Qualifying a New Pretreatment Supplier

Q: What factors should be considered when selecting a new pretreatment supplier?

As Stephen Covey wrote, “Begin with the end in mind.” Why are you considering a new pretreatment supplier? To answer that effectively, ask yourself, “what is the problem that I am trying to solve?” Here are a few common reasons we see folks looking for a new supplier.

• Reducing costs to remain competitive, or to capture increased market share
• Meeting an elusive quality spec
• Eliminating the root cause of a product recall
• Reducing rework costs
• Increasing capacity to support growth
• Complying with increasingly strict environmental regulations
• Improving employee safety
• Some combination of these

Ensure that your answer — the problem you are trying to solve — is the primary consideration when selecting a new pretreatment supplier. To put it simply, if your current vendor doesn’t solve your problem, then look somewhere else. Let’s break this down a bit.

Your Supplier Should Be Solution Oriented

Does the supplier have a chemistry that will meet your performance specification and is easy to run? If not, are they willing to develop chemistry that is? You should know upfront if they are trying to sell your product or to improve your process to help you achieve your goals.

Be sure to validate that you get successful results when applied — to your parts, by your people, with your paint, etc. Is the supplier willing and able to support line validation? How easy is it to maintain process parameters using their chemistry? Will titrations and quality checks become a full-time job? How easy is the bath to recover if it moves outside of control limits? Don’t take their word for it, ask to speak with existing customers who can share real examples. Better yet, ask if you can tour a facility running their chemistry.

Notice if the supplier’s team demonstrates curiosity and tenacity. Look for a supplier that works to understand your process and your problems. It’s no small thing to change chemistry, so you’ll want to have confidence that the company you choose will actively work with you to solve the problems you may face tomorrow after they’ve already won your business.

Your Supplier Should Be Accessible and Responsive

Is the supplier engaged and capable of providing the support that you require? Do your homework. Check with current customers. Ask for contacts at customers that are your size, in terms of chemistry sold, to ensure you understand what kind of service you will likely get. Some suppliers will deprioritize customers who don’t purchase in large quantities. Does their rep take the call, show up to the factory, and stay until the problem is solved? What’s the typical response time? Do they have the technical competence to get you out of trouble quickly and to find a long-term fix, or are they just good for donut delivery? (Don’t get me wrong, donuts are nice, but they don’t keep the line running.)

Is their rep supported by a team of analytical chemists with the know-how and facilities to quickly drill down to the root cause of an issue? Do they have development chemists that will engage to develop a unique solution if your process demands it? Not all companies do, and not all who do will provide the same level of service to all customers. It’s important to know what they have and where you stand in their service model.

Find out in advance what happens when the you-know-what hits the fan and you need help ASAP. Clarify and verify.

Your Supplier Should Be Empowering

Get examples of how the supplier has educated and equipped their existing customers’ operations and technical teams for success. Get specific and ask: How did they support a launch? How often do they show up on their own initiative? How have they added value to you and your team? Additionally, ask the prospective supplier how they will ensure that your operators can run, control, and recover the chemistry under real conditions after they leave. If they can’t explain that to you, how will they train your team? They should also provide you with examples of how they have improved customer processes over time. A true problem-solving problem partner will take the initiative to identify and support process improvements that make you better, even when that means selling you less chemistry.

The Best Suppliers Help You Improve the Overall Bottom Line

Last but not least, costs. When it comes to costs, price per gallon often takes center stage. It is easy to see why. It is the easiest to validate, just look at the quote or invoice. But there are other factors that must be considered to truly understand the cost to switch suppliers. Let’s stick with the chemistry for a moment. Usage is a huge factor that depends upon several factors. It is wise to ask the supplier to give you an estimate for chemistry cost per square foot/meter coated so that you can compare that to your current usage. This enables you to see the true cost of the chemistry on parts vs what it costs in the drum. If this is not something you currently track, it’s worth the effort to understand your true costs.

Additionally, are you running an overly complex system? Does your current chemistry require multiple rinses after each chemical stage? Does it produce costly hazardous waste? Is your maintenance team forever unclogging nozzles due to sludge? Do your chemical stages run a high temperature? All these factors have real and significant costs that impact your bottom line.

Beyond chemistry, it is important to consider the cost of rework and field failures related to dirty and poorly coated parts. The cost of poor quality adds up and should be factored into the decision. What would a higher pass rate on your paint quality checks mean to you? How much would it save you in claims and rework costs?

The Supplier You Want Is a Partner Who Continues to Solve Your Toughest Problems

Identifying uniquely responsive, solution-oriented partners with a proven track record of customer-driven innovation should always be the objective when investing the time and resources required to change suppliers. These points, while not exhaustive, outline a simple process to ensure your supplier change aligns with your most important business objectives. Even if you are not currently considering a switch, these questions are good to review regularly to ensure you are getting the most out of your current pretreatment relationship.

Happy Painting!