PC Symposium: A Review

By Kevin Biller

A confluence of industry experts ranging from pretreatment chemists and resin scientists to powder formulators and equipment suppliers and instrumentation mavens converged at the PC Symposium October 13-14 in Columbus, Ohio. This was the first annual conference which was an evolution of the previously held PC Summit.  The Symposium was touted as an event for “the exchange of ideas on the next generation of coating technology.”

Central to this theme was addressing the lack of new recruits in the technical fields that shape innovation in powder and related coatings. Activities of the first day provided the novice technologist with an overview of chemistry, application fundamentals, troubleshooting and cure characterization. The afternoon consisted of a live, hands-on demonstration of the powder manufacturing and application processes and instrumentation to evaluate film properties.

The second day kicked off by presenting The Powder Coating Institute’s Scholarships to three very deserving students—all from Eastern Michigan University’s Polymers and Coatings Technology program.  Click here for more on the deserving winners.

Ozlem Kubra Akdogan accepts her PCI Scholarship from Executive Director Trena Benson at the PC Symposium.

This ceremony was followed by an august dissertation by Paul Mills discussing “The Brain Drain in Powder Coating” and what can be done about it. Mills instructed that almost 80 percent of the current manufacturing workforce is between the ages of 45 and 65. He also says that more than three quarters of manufacturers have fewer than 25 percent of their employees under age 30 and don’t see that changing anytime soon. And probably his most telling is the observation is that 52 percent of teens have no interest in a manufacturing career and another 21 percent are ambivalent.

Mills went on to explain that we have an “image problem” as well as a “location problem” and finally an “education problem.” Young people don’t see manufacturing as a cool career choice. Most manufacturing centers are not in the most desirable regions of the country. In addition, of all the United States’ 108 universities that offer intensive research programs, only five have concentrations in applied engineering.

With all this bad news, Mills offers solutions to these challenges. Surveys show that young people want to solve problems, start businesses and “make waves,” but they don’t understand how manufacturing careers offer real opportunities to save lives and the planet, put people on Mars, and create our quality of life. He recommends that we market our technology more effectively and pursue more high technology applications and locate new facilities near high-technology “spillover” areas. He says we should work with universities and colleges to develop talent and raise the bar on education within the industry.

David Beamish of Defelsko regales PC Symposium attendees in the finer points of wireless instrumentation controls.

The papers that followed his talk were a start. New technology that replaces phosphate pretreatment chemicals will reduce the environmental impact of finishing processes. Novel polymers and formulating techniques will improve film performance, which will garner new applications by replacing solventborne coatings. High technology instrumentation will more finely control processes and quality of coatings. Lower temperature cure chemistries and processes will reduce energy costs and expand powder into new markets.

In the months to come, be sure to check out Technology Interchange in the print and online editions of Powder Coated Tough, where I will be reviewing some of the more innovative concepts that were presented at the PC Symposium. Stay tuned because we’re about to reverse the brain drain that we face in the powder coating industry!

Kevin Biller is technical editor of Powder Coated Tough and the president of The Powder Coating Research Group. He can be reached at kevinbiller@yahoo.com.