An automatic brush-plating system was developed for component remanufacturing. With this system, Ni/nano-alumina composite coatings from an electrolyte containing 20 g/L nano-alumina particles were prepared.Microstructure, surface morphology, microhardness and wear resistance of automatically plated coatings and manu ally plated coatings were investigated comparatively. The results show that the automatically plated coatings are relatively dense and uniform and have lower friction coefficient of 0. 089 under lubricant condition, when compared with manually plated coatings with friction coefficient of 0. 14.