We routinely take coils of incoming steel (which already have oil on them from the rolling mill to stop them rusting into oblivion on the trip to the stamping plant), send them through the press line, send them through the ASRS (automatic storage and retrieval system), and send them into weld (mostly spot for sheet metal, mostly MIG for heavier parts) without any mid-process cleaning. Parts that are finished locally go through ecoat which includes a cleaning step to remove residue before the actual ecoat dip. Parts that are shipped somewhere else for subsequent welding processes don't get treated here; whatever coating may be on them stays on them until final weld (so that they don't flash rust during shipment), at which point I know the bodyshell is going through multiple dip tanks for cleaning, preparation, ecoat, etc.

Which part of this process are you involved with, and who's complaining?

I've heard this is catching on in Europe. No direct experience with the equipment.

https://amepa.de/en/produkte/ofis/

Brian, thanks for your response. I have a stamped part that goes into a much larger OEM assembly, that we have painted for years. All of our other customers similar parts are used unpainted. We have finally convinced this OE to go the unpainted route for cost savings. But now they are pushing for some kind of 'measurement or method' to warrant to them that they will not receive a part dripping with stamping lub.
Our stamper tells us that there are specs/methods out there but cant/wont share them with us. Thus my search
thanks

What happens to the part on their end after they receive it? Do they weld it into a bigger assembly (seems odd to ever consider painting before weld) or is it attached by some other method? Is it subsequently cleaned and painted after it becomes part of the bigger assembly?

Is the customer of this part, a big multinational who are likely to have product acceptance standards, or a mom-and-pop shop who has someone who is worried for no reason?

If they can't give a spec then you should offer 'looks good to us' as a criteria.

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P.E. Metallurgy, consulting work welcomed

LPS for Ed. If nothing else, that reply would at least start the REAL conversation