Upon entering the first stage washing process, the horizontally moving metal strip is sprayed with a hot water/alkaline cleaner at 135-145??F from multiple spray nozzles to remove any protective residual oil film that may be on the metal strip. It then passes through a brush unit to remove any residue from the strip. The cleaned strip is subsequently water rinsed in two stages that operate at 140??F. For worker comfort purposes, the washing and rinsing stages are covered and vented through a common vent through the roof to the outdoors. This vent minimizes heat buildup inside the building from the hot solution tanks.

The rinsed metal strip next passes through rollers that apply an etchant coating to both sides of the strip in preparation for downstream prime and finish coating. The chemically coated strip is dried by passing through a hot air oven before it reaches the prime coating station.