Russell Raad, president of “one-stop shop” Abrasives Inc., recently joined a sponsored episode of the CoatingsPro Interview Series with insight on his company’s unique specialties and market position.

Discussion topics include marketplace trends, changes, and regulatory impacts; unique challenges to the surface preparation of industrial coatings jobs; strategies to incorporate feedback from contractors and end users; an outlook for the future; and available resources from Abrasives Inc. to assist in these processes.

Kaveh Meghdadpour, Director of National Accounts and Business Development and the East Region Manager at Crown Polymers, joins this sponsored episode of the CoatingsPro Interview Series.

Discussion topics include industry trends and pain points within floor coatings; successful case studies using Crown solutions; the importance of manufacturers and contractors working together; and strategies to address potential industry concerns in the years ahead, such as workforce development.

Kyle McDonald, Project Manager at Western Specialty Contractors in Delray Beach, Florida, recently joined the CoatingsPro Interview Series with insights pertaining to his job scope and beyond.

Discussion topics include standout projects from his time at Western; unique coating factors to consider with concrete substrates and his regional market; industry trends related to technologies, materials, equipment, and workforce development; and much more.

Greg Mulholland, founder and CEO of Citrine Informatics, shares his perspective on how artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly affecting the coatings industry and others linked to materials protection and performance. Discussion topics include development processes influenced by AI; feedback from industrial users; strategies for using AI to adapt to industry trends and new regulations; what the future evolution of AI may look like; and available resources to learn more.

Jennifer Rogers, Senior Director of Education, shares the latest intel regarding AMPP’s newest educational program, Cathodic Protection (CP) Field Techniques. The two-day, immersive course introduces personnel to essential corrosion testing methods and real-world field techniques.

In this interview, Rogers explains the background and development process of the course; how it incorporates member collaboration and feedback; and ways in which it overcomes historical limitations while meeting modern needs.

HZO Inc. is a provider of conformal coatings solutions for electronics and other products made for a variety of markets ranging from consumer electronics, medical devices, aerospace, semiconductors, and more.

In this sponsored episode, Sean Clancy, Ph.D.—Senior Director of Materials Science at HZO—shares industry insights gained from many years of performing root-cause failure analysis in these products and markets.

Kern Williams, Government Affairs Manager at AMPP, joins this week’s podcast with insight on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) newly issued final rule pertaining to Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI).

Topics include background information on the lead pipes replacement plan and how it is tied to corrosion control and materials protection; educational resources available to help members and member companies get involved in the process; a potential timeline for implementation; and other topics on AMPP’s agenda in the weeks following the Nov. 5 election.

For more information, visit AMPP’s Government Affairs web page.

U.S. Navy Veteran Matt Flory is a global business director at Sherwin-Williams, where he leads the industrial group’s military coatings segment.

With a team comprised largely of Veterans, Flory shares perspective on what they bring to the coatings industry and the role they can play in overcoming workforce development challenges.

For the military market, Flory also outlines recent technological innovations such as chemical agent resistant coatings (CARC); anti-microbial solutions; enhanced corrosion primers; and more.

Mike Aughenbaugh, associate target market manager at Swagelok Company, is focused on the development of fluid handling solutions for the oil, gas, chemical, and refining markets. In this sponsored episode, Aughenbaugh explains many of the differences between pitting corrosion and crevice corrosion, as well strategies to remediate corrosion, prevent corrosion, and educate system operators about what to watch for.

Winston Revie, an associate editor for CORROSION journal, leads a summer 2024 roundtable to discuss a newly released two-part paper series based on research from three labs around the world.

The seven authors are Negar Moradighadi; Huiru Wang; Luntao Wang; Antoine Seyeux; Alain Pailleret; Philippe Marcus; Srdjan Nesic. Both papers are available at www.corrosionjournal.org.

Editor’s note: This roundtable can also be viewed on YouTube with streaming video of all panelists.