Show Me Some Examples

Real Solutions to Real Problems

One of the benefits of being in business for so long is that chances are we have seen your problem or one very similar before.  When our team of technical experts come on the scene, they rely a long list of experiences and skills developed over 6 generations.  This combined with innovative thinking and a lean perspective will help to optimize your process.  Check out some of our case studies, or maybe become one of them. Your success is our success.

Cleaning the Hard to Clean Brighten Brass with Aquaease 2289


As a leader in industrial and oil heating nozzles, this company provides significant reductions in combustion pollutants for cleaner air and contribute to the reduction of carbon and soot helping to retain set up efficiencies and extend maintenance cycles.

Cleaning the Hard to Clean In-Line Paint Stripping with Aquastrip MPS


Integrating the stripping process into the powder coating line has reduced rejection rates, provided for a more consistent, uniform and reliable coating on the faucets and fixtures.

Cleaning the Hard to Clean Recycle or Reuse? A Money Savings Comparison with Aquastrip ACB


By adding Aquastrip ACB to their process, companies can reuse their masking plugs allowing them to save money, improve profitability and satisfy the need for environmental and most importantly economic sustainability.

Cleaning the Hard to Clean Clean Aluminum Extrusions with Emerald Acid Clean #1


Emerald Acid Clean #1 - a citric acid-based soak, ultrasonic, spray cleaner that may be used for the removal of a variety of soils and oxides - outperformed the competitor’s chemistry and it was easier to control for an international company that manufactures deep drawn aluminum extrusions used in the aerospace, automotive and military market.

Cleaning the Hard to Clean Cleaning Aluminum Forgings with Lusterlume ALB 4


Lusterlume ALB 4 removes residual oxidation left on aluminum forgings after annealing process. Improve process speed and cleanliness while seeing improvements to your bottom line.

Treating the Hard to Treat Metal Treatment and Hex Chrome Reduction with AquaPure


A well known military metal finishing operation in Pennsylvania was having trouble treating hexavalent chromate rinses that also had cadmium in them. Our team of experts set the system up to treat both the hex chrome and cadmium bearing rinses in the same tank.

Treating the Hard to Treat Reducing Hexavalent Chrome in Wastewater


Hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) is not easily treated, unless you really understand the chemistry. Fortunately, Robin Deal, Hubbard-Hall Wastewater Specialist, both understood the chemistry and was familiar with the manufacturing processes Limco was using. Robin began her process with a full treatability study that demonstrated to Limco management that their problems were solvable.

Treating the Hard to Treat The Perfect Mix: Exceeding Guidelines and Reducing Costs in Wastewater Treatment


An aluminum can manufacturing material had fallen out of compliance with its local and state wastewater treatment jurisdictions on levels of fluoride being discharged from the plant. The plant’s influent fluoride level was 60 ppm, and its discharge limit was 15 ppm.

Treating the Hard to Treat Solving Wastewater Problems Tankside and Side-by-Side


Did you keep a journal in Science class of the steps you took to solve a problem? Believe it or not, our AquaPure technicians still keep those journals while completing a Process Audit. Step-by-step our technicians are with you to find the best process to optimize your system; ultimately providing improvement recommendations and the required training for your operators. This Process Journal is an example of how we work with you tankside until we get the "thumbs up."

Treating the Hard to Treat Delivering a Dose of Good Service to Get a Flocculant Problem Cleared Up


Do you document the process and progress of your projects? Our wastewater specialists use Process Journals to document their thinking, ideas, and development of the project. Find out what happened when a manufacturer had a flocculant problem and the steps that were taken to clear it up.

Cleaning the Hard to Clean Keys to Electropolish Success


Control Electropolishing in Brooklyn, New York, has been in business for over 60 years, and one thing has remained fairly consistent in that time: a commitment to excellence in how they electropolish parts, and the chemical solutions that they use to get there.
80% of the work they perform is for the medical industry. The recent Coronavirus pandemic has started talks of more medical and surgical equipment being reshored back to the U.S., which might increase the workload for shops who perform electropolishing here.

Treating the Hard to Treat Tank side assistance reduced zinc and improves wastewater process


Established in 1981, our client manufactures 60,000 - 70,000 pounds of screws daily that are carried in Lowe’s and Home Depots nationwide. Not surprisingly, the philosophy of this market leader is one of continuous improvement. However, sometimes changes for the better also have consequences. When the company went to a new acid- pickle bath pre-treat system on its paint line, the result downstream was far too much zinc in its wastewater effluent.

Cleaning the Hard to Clean More effective, less costly paint stripping: Aquastrip ACB


For a 100-year-old eyelet manufacturer, issues with their paint stripping process were beginning to slow down and delay production. Their current chemistry provider was falling short on service and value. Additionally, the chemistry they provided created wastewater issues due to unacceptably high level of benzyl alcohol. To make matters worse, this same chemistry had a strong odor that made working with it all the more unpleasant.

Finishing the Hard to Finish Putting The Brakes on Flash Rust


A leading remanufacturer of automotive brake calipers was having problems with flash rust appearing on their finished goods. What was even worse was the fact that the issue was not revealing itself until after the remanufactured parts were already shipped to retail stores and customers were pulling boxes off of store shelves and seeing the surface rust, forcing the chain stores to return the products to the distributor.

Treating the Hard to Treat Helping an Anodizing Facility Meet Permit Limits


An anodizing facility was struggling to meet a pretreatment permit discharge limit of 10mg/L for Total Phosphorus. If the facility could not retain pretreatment permit limits, they would be at risk for fines and potentially having their permit revoked. Influent water showed an incoming Total Phosphorus averaging 700mg/L. Phosphorus came from the anodizing process rinse waters. pH adjustments, chemical dosing changes, and system changes did not remove enough phosphorus to get below the facility’s discharge limits.

Cleaning the Hard to Clean Getting Buff: Removing Polishing Compounds Before Electroplating


When it comes to electroplating metals such as brass, copper, and anything in between, American Plating in Cranston, Rhode Island, knows that having a clean surface helps before running parts through their various plating lines. American Plating consulted with Hubbard-Hall looking for the best way to ensure all received parts could be properly and efficiently cleaned before being plated.

Treating the Hard to Treat Extending the Process Life of Membrane Systems


In 2002, Mass Design invested in a microfiltration membrane wastewater treatment system. Committed to improving the sustainability of wastewater discharge, they were also keen to ensure a long-term return on their investment. The Hubbard-Hall team took data and analysis back to their lab and began assessing the situation, all the way from asking if minor tweaks were needed to asking if a new wastewater treatment was needed.

Cleaning the Hard to Clean Less Cleaning Chemistry Translates to Significant Cost Savings


An automotive parts manufacturer was looking to shave operating costs to help bottom-line margins. The company was spending over $100,000 per year on cleaning chemicals while also struggling with persistent quality issues rate stemming from its plating operation. It was believed this was due to poor cleaning. With the implementation of the Aquaease Infinity process, the company saw their plating operation’s reject rate drop. In addition, cleaner bath life extended from a couple of weeks to ‘haven’t been dumped in 18 months’. Chemistry usage and costs – including the cost of leasing equipment – dropped from $100,000 to $65,000.

Cleaning the Hard to Clean Coater Sees +40% Production Gain Using -50% Less Chemistry


Mikon Products, a family-owned liquid and powder paint business in Oxford, Connecticut, needed a phosphate cleaner for use on various substrates with a multitude of unknown contaminates. They also needed to address flash rusting issues before oven drying and wanted to add an in-process corrosion preventative that would not impact paint adhesion.

Treating the Hard to Treat Removing chrome, cutting costs in wastewater treatment nets a hole-in-one


Chromium has many industrial and decorative uses, but in wastewater, it can be a big problem. Failing to meet wastewater requirements can lead to steep fines and facility shutdowns. For Southern Metal Processing (SMP), a recent permit change meant that they were working 24/7 and paying for daily off-site testing in a desperate effort to meet new discharge limits.

Cleaning the Hard to Clean Proper Training Leads to More Reliable Process


Hubbard-Hall was recently asked to assist a metal finisher who was having trouble with their vacuum degreasing cleaning system. About five years earlier, they had switched from n-propyl bromide (nPB) to perchloroethylene (perc).

Cleaning the Hard to Clean Solving White Haze on Stainless Steel


Hubbard-Hall helped a manufacturer remove problematic haze from their product by giving the manufacturer a full assessments of their cleaning system and then sending effected parts to the lab for examination. The diagnosis revealed that the manufacturer was having a solvent related issue, which Hubbard-Hall solved in less than 2 weeks by recommending a new aqueous cleaning process.

Finishing the Hard to Finish Three-Metal Blackening Challenge Solved


A manufacturer needed to blacken a part made from three welded substrates. Hubbard-Hall recommended Aquaease PL solve a white haze effect. Hubbard-Hall then tested blackening the part with Cobalt 6, Inconel, and 17-4 Stainless Steel. In the end, the manufacturer used Black Magic RT SS4 to provide a deep and consistent black finish.

Cleaning the Hard to Clean Ecoater Gets 200% More Use of Paint Stripper at 40% Savings


By analyzing and adapting their paint stripping process to include Aquastrip, this electrocoater was able to save time and money.

Treating the Hard to Treat Electropolishers's Wastewater System Shines Again


As a new owner of a company, you never want to find out that the wastewater system is not operating within its design parameters. That’s especially true when you have plans to expand operations by adding larger process tanks and new processes to offer customers, and that is exactly where the new owner of one electropolishing company found themselves.

Treating the Hard to Treat Looking Upstream to Cut Heavy Metals in Wastewater


A manufacturer of stainless steel and nickel alloy bar and wire was registering extremely high amounts of nickel, zinc, and other metals in their wastewater. They needed to pretreat and co-mingle into their main discharge. When they could not find solutions from their existing supplier, the manufacturer called on Hubbard-Hall to come in and assess the situation to find solutions so they could meet effluent guidelines for their wastewater system

Cleaning the Hard to Clean Stripping Paint from Masking Proves Profitable for Automotive Coater


Roy Metal Finishing (RMF) coats millions of parts each year at its three facilities in South Carolina, and it’s attention to detail has made it one of the top finishing operations in North America, and certainly one of the largest.  Specializing in rack and barrel zinc plating, zinc-alloy coatings, electrocoat and powder coating, for one particular application — powder coating brake calipers and brake fluid systems— it required an extensive amount of masking downholes and other areas that were not only labor intensive, but also used a significant amount of caps and plugs in the masking process. The goal was to reduce costs where they could.

Cleaning the Hard to Clean If the shoe fits, remove the adhesives and glue from the stamping molds.


A Taiwanese-based shoe manufacturer was having issues with its stamping molds for sneakers picking up adhesives and glues that were left on the material during the manufacturing process The company needed to find a way to quickly remove the adhesives and glues from the mold without further disrupting the manufacturing process.

Cleaning the Hard to Clean Like a Champ: How Hubbard-Hall's On-Site Quality Program Reduces Costs and Downtime


A manufacturer was faced with dumping an expensive 600-gallon vapor degreasing bath and suffering significant downtown because of low pH levels. Hubbard-Hall’s CHAMP program caught the issue before parts were damaged and before the tank would have a need to be dumped. Weekly checks by the Hubbard-Hall Analytical Service Technician alerted the manufacturer to a mechanical issue with the degreasing machine, which turned out to be a clogged drain. Once the drain was quickly repaired, the vapor degreasing machine was working smoothly again, and the Hubbard-Hall Analytical Service Technician continued its weekly checks of levels to ensure it was working properly

Cleaning the Hard to Clean Opening the Door to Better Pretreatment, Less Cost, and Improved Performance


A door frame manufacturer replaced its iron-phosphate pretreatment with zirconium-based Torch Eco Quest NCS 172-LF to eliminate citations by its local wastewater treatment agency. Torch helped convert the line to a closed loop zero-discharge system to avoid issues and to help reduce dumping and other costs by more than $20,000 per year. The manufacturer realized improved salt-spray test results with the Torch Eco Quest NCS 172-LF because of its advanced nano zirconium composition.

White Glove Distribution Services When You Can’t Afford to Be Line Down.


In the world of today’s supply chain challenges, semiconductor manufacturers need reliability and resources to help their production lines stay up and running. The mission of Hubbard-Hall’s Inventory Management Service is to keep materials flowing to eliminate down time production. That was the case when Carter Burningham, Hubbard-Hall’s Director of Supply Chain, received a call after-hours from a customer having issues with a defect in the material they were using in their New England manufacturing facility.

Treating the Hard to Treat Rejuvenating a Trickling Filter System to Remove Fats, Oils, and Grease


A manufacturer’s trickling filter had not been working properly for quite some time when they decided to call in Hubbard-Hall to review the pretreatment part of the system and try to get it to work properly so that it could treat the fat, oil, and grease in its wastewater treatment system.

Treating the Hard to Treat A Bug in the System: Using Bacteria to Treat Industrial Wastewater


A metal extrusion company found itself having issues with its Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) in its wastewater treatment operation due to surfactants disrupting the bacteria. Specifically, the company was treating rinse water that contained surfactants with biologics and related chemistries and, over a period of time, found their treatment process was having a less-than-desired effect. They approached Hubbard-Hall with a need for a better culture that is more surfactant-resistant than what they had been using.

Cleaning the Hard to Clean Process Matters in Solving Critical Parts Cleaning Issues


Hubbard-Hall’s cleaning team resolved a $1 million inventory issue for a defense manufacturer by addressing process issues, not just cleaning chemistry. Despite not winning the product sale, their expertise led to the acceptance of 400 tubes, demonstrating a commitment to customer satisfaction and building confidence for future collaboration.