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be disposed of following local municipality requirements. CVD coating is another matter. There are environmental issues associated with the process, and while large OEMs are content to deal with them, small toolmakers and end users may not want to get involved in disposal matters. The Bottom Line Many of the major vacumm-coating-equipment suppliers offer a range of business arrangements for acquiring their machinery. These include renting, leasing or outright pruchase. In addition, coating managers and operating technicians can be supplied by the coating-equipment manufacturer or the end user. Many equipment suppliers offer a turnkey package and all the required infrastructure. This would include the appropriate cleaning line, which could add $30,000 to $100,000 or more, depending on the requirements. Often, the tool manufacturer or end user that begins in-house tool-coating operations will evolve into a toll coater. This transition occurs when the company has coating capacity beyond that which is needed to process its own tools and decides to treat the excess capacity as a profit center and market this available coating capacity to a certain customer base or within a particular geographic area. This outsourcing of excess coating capacity seems to mirror a growing trend by many manufacturers to market their traditional in-house technical expertise (e.g., heat treating and surface treatments) to outside customers. |
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