s a one-time deal. Once you have the powder coating on something, you shouldn’t have to do anything else to it. We have already had a lot of people contacting us about getting something powder coated.”