Episode 40: On The Line Discusses Industry Trends, Year Ahead

This marks our 40^th Products Finishing’s On the Line interview column and to celebrate we decided to turn the interviewer into the interviewee as PF senior editor Lori Beckman interviews PF editor-in-chief Scott Francis about some of the trends that are top of mind for finishers, industry events that are on the horizon and some of PF’s initiatives for the year.

Read an interview excerpt (below) or listen to the complete interview podcast (above):

LB: What trends are you paying attention to as we begin the new year?

SF: One of the most important trends for finishers isn’t a surprise — that continues to be regulatory compliance. Increasingly strict and changing environmental regulations are a constant pressure for finishers and something they constantly have to navigate. In particular, PFAS and PFOA chemicals which have been used in plating baths as mist suppressants and have found other uses in finishing applications are coming under growing scrutiny. There are stricter mandates about how much of those chemicals you can have in wastewater. So that’s something that finishers are going to have to continue to contend with.

In addition, there are increasingly strict rules about hexavalent, chromium — just last year in California, there was a timeline set on the ban of hexavalent chrome in the state, which is pushing finishers to consider either switching to trivalent chromium or implementing trivalent chromium in addition to their current offerings. So, I think that’s something that we’ll continue to hear a lot more about.

LB: What stories does PF have coming up that you’re excited about?

SF: We have tons of great stories lined up for readers — we like to let some of the timely themes throughout the year help guide our storytelling. For example, in March, we’re planning an issue that touches on recreation markets and features a story about the use of ecoat in RV manufacturing. And then we’ll dig into some environmental stories in April that have a loose tie-in to Earth Day, when everyone’s thinking about environmental themes. In May we’ll tackle a discussion of workforce-related initiatives. We also have plans for stories that touch on automation solutions and the use of A.I. use for finishing. We’ll also dig deeper into how finishers are responding to those regulatory challenges we spoke about earlier — and lots more.

LB: Industry events are already ramping up. What events are you most looking forward to in early 2024?

SF: So, there are a lot of great events coming up and it’s hard to fit them all in — I wish that we could go to every single one of them, but PF will be kicking off the year by attending powder coating week in March in Orlando, Florida. The Powder Coating Institute hosts that event every year and it’s a really great place for workshops — they have a Powder Coating 101 workshop that I've personally taken and it’s fantastic — and the technical conference sessions there are great. There’s also plenty of time for networking with industry professionals. It’s just a really great event.

We’re also excited about ECOAT24 that’s hosted by the Electrocoat Association. The ECOAT conference occurs every other year and it’s an excellent opportunity for electrocoating professionals (and finishers who are thinking of adding ecoat to their current offerings) to catch some great educational sessions and get face time with industry industry professionals.

LB: PF’s parent company, Gardner Business Media, has brands that touch all areas of manufacturing and there is a lot of discussion about collaboration — what can you tell us about some of those initiatives and what it all means for our audience?

SF: So, this is one initiative that I’m particularly excited about and have been kind of beating the drum about in some of my editorial columns. Gardner Business Media has nine manufacturing brands and exploring the areas where our different brands’ reporting intersect is a really good opportunity for us to tell bigger stories that talk about the whole of manufacturing. We want to help people make connections and solve problems. Maybe they’re looking to get outside of their normal supply chains in order to figure out some new solutions. Looking at ways that we can kind of learn more from other areas of manufacturing and see how to solve certain application problems is going to be a big initiative for us.

As an example, we recently ran a story in PF that discussed the use of electroplating in additive manufacturing, and not just from a decorative point of view, where it actually provides additional structural qualities for that additively manufactured part. So, I think some of those kind of stories where we're getting outside of what we typically do in these areas, is going to be a big initiative for us. Of course, we’ll continue to do the reporting on our core topics as well. But you'll also see finishing for alternative substrates and different things that are out there that people are thinking about.