One of the key areas any liquid-coating operation should evaluate when trying to improve productivity is the liquid color change system. Using the right technology can help plants streamline even highly complex color change operations.

Metal preparation is in many ways a dirty business. Improvements have been made in the painting phase of the operation, including a general switch to high-solids liquids and powder coatings. But pretreatment has not changed much in many years. However, starting in 2000, a different kind of pretreatment was introduced in North America. This single-stage organic phosphating system is reducing the cost and environmental impact of pretreating metal substrates.

In a typical automotive plant, bell cups must be replaced every three to four months. As a result, an automotive plant using 50 rotary bell atomizers might incur replacement costs for bell cups totaling approximately $300,000 per year. An advanced coating technology can extend the life of paint bell cups and offer a dramatic cost savings for rotary paint atomizer users.

As agricultural equipment has advanced, coating technology for this demanding market has improved along with it. With modern polyurethane and powder coating formulations, today’s farm equipment manufacturers can achieve durable, high-quality, cost-effective finishes on a range of substrates.

New coatings based on a conductive polymer known as soluble doped polyaniline can offer a significant improvement in functionality and ease of application over current capacitor coating technologies. The new coatings provide the same benefits as traditional conductive polymer-based coatings but with significantly less manufacturing time, as well as other enhanced attributes.

Proper hands-on training can produce immediate and long-term results in areas such as material conservation, waste and air emission reduction, reduced rework, and better finish quality. However, a significant drawback of traditional hands-on training has been the time and materials required to perform this task properly. A virtual reality training tool can provide paint and powder applicators with the benefits of hands-on training while eliminating the time and material requirements.

Have you ever wondered whether your curing ovens could make better use of all those British thermal units before venting the waste heat? With heat-activated structural epoxy adhesive tapes, they can. These tapes can combine components into assemblies, replace unsightly welds or rivets, join dissimilar metals without the threat of corrosion and provide local stiffening, all while being cured in an existing electrocoat (e-coat) or powder coat oven cure process.

Rohm and Haas Electronic Materials will invest $60 million in leading-edge lithography equipment to support its extensive research and development of advanced 193 nanometer (nm) photoresist and anti-reflective coatings used in the manufacture of semiconductor devices.

Specialty Products, Inc. (SPI) was recognized to be in compliance with the quality management standards required for ISO 9001:2000 certification by AIB-Vincotte USA, on May 17, 2007.

Industrial Nanotech, Inc., a nanotechnology firm, is working with AmBev to incorporate its Nansulate line of industrial coatings into the company’s plant maintenance program through the company's manufacturer's representative in Brazil. AmBev is the largest private producer of consumer goods in Brazil, the biggest brewery in Latin America, and has operations in 14 countries in the Americas.