Our staff is continuously brainstorming for new ways to serve the coatings industry – it is one of my favorite parts of my job. For 2024 we have several new offerings for both our readers/subscribers, and our advertisers. I have listed a few of them below, but be on the lookout for more as the year progresses.

In 2023, we introduced two in-person short courses at our Coatings Trends & Technologies Summit. Taught by industry experts, Sam Morell of sammorell.com, and Mike Praw of Indorama Ventures, these courses were very well attended and received outstanding reviews. Sam and Mike will each teach a short course at the CTT Summit in 2024, and we are excited to announce a third in-person course, titled Powder Coating Fundamentals, taught by Eric Casebolt and Nathan Biller of ChemQuest Powder Coating Research.

These in-person courses are an extension of our year-round PCI Academy virtual short course program. New for 2024, we will be adding several new virtual short courses to our schedule, bringing our total virtual short course count to 10. I have listed our 2024 schedule below. You can click on each course for more information, and register to attend.

In 2023 we also introduced the PCI Lifetime Achievement Award, which will be presented every year at our Coatings Trends & Technologies Summit to recognize an industry colleague for his or her years of dedication, work, and service to the coatings industry. Our first award was chosen by our staff, and honored the late Dr. John Cox for his tireless commitment and support of the industry. Throughout his career, John worked in all aspects of product development for many types of coatings, was very active in industry associations, and shared his passion for the paint and chemical field by teaching in the Chemistry department at Purdue University Northwest.

I am excited to announced that nominations are now open for the 2024 PCI Lifetime Achievement Award, and can be submitted on the PCI website here through June 28. PCI’s Editorial Advisory Board will review all nominations, and will take into consideration each nominee’s leadership, achievements, contributions to coatings development, and service to the industry. The award will be presented at the Coatings Trends & Technologies Summit, September 5, and the winner will be profiled in the November issue. Who do you think should win the award in 2024? Nominate your industry mentor or hero before the deadline!

An exciting new change is also coming this year to our annual Coatings Supplier Handbook (CSH), a valuable resource for coatings formulators/manufacturers. As usual, the CSH will deploy in March, and then again in May, and September. However, we will also print 3,000 copies of the CSH to distribute at the American Coatings Show and several other trade shows and conferences in 2024 and early 2025.

I look forward to further developing our content and offerings throughout this coming year. If you have any ideas or suggestions, don’t hesitate to contact me. Happy New Year!