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20 POWDER COATING, August 2016 Keep it black and white Likely for the sake of exceptional service and quick resolution, you would have discussed the new challenges with your c u s t o m e r o n t h e p h o n e . H a v i n g reached an agreement, you are ready to move forward on processing the order. Don't. Take 5 minutes to follow up with your customer via email and con- firm that you understood clearly what was discussed. This ounce of prevention can spare you a pound of pain. This email is especially worthwhile if you have renegotiated the price based on additional work that is required. Strengthen your front line The difference between a good job shop and a great custom coating shop is the people that it employs to keep the pro- duction moving on a daily basis. There is always the temptation on the floor to overlook things that would typically be considered outside of the responsibility of the finisher. After all, we ask our cus- tomers to send us product ready to coat. Why worry about some weld spatter or a bit of surface rust on some hot rolled steel? If you, as an owner or as an employee responsible for leading a production team, have not made it clear to your co- workers what you want them to be looking for and why, then here is a great opportunity for you to raise the bar. Build up your internal abilities In addition to the receiving process that was described above, some basic training on what to look for before starting a job will save you time and money and likely help your customer avoid costly rework. Using the receiving checklist at the beginning of this article to educate your employees is a start. If your shop uses tanks or inline wash on a conveyor line, there may be additional considerations that your chemical supplier can help you identify. I n o u r s h o p , w e r e c e n t l y h a d a n employee raise a concern over what appeared to be missing welds on some structural steel components. Check out Photo 2 and see if you can spot the happy coater and the bad weld. When we called our customer to ask them if cases, is more valuable than any training you can send an employee to. Suppliers: It is easy to forget that the people who sold you your equipment also have a working knowledge of how to operate and maintain it. Short of that, they know how to get ahold of use- ful information that you can plug into your business with ease, such as industry standards, applicator training manuals, and QC checklists. Win, win, win Running a small business provides countless opportunities to grow in virtues such as patience and persever- ance. The arrival of unexpected orders can be an aggravating and potentially costly means of building your character. However, if you have a plan to fall back on to handle these situations, you can c a p i t a l i z e o n t h e o p p o r t u n i t y t o strengthen your business relationship with your customer. That is Win #1. When you invest in your people and show them how they contribute to not only their company's success, but the success of your customers, you achieve Win #2. Finally, when you make your customers happy and your employees happy, that is Win #3. It's also one clear sign of a healthy and successful business. Win, Win, Win! PC Editor's note For further reading, see Powder Coating magazine's website at www.pcoating .com. Click on Article Index and search by subject category. To submit a ques- tion, click on Problem Solving, then scroll to Coater's Corner. Chris McKinnon owns A e gis I ndustr ial Finishing Ltd. with his father in Surrey, BC. As a third generation me tal f inishe r ( his grandfather started a plating company in 1948, and his father has worked in powder coating for more than 20 years), he is actively developing new markets for powder coating and providing those who will this was an issue, we learned that every piece had to be inspected again. The result of the inspection was that just about every piece had to be re-welded. Photo 3 shows the piece before re-weld- ing; Photo 4 shows the piece after re- welding. While this took us out of the project for 2 days, it did save our cus- tomer considerable expense and delay in executing on their project. Had our mindful coater ignored the question of whether the product was good enough before coating, she would have coated the order. We would have billed for it and shipped it. Only after the job was onsite ready to be erected would the problem have been discov- ered — maybe. The cost to fix the prob- lem increases exponentially the further along the project timeframe this job travels. Eventually, we would have had to strip it and recoat it. Even when rework isn't our fault, it is still demoral- izing to our employees and customers. Help from outside your organization If you do not currently have the capacity to run your own internal training, there are a variety of associations one simple click away that you can leverage to increase your employee's capacity to catch quality issues before they become a problem. NACE: The National Association of Corrosion Engineers (www.nace.org) largely focuses on liquid coatings and abrasive blasting, but their CIP training program presents a lot of fundamental principles that are applicable to a cus- tom coating shop. SSPC: The Society for Protective Coat- ings (www.sspc.org) likewise has train- ing programs and resources that are helpful. If your shop uses abrasive blast- ing, SSPC has an applicator training program that may be worth looking into (Abrasive Blasting Program C7). PCI: If you are not a member of the Powder Coating Institute (www.pow dercoating.org), I strongly encourage you to join. Not only do they provide training seminars across the country, but they also have a great group of active members that are eager to share their years of experience, which, in some