Small Staff Operates Lucrative Powder Coating Top Shop

When a strong business foundation is built from the start, not even a tornado can destroy it. Pro-Kote LLC in Jackson, Tennessee, is living proof of this example. Started in 1996, the small family-owned powder coating shop experienced a devastating tornado that Lanny Woods, president and owner, calls “a total loss.” Although the building and the equipment inside were ruined, the operation’s spirit was not. After this destruction in January 1999, Woods was determined to continue by rebuilding the plant, and they did so in nine months.

Since the beginning of its existence, Pro-Kote has earned the Products Finishing Top Shops award consistently. At one time, the company employed nine people, but is down currently to seven employees. However, the staff they do have has been with the company between 10 and 25 years.

Even with a small staff, Woods says the business is very lucrative and is running well as it services loyal customers it has had since before the tornado. The company’s philosophy that “you do what you say, and you keep your word” pays off in the end, he adds. “Our customers know that they are going to get honesty from us as well as a good product, no matter what it takes.”

And because it is a family-run business, its customers know they will talk to a real person when they call the shop. Woods adds this is one reason its customers are so loyal to the shop.

The twist in the story

Because of the loyalty Pro-Kote showed its customers and its employees prior to the twister, Woods is proud to say all the company’s customers returned

after the new facility was up and running, and the business staff remained employed full time throughout the rebuilding process.

After the tornado hit, the company tore down what was left of the plant. As difficult as it was, Woods called each of his customers on the days following the tragedy and placed them with all his competitor shops so the customers could get their jobs done on time. “I called job shops in the area and told them, ‘This is the business, this is the powder coating we are using, and this is the price we are charging. Do you want the job?’” Woods explained. “It was not a nice feeling, but it had to be done.”

The company rebuilt the plant and reopened in September 1999, a mere nine months later. However, the employees didn’t wait for the facility to go up to begin working again. “We were welding a washer on a cement slab without a building around us because we didn’t want to wait on the builders,” Woods recalls.

Given the opportunity to rebuild the plant with improvements, the company chose to revamp the entire powder coating system. The operation went from being capable of coating 6-ft. in length parts to coating parts up to 10-ft. in length. It added a 1,000-ft. conveyorized paint line, a five-stage washer that replaced the three-stage washer and two paint booths with the rebuild.

Pro-Kote serves the automotive, agricultural, lawn and garden industries with customers such as John Deere, Kubota and Caterpillar.

Thoughts on automation

Although the shop is getting by with its current staff, Woods and his son Steve Woods, would like to hire two more workers for the open positions they have available. However, like many manufacturing facilities, finding good help has been hard to come by for Pro-Kote. Some companies in this situation are using the lack of employees as an opportunity to implement automation, but Pro-Kote is not as excited about moving forward with this step.

“We are set up with a booth with automatic spray guns,” Woods says. “But we haven’t used them in I don’t know how long.” Steve Woods adds that it is easier for their small operation to have a couple of people painting their

“We got to the point where we doubled our inventory levels knowing that it would take months to get some of it, especially the specialty powders.”

customers’ parts. The duo recognizes that automation is not completely autonomous, therefore, the process would still require a person to supervise it, which the company does not have available now.

Also, the shop does various painting jobs that contain different part sizes, which makes it difficult to automate the coating process. The company might paint 40 different parts of various quantities — five of one part, 50 of another part — up to 15,000 pieces a week for one customer.

Onward and upward

Besides the workforce shortage, the company has been affected by a supply chain slowdown of powder, which Woods says is improving. “It was a real problem a year or so ago,” he explains. “We got to the point where we doubled our inventory levels knowing that it would take months to get some of it, especially the specialty powders.” He adds they are still having some problems with materials being out of stock and having to wait for their orders longer than pre-COVID-19 times, but the wait is shorter than a year ago and getting shorter.

While dealing with the challenges of owning a small business in the industry, the management team focuses on its success. Case in point: year after year, it qualifies for the Products Finishing Top Shops award. According to Woods, although it is difficult to measure the advantages of such accolades, overall, the benchmarking survey has helped Pro-Kote assess how the business performs compared to others like it.

Because his sons Steve and Ryan play a large role in company operations, the elder Woods is planning to retire in three years or so. Despite stepping back from the business and taking more vacations, Steve Woods jokes that they expect to see their father in the office a couple of days a week.