A tale of two powder coaters
From a job shop that opened in the seventies with one line and now has eight to a shop that opened in the nineties, and has grown from one to three systems, these two shops have a common denominator: Family. A father runs the former and his son the latter.
Steve Foley Senior Editor
f you were to drive from upstate New York starting at Canajoharie with Rock Hill, S.C., as your destination, the road trip would cover 840 miles and take approximately 13 hours. But if you wanted to learn about two custom coaters based in these respective cities, the journey covers almost 30 years and spans two generations of the Wright family.
A job shop pioneer, Chuck Wright became involved with powder coating while working as a salesperson for a manufacturer of insulation coatings, resins, and liquid coatings that had gotten involved with powder coatings to protect its market during the solvent crisis of the seventies. Wright received the charge to introduce this fledgling technology— available in a phenolic epoxy and four colors: white, black, red, and a gray—to his territory, which ran from Boston to Buffalo, N.Y. Customers responded to this technology with a mixture of bewildered interest tempered with caution and reserve. “The big thing was to get them to understand powder,” Wright said. “They’d say ‘that’s going to blow off.’ After explaining the nuances, they’d say ‘that really sounds good, but we’re not going to make that investment to do one-tenth of our product mix.’ ”
Venturing on the powder path
This tepid response lit the great idea light bulb over Wright’s head. If coaters thought that it was good but couldn’t justify the cost to have powder coating capabilities in house, there’s an opportunity to offer it as a service to do that percentage as a job shop. Chris Watson, a coworker of Wright’s, agreed. They formed a partnership and opened the doors of
W.W. Custom Clad in January 1976 in Canajoharie, N.Y. At that time, it was the only job shop in the state. The location put the coater in the center of its marketing area, covering a 350-mile radius that runs down to Trenton, N.J., into Vermont, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and all of New York State.
During the summer months of his high school and college years, Chris Wright, Chuck’s son, wasn’t fishing on a lake under a brilliant blue sky. Rather, he could be found in the warm confines of some ductwork or a cyclone cleaning out oversprayed powder. He grew up in his father’s business. “I was making $4 an hour and doing the grunt work,” Chris said. “The fact that I worked in his business...where I was expected as the bosses’ son to work harder for less definitely gives me experience that serves me well now.”
After graduating from college, Chris Wright went to work for a pretreatment chemical company dealing with the specialty chemicals end of the business, handling a sales territory in Rochester, N.Y., and Monroe County. After a year, he had an opportunity to join the largest powder manufacturer in the country in the mid-eighties. He moved to Charlotte, N.C., where he worked in sales for 4 years and spent another 4 years in market development. Still living in Charlotte, the younger Wright also worked another 4 years for an application equipment supplier, selling application equipment in the southeast and up the eastern seaboard.
Branching into new territory
Then, Chris Wright’s foray into the supplier side of the powder coating industry ended. During this time, he and his father were looking for an opportunity to open a coating business in the southeast because of the younger Wright’s location and familiarity with the customer base. The chance came when one of W.W. Custom Clad’s larger customers moved to Rock Hill, S.C. To address the needs of this relocated account, Chris Wright began laying the groundwork for a custom coating venture with his father as a business partner. Carolinas Custom Clad began to take shape drawing on the experiences of both father and son. “This business was born out of my father’s business,” Wright said. “I grew up in his business, and after getting out of college, worked in the industry. Whether it was a conscious effort or not, I educated myself about the industry outside of
W.W. Custom Clad. When we finally started another business outside, I had a lot to offer from the knowledge I have of the marketplace, the industry, and the contacts I’ve accumulated over the years.”
As shared physical traits reveal familial relations, the powder coating operations at W.W. Custom Clad and Carolinas Custom Clad share some uncanny similarities. Yet, differences also exist. Time, place, and individual backgrounds make each shop simultaneously an echo of the other and a distinct operation.
Celebrating the nation’s bicentennial and the birth of a job shop
In 1976, W.W. Custom Clad started out with an older factory building and one line composed of a batch oven and a conveyorized loop through the batch powder application booth. Its first major account was with an automotive manufacturer, coating zinc die-cast door handles. Considering outgassing and corrosion resistance issues, Chuck Wright and Watson developed a system to successfully coat these handles. “It was all seat-ofthe-pants learning on how to handle and approach that particular market,” Wright said.
This job became the stepping stone to develop more work in the automotive area. To handle the additional automotive work, the coater installed a second line that included an inline oven and automatic spray equipment. Increased volume demanded warehouse space that was nonexistent in the building. Workers built a warehouse that served its storage function for 2 months until W.W. Custom Clad placed equipment in there as its finishing operations continued to expand. “Every building that we built as a warehouse became a production area,” Wright said. “Today, we still don’t have a true warehouse because each time we [build one] we put a piece of production equipment in it.” The shop has evolved from a 12,000square-foot building to a 42,000square-foot plant. Three other buildings provide space for a storage-warehouse area, pad printing, blasting, and subassembly. Its 65 employees, including clerical, quality control, and line workers, run production for two shifts and use a third for setup and cleaning. In addition, the finisher offers pickup and delivery ser
vice and fabrication, providing its customers with a one-invoice coating experience.
