Tough Talk: Forget the Price,How Much Does It Cost?

By Kevin Biller and Chris Reding

Regardless of our place in the powder coating industry supply chain, we are all tasked with bringing the best value to our businesses. For simple sourcing decisions, this means buying goods and services at the lowest available price. Choosing the lowest cost powder coating isn’t so simple. When choosing a powder coating, the matter extends far beyond the lowest price per pound. The following considerations may lead you to an unexpected conclusion.

Too many coaters focus on price rather than on value when choosing one powder coating (or powder coating supplier) over another. Before you choose a powder, there are a few things you need to know.

Particle Size Distribution: Cheap powder is likely to contain a high percentage of “fines” (<10-ish micron particles) and/ or “boulders” (>125-ish micron particles). For the most part (there are unique particle management technologies that may mollify this), fines and boulders end up as waste. So, for example, if a powder is 15 percent fines and 5 percent boulders, your decision to choose cheap powder means that about 20 percent of the powder you are buying will never end up on the part (again, for the most part; there are a few exceptions).

Specific Gravity (SG): This is another significant factor. Generally speaking, the lower the SG, the more surface area coated per pound of powder. Even so, it is also true that a lower SG powder (because it will contain less pigment and filler) may have lower opacity (hiding) than a higher SG powder would provide. So it is really a balance here. Essentially, you want the lowest SG powder that meets required performance and aesthetic properties at the optimal (lowest) film thickness.

Cure Temperature/Cure Speed: There are other factors to consider, but if your priority is to increase throughput, faster cure speed is the most direct route.

Opacity: Ensure that the product you are considering provides hiding or opacity at the film thickness you specify. Keep in mind that you might not always hit your specification due to tight corners, edges and Faraday cage areas. Colors to watch are whites and bright organic hues such as yellows, oranges and reds.

First-Pass Transfer Efficiency: How many times do you want to spray the same powder through your guns before it finally lands on the part? Not a trick question... the obvious answer is one time. Today’s reclaim systems are so good that many coaters don’t really stop to consider this key factor. This is unfortunate. Higher transfer efficiency means less equipment wear and tear, higher line speed capability (and/or lower air pressure settings), and higher material utilization. Whether you are “spraying to waste” or using the most advanced reclaim system on the market, we would argue that first-pass transfer efficiency is the most significant cost-driver.

Lastly, there are unique technology and supplier capability that can affect all of the above. Make sure to ask powder suppliers about any unique technical and service differentiators that may serve to lower your applied cost. In short, it is a great time to be a powder buyer. There are a number of good powder suppliers who know exactly how to formulate and produce products that can save money. Don’t ask for the cheapest powder. Ask for the powder that will result in the lowest applied cost possible. Then ask them to prove it to you.

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

Chris Reding serves as president on The Powder Coating Institute’s Board of Directors and is a sales manager for DSM Powder Coating Resins. He can be reached at: chris.reding@dsm.com.

Editor’s Note: Chris Reding presented this topic at Powder Coating 2013 in St. Louis on October 9. A copy of this presentation can be found at: www.powdercoating.org/showppts.