Published 7/1/2020

Top Shops Executive Summit: An Exchange of Finishing Industry Ideas and Best Practices

This year’s inaugural Top Shops Executive Summit offers an opportunity for shop owners, executives and managers in the finishing industry to gather for networking and ideation.

Scott Francis

Editor-In-Chief, Gardner Business Media

Each year, Products Finishing conducts its Top Shops Benchmarking Survey, a program designed to aid finishing shops in measuring their key operating metrics against others in the industry. The program was launched in 2015 and has been a great success in helping finishers identify optimal shop floor practices and improve operations and business procedures. Hundreds of shops participate annually, resulting in a wealth of data and statistics that proves invaluable for assessing areas of improvement, such as finishing technology, performance and practices, business strategy, and human resources.

The survey is such a success that Products Finishing has decided to launch a new finishing industry event based on the Top Shops program. The event will offer an opportunity for shop owners, executives and managers in the finishing industry to gather for an exchange of ideas and practices for running their operations in a more efficient and profitable way.

“From day one, we’ve discussed the possibility of creating a live event where we celebrated the Top Shops and provided an opportunity amongst all coating professionals to network and learn from the best coaters in North America,” says Products Finishing publisher Todd Luciano.

The best in the business

The focus of the event is on the business side of the finishing industry, and targets the best practices of the best shops and fosters the exchange of ideas between colleagues. The summit is designed for all levels of finishing industry executives and managers, including owners, CEOs and presidents, department directors, frontline supervisors and quality personnel.

“The 2020 Top Shops Executive Summit is the next evolution of the PF Top Shops program and should be attended by any industrial coating owner or manager whom wants to bring their coating operation to the next level,” adds Luciano. “Our focus is on providing content that helps them at running their business more efficiently and with an eye towards profitability.”

Sessions cover such topics as workforce development, business operating systems, building company culture, crisis planning, the importance of peer groups and many more.

To learn more about the event, visit pftopshops.com.

How the Top Shops Benchmarking Survey Works

PF’s Top Shops Executive Summit event is spun off of the popular Top Shops Benchmarking Survey, which helps shops measure their performance against other businesses in the marketplace.

“The PF Top Shops Benchmarking Survey is celebrating its 6th year of providing industrial finishers a deep dive on how their shop is performing along with comparing their data against their peers,” says Products Finishing publisher Todd Luciano.

The survey looks at such categories as:

Finishing Technology: The survey considers certifications held and approvals received by finishing shops, plus the types of finishing operations each shop offers. In addition, the type of testing and lab work the shop performs for customers is taken into consideration.
Finishing Practices and Performances: The survey looks at practices and improvement methodologies a shop uses, and rankings in order of lead times, scrap/rework percentages and other customer-oriented operations.
Business Strategies and Performances: The survey considers current supply chain practices used by shops and annual sales growth rates.
Human Resources: The survey also covers HR practices and programs shops use, as well as training programs.

You can learn more about the program and how to participate by visiting gardnerintelligence.com/report/top-shops.