PLYMOUTH, MI — As mentioned in its theme for this year, “On The Road To New Technologies,” the FOCUS Conference has hit the road and moved to a new location that should be more user friendly to all attendees, from the speakers to the industry suppliers and the audience for this year’s conference. The Detroit Society for Coatings Technology (DSCT) organizes the Annual FOCUS conference, which is in its 44^th year. This year’s conference will be held on May 9, 2019, at The Inn at St. John’s in Plymouth, Michigan.

Over the past 43 years since the conference started in 1975, the industry has undergone many changes, but none of those may be more exciting than what are we are seeing today. With everything from environmental improvements, application efficiency and appearance improvements to technology improvements to keep up with future vehicle technology, there is a lot of activity in the design and development areas as 2019 is just beginning.

FOCUS has been known as one of the leading conferences for automotive coatings. It is unique in that many presentations are given on both coatings application as well as formulation, plus talks on interesting but related topics to the automotive industry. John Ascarsega from the US Army Research Laboratory will give the keynote presentation this year. His talk, which will center around the requirements and needs for future military coatings, will provide insight into coatings for a different transportation segment and challenge the automotive coatings community to support the search for solutions to coating issues that the military faces.

Also planned is a round table discussion on future vehicle coating colors and coating designs, which can provide insight into the needs for future transportation including autonomous vehicles. The conference will also continue the tradition of supporting projects from area high schools as well as Eastern Michigan University and the Center for Creative Studies in order to encourage new and young talent to be part of the future in the coatings industry.

FOCUS attendance has increased over the years, and 2019 promises to be another successful year. The event’s new location in Plymouth includes dining, recreation and lodging to support business needs in conjunction with the conference. The FOCUS Conference will offer attendees a chance to be introduced to the new challenges facing the industry and to foster new business contacts.

More information can be found at www.dsctfocus.org.