W.W. Custom Clad has eight finishing areas that include two lines with identical configurations: an inline washer, combination dry-off-cure oven and two application booths. Two batch areas run parts through one of the line’s washer and dry-off ovens. Another batch area processes larger parts up to 14 feet long. Workers use a manual conveyor designed by the shop to directly feed and index parts in an oven that is 15 feet long, 10 feet wide, and 9 feet tall. The shop also has fluidized-bed capabilities. Two years ago, the finisher bought an automated system to coat small parts. Workers integrated the washer and application equipment into an existing conveyorized line and flow-through oven. Parts processed on this line include razor handles, small brackets, and window hardware. Racking machines rack up the small parts. For surface preparation, parts pass through a stainless steel washer. In terms of powder application, this line breaks the rule of mostly manual powder application. Automatic guns mounted to movers spray powder on as many as 75,000 parts per 8-hour shift.
Largely, workers apply powder manually to handle the variety of parts and to better address specific applications and situations. Variety also dictates that most powder is sprayed-to-waste to ensure a quality finish. “We’re held to a higher standard than an in-house operation where they would use reclaim,” Wright said. “The parts are gone over a bit more carefully, so we feel that the saving in powder sometime isn’t offset by the quality situation.”
Wright notes that the competition has increased over the past 4 to 5 years. But W.W. Custom Clad faces that with an established tradition and extensive coating equipment. This translates to quick turnaround and production flexibility. “If somebody needs a shorter turnaround, we have the capability of running on multiple lines on multiple shifts,” Wright said. “Everybody reaches that growth spurt where they start out having one line and then all of a sudden there just isn’t time in the day to get everything done on that line. Today with everything being JIT (just in time), you just don’t have the luxury to give a 2-week turnaround. We can have better reaction time because of our setup.”
Breaking new ground by building on tradition
Where W.W. Custom Clad found challenges in its workspace and dealing with a new technology, Chris Wright had the benefit of drawing on his father’s experience combined with his unique experience in the shop and as a representative of various powder coating equipment and technologies. Chuck Wright had encountered problems with the plant’s low-level roof. In addition, as they added plant space driven by increased demand, the shop ended up with a series of small spaces that hampered materials handling. The building they found in Rock Hill remedied these issues. It has 20-foot-high eaves as opposed to the 14-foot-high eaves at
W.W. Custom Clad. The building’s layout facilitates materials handling because it’s divided down the middle with a block wall separating the space into two finishing areas that are isolated enough to avoid contamination issues and yet they are interconnected.
Carolinas Custom Clad has been in business for 7 years now. Its 45 employees run the operation in two shifts. The 28,000-square-foot main building houses powder coating operations and warehouse space. Employees perform some manufacturing and subassembly work for customers at an off-site 5,000square-foot warehouse. This building also houses equipment to build racks and fixtures.
The shop finishes small and large parts for a variety of industries, from general industrial to suspension parts on 4-wheeler recreational vehicles. Appliance jobs include finishing metal components for refrigeration equipment and plastic pieces that are trim pieces for oven ranges. Heavy equipment represents another major segment. The shop also coats heavy weldments and sheet metal for a manufacturer of roadside construction equipment, such as light towers and directional signs.
Originally catering to a relocated customer of W.W. Custom Clad, the first coating system installed in Rock Hill closely resembled the one that first coated parts in Canajoharie. The hybrid line with the batch cure and automated application worked well for this specific application. But instead of processing parts similar to his father’s opera
tion, Chris Wright discovered
that he could do bigger things
with the same system. “Where
my work gravitated toward
small parts, his went to larger
parts,” Chuck Wright said.
“And that setup was ideal for
handling that. Initially it was
something that we stumbled
on when we started W.W. It
was really the right way to
approach it when you started a
job shop that you didn’t really have a specific market that you were going to target.”
As a result, the Rock Hill shop’s customer base needed big parts finished. To further address customer demand, the next system, a batch configuration, efficiently processed larger parts than the hybrid system and specifically addressed the large, low-volume product segment. The coater then added a conventional automated line as business continued to evolve. “We have three profit centers, or lines for lack of a better word, that mesh real well,” Chris Wright said. “Where the limitations of one line’s capabilities are realized, the other line picks up those capabilities or limitations. They blend real well together and allow us to process a vast variety of parts both in size and in quantities.”
Hybrid. This system enabled Carolinas Custom Clad to finish aluminum and zinc die-castings for its first customer. Die-castings have to be outgassed, and the machine faces have to be masked. This initial part mix didn’t lend itself to a conventional conveyorized line. As a result, the shop started with a conveyorized application and a batch oven, which allowed the parts to outgas for 4 to 5 hours. The parts were then masked, coated, and cured. This line design incorporates a walk-in batch booth with a filter wall that is equipped with conveyor openings on either side to allow a loop conveyor to go through it. After the parts are coated in the booth, operators transfer them to carts and then move the carts into the batch oven. This line doesn’t suffer throughput issues associated with automated lines where oven size and washer size, to a lesser extent, determine line speed. Armed with enough carts to hang parts, workers can keep a train of parts going through the hybrid system. “This little line doesn’t look like much,” Chris Wright said, “but we can effectively run at 13 to 15 feet per minute because we’re not constrained by the length of the oven as to how fast we can run the application end of it.”
Batch. The hybrid system was the only one in the area with a large batch oven. As a result, Carolinas Custom Clad started finishing larger parts. As the volume got greater and the parts got bigger, though, the shop added another system to accommodate them. This batch system has a larger walk-in spray booth and batch oven than the hybrid system to handle the increase in part volume and size. The largest part profile reaches 20 feet long by 8 feet wide by 9 feet tall. These parts include forklift battery charger stations, which are materials handling equipment used in big distribution warehouses for taking large electric forklift batteries on and off numerous forklifts. When finishing large parts, Carolinas Custom Clad workers move them around on carts with forklift extensions. They also use overhead I-beam hoists.
Automated line. Just as W.W. Custom Clad added warehouse space that evolved into production areas, Carolinas Custom Clad needed to add space to address customer demand and meet production requirements. In 2001, the coater built a 7,000-square-foot addition to house its third line. An automatic line with a five-stage washer, 700-foot-long conveyor, and automatic application booth processes smaller parts at high volumes, rounding out the shop’s capabilities. As with most of the equipment, workers refurbished existing components or fabricated them in-house, supervised by Gary May, plant manager and Chris Wright’s partner. (Originally, May worked as a production powder coating operator at W.W. Custom Clad. He then worked for a contractor that worked with the New York shop, installing new equipment. Over the years, May continued to offer his services as needed. When Carolinas Custom Clad prepared to open its shop, May played a key role in setting up the equipment.) Workers spent a year rebuilding pumps and risers, and replacing all the motors, plumbing, and headers on the stainless steel washer. After installing the washer, workers laid out the conveyor to work within the available plant space. Next, workers built the combination dry-off and cure oven, and refurbished the automatic booths.
Parts first pass through the five-stage spray washer, consisting of an alkaline cleaner that operates at about 150°F, an ambient freshwater rinse, a third-stage iron phosphate at 145°F, another ambient rinse, and a heated reactive seal. Parts then go through the convection combination oven to dry off. The two oven sections operate independently of one another. The dry-off section has its own controls and is a 70-foot-long, one-pass system. The cure section is 160 feet long, and parts make two passes with operating temperatures up to 500°F. Two in-line powder booths facilitate color changes and reclaim. “Whether we decide to reclaim or not, whether the run is long or short, if it’s a short run, we might use one booth and not reclaim,” Chris Wright said. “We’re covering as much of the market as we possibly can both in terms of our capabilities as well as our desire to be flexible and work with high-volume larger runs or for boutique jobs— those specialty jobs that might be sporadic.”
Being at the helm of two successful operations, both Wrights continue to focus on their customers’ needs and provide new services that evolve with demand. Instead of being satisfied with his large shop in New York, Chuck Wright wanted to grow by opening another shop. “This is the second company that I’ve boot-strapped not even having a building to go into and starting a company,” Wright said. “These are both companies that have been started from ground zero. It’s been a very interesting way of approaching getting into a business.”
In addition, both father and son have been involved with the Powder Coating Institute (PCI). W.W. Custom Clad became a member during PCI’s second year; Carolinas Custom Clad in 1997. Chuck and Chris have served on various groups and committees representing custom coaters and the industry at large. Currently, Chris Wright serves as the custom coater representative on the PCI board of directors.
Chris Wright took this charge and made Carolinas Custom Clad a booming job shop. And like his father, he continues to seek ways to increase capabilities, such as adding electrodeposition coating. “We’re always looking for new processes and technologies to improve our marketability as opposed to just being a powder coater.” PC
Application equipment: Nordson, Amherst, Ohio. 440/985-4000. www. nordson.com
Application equipment: Wagner Systems, Carol Stream, Ill. 630/784-7175. www.wagnersystemsinc.com
Application equipment: ITW Gema, Indianapolis. 317/298-5161. www.itw gema.com
Oven panels: Rapid Engineering, Comstock Park, Mich. 616/784-0500. www.rapidengineering.com
Pretreatment chemicals: Coral Technologies, Waukegan