Powder Coating 2018 Technical Conference Wrap-Up

Powder Coating 2018, held March 12-15 in Indianapolis, included the Technical Conference followed by a Powder Coating 101 Workshop. For the past three years, PCI has advanced our focus on education and networking for this event. Each year our attendance has increased, indicating that we are moving in the right direction with our approach to the event. The technical sessions are the nucleus of this annual conference and received great evaluations again this year. As an added benefit to this educational opportunity, industry suppliers utilized the tabletop exhibition time to meet and personally connect with attendees. Meals and receptions were strategically placed in the exhibition area to facilitate networking.

Powder Coating 2018 kicked off with a very enthusiastic general session by our keynote speaker, Dr. Amber Selking, founder of Selking Performance Group. Her methodology for building a championship mindset has most notably been adopted by the University of Notre Dame football team. Dr. Selking emphasized the power of positive psychology and how we can exercise, train and discipline our brains to improve performance and leadership skills. If we can master that discipline, Selking says, we begin to transform how we live individually and impact how our teams function at work, which then impacts how our families function together at home. She believes the more individuals learn these tactics, the more probable it is to transform how our communities are run, which will then escalate into how our world operates.

Attendees had several exceptional choices during Monday’s breakout sessions. One of those sessions addressed Raising the Quality Bar and was presented by Rick Gehman, Keystone Koating, and Rich Saddler, Industrial Finishing Solutions, LLC. Gehman and Saddler addressed the headache of seeing your competitors win bids by lowering their prices. They encouraged their audience to resist the temptation of cheapening processes to remain price competitive, and instead commit to the highest quality in all aspects of a finishing business. They emphasized the importance of routinely using and maintaining the calibration of testing equipment. Finally, leveraging the PCI Certification program can help to differentiate a finishing business from others who are submitting competing bids for a project.

Tuesday’s general session was helmed by Michael Cravens of IKON Powder Coating, Inc. and Powder Finishing Consultants. Cravens presented Responsibilities and Liabilities for Powder Coaters, using real-life examples of mistakes companies have made to illustrate pragmatic and proactive practices finishing businesses should use to avoid litigation. In one case study, an architectural project in San Francisco experienced premature adhesion and corrosion failure on aluminum balcony rails and steel privacy screens within two years of building completion, even though there was a ten-year finish warranty. The building’s homeowners’ association filed a warranty claim with the general contractor. The general contractor blamed the fabricator, the fabricator blamed the custom coater, and the custom coater blamed the powder supplier. The case spent years in the court system and cost tens of thousands of dollars in legal and expert fees. Evidence showed there was enough blame to go around, including poorly written and incomplete fabrication specifications. Because no project-specific formal written contract existed between the fabricator and the finishing contractor for the project, it exposed the finishing contractor to liability. Unfortunately, the monetary strain of the project failure caused the custom coating job shop to go out of business.

Attendees had a wide range of topics from which to choose for Tuesday’s breakout sessions. Learning how to project fixed and variable costs when planning a new finishing system, building awareness of tax credits and incentives finishing businesses can take advantage of, and understanding the rigorous AAMA 2603, 2604 and 2605 specifications of the American Architectural Manufacturers Association were just a few of the opportunities available to attendees. Sergio Mancini, Bulk Chemicals, Inc., Mike Thies, Gema USA, Inc., and Marty Korecky,

AkzoNobel Powder Coatings, presented Safety: It’s Everyone’s Responsibility. With enough initials to fill a large bowl of alphabet soup, Mancini, Thies and Korecky expertly covered OSHA, NFPA, IFC, IBC, and AHJ, along with some of the issues associated with compliance when there is so much room for subjective enforcement and overlapping authorities. Luckily, you’re holding a copy of our “Safety & Governmental Regulations” issue in your hands, so if you missed this informative presentation, you have pages of useful information at your fingertips.

After a full night of fun and networking, Wednesday morning started with an invasion of robots. Well, not literally. Matt Kirchner, LAB Midwest, LLC, introduced the audience to the Industrial Internet of Things and shared how technology will reshape manufacturing and powder coating operations in coming years. Collection and interpretation of data, artificial intelligence, predictive analytics, additive manufacturing, augmented reality and learning management systems (LMS) are all impacting the landscape and manufacturing processes will continue to be shaped by technology, just as they have since the 18th century. Kirchner talked about Taiwan-based Foxconn Technology Group and their recent decision to build a massive $10 billion manufacturing complex in Mt Pleasant, Wisconsin. To accommodate the infrastructure Foxconn will require, the state is considering building up the shoulders along I-94 for use by self-driving trucks. The plant will require such high-skill jobs that state and local job-training and educational officials are scrambling to figure out how to train their workforce to qualify for jobs at the plant. This is a scenario that will be repeated across the country until our secondary schools, technical colleges and universities revitalize their curriculums to prepare our workforce for the jobs of the future.

After a heavy dose of tech, attendees enjoyed an interactive panel discussion led by Joe Glassco, Wagner Industrial Solutions; Ron Cudzilo, George Koch Sons, LLC; Ken Kaluzny, Coral Chemical Co.; and Marty Korecky, AkzoNobel Powder Coatings. Panelists distributed physical examples of substrates with coating defects and helped the audience identify potential failure points in pretreatment, application and curing that caused the failures. The panel also fielded questions from the audience and helped troubleshoot some of the headaches audience members described. After the panel ended, groups of powder coaters were huddled together with panelists in earnest collaboration, trying to help one another. These are the types of invaluable connections that make the Powder Coating Technical Conference so rewarding!

The 101 workshop is geared toward learning the basic essentials of a powder coating operation, focusing on materials, application, reclamation, testing and quality control.

Evaluations show that attendees found immense value in the conference and sessions. PCI staff are already working on Powder Coating 2019, which will be held April 1-4 at the Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld. We are focused on providing excellent programming and bringing attendees together in a networking-friendly environment. Don’t forget to take advantage of the benefits of early registration and reserve your tabletop early to get prime space!