On the Line

In this episode of On the Line, we speak with one of the recipients of the 2022 installment of the Products Finishing's Hall of Fame Award, Tony Revier with Uymura International, a global leader in the development, testing and manufacture of plating chemistries.

Revier discusses his experiences in the industry, as well as his insights into what the future might hold for surface finishing.

Jim Jones has spent almost his entire life in and around the finishing industry. Jones' father began working in the plating industry during WWII where he worked for Air Service Command in the plating shop at Warner Robins Air Force Base, and then working at Simmons Plating Works (Atlanta, Ga.) and eventually co-founding DIFCO. Following in his dad's footsteps, Jones held summer jobs at finishing shops before enlisting in the military himself. After serving in the U.S. Air Force, Jones returned to DIFCO where he eventually became vice president and continues to consult to this day. Jones, a recent inductee into Products Finishing's Hall of Fame, took some time to tell On the Line about his experience in the industry and offer advice for future stewards of finishing.

In this episode of On the Line, we sit down with Doug Morrison of Trion Coatings LLC of South Bend, Ind., Mauricio Quiroz, chief scientist and co-founder, and Kyle Hankinson, director of special projects for KCH Surface Finishing to hear about a new non-aqueous trivalent chromium chemistry known as SAFE Chrome. Trion says the solution is designed to provide the finishing industry with safe and environmentally sustainable functional and decorative chrome coatings that match the performance of hexavalent chromium-based solutions.

In this episode of On the Line, Products Finishing sits down with Andrew Kossowski, owner of Veterans Metal (an old school finishing operation with a 30-year legacy of offering a variety of finishes, including anodizing, chem film, and passivation). In 2022 the company plans to completely update its traditional manual processes with digital solutions and automation.

Starting with this podcast episode, Products Finishing will follow Veterans Metal's progress over the course of the year, offering insights for other finishers interested in embracing new technologies.

In this episode of On the Line, Products Finishing looks back at what seemed like some of the most pertinent stories we covered during the course of the year. Topics included supply chain disruption, workforce issues and regulatory battles — issues that were top of mind for those in the surface finishing industry.

A number of factors have been driving the increasing adoption of IoT and automation technologies by surface finishing operations. In this episode of On the Line, we hear insights into automation trends for finishers from some of the exhibitors on the show floor at this year's FABTECH. Featured interviews include Derek DeGeest of DeGeest Corp., Rob Weber of Fischer Technology, Jacob Fortmeyer of Carlisle Fluid Technologies and Robert Ravensburgen of OmniRobotic. Each offer insights into what their companies are doing to address the factors that are driving the proliferation of automation solution for finishers.

As finishers struggle to stay afloat amidst supply chain shortages and price increases, Douglas Hughes, product manager wear resistant coatings for MacDermid Enthone and Coventya offers insights into the causes of the supply challenges metal finishers are facing, and discusses strategies for coping with the problem.

In this episode of On the Line, Michael Feldstein, president of Surface Technology Inc. (STI), the top-ranking 2021 Products Finishing Top Shop for the electroplating and anodizing benchmarking category, discusses STI's history of success and its approach to innovation.

From COVID to workforce to supply disruptions, the past year and a half has wreaked havoc with the flow of materials used for coatings. In this episode of On the Line, Products Finishing digs deeper into the supply chain woes that coaters are experiencing, specifically within the powder coating world, but also for manufacturing at large. Guests include Quint Towle, director of sales and marketing for Powder Technology Inc. and Michael Guckes, chief economist with Gardner Intelligence, the data and research arm of Gardner business media.

As discussions with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) continue over proposed hexavalent chromium regulations, many metal finishing operations in the state of California are thinking about the considerations and ramifications of switching to alternate technologies. In this episode of On the Line, we hear from LumiShield CEO David Luebke and Senior Scientist John Watkins Ph.D, who over the past decade have been working to bring one such alternative technology to market.