The continuous TripleHard® line is running in Kuopio
Savroc’s industrial-scale continuous coating line, built by ILMAR, has been running in Kuopio since August 2026. Version 1 is now complete: the first-round run parameters are locked, and optimization continues towards the line built for customers.
From a 3D-printed pilot to an industrial line in one year
About a year ago, Savroc started developing the continuous TripleHard® process on a pilot line it designed itself and built from 3D-printed parts. More than 50 versions were tested over months of near-daily experiments. The coating itself was already proven: TripleHard® has been in industrial production since 2024 in open-tank coating of hydraulic rods at Hydroline in Tampere. The question was how to run the complete process continuously, at industrial scale.
In February 2026, ILMAR visited Kuopio, saw the small-scale models and agreed to build a full-size line. The line arrived in June. On 8–9 August, ILMAR completed the installation and the first test runs began the same day.
The whole process, in one pass
The line takes a rod through every stage without stopping: surface preparation, etching, nickel deposition and the TripleHard® Cr(III) layers. The result is TripleHard®: a nickel anchor layer under trivalent chromium, with hard-chrome-level hardness and no post-plating heat treatment. The line is fully enclosed, so the baths are not open to the hall.
Our continuous line in Kuopio is running. V1 is now complete, and next we take TripleHard® into mass production at a customer, starting in 2027.
Jussi Räisä, CEO
A prototype, not the line that is sold
The line in Kuopio is the industrial-scale prototype on which the run settings are locked and mass production is proven. It is not the line a customer receives: each customer line is configured and sized for that customer in simulation, and its final design is refined from what the Kuopio line teaches.
Process-control software is being developed for the continuous production line, with real-time process monitoring, alarms and part-level traceability, designed to be included with each line licence.
What comes next
By the end of 2026 Savroc will know exactly what a customer’s line must be, with the playbook for replicating it.
- Target: production ramp-up with a rod manufacturer in H1 2027.
- Plan: mass production on the continuous line in 2027.
Savroc leads every project, from the simulation of the customer’s parts to commissioning in the customer’s plant. Customer lines are engineered and built by ILMAR to Savroc’s process design, and Savroc licenses the TripleHard® process.
Come and see it run
The line runs in Kuopio, and the first conversation is always with Savroc. To see a rod coated, contact Jussi Räisä, CEO, at jussi.raisa@savroc.com or +358 44 307 1409, or book a visit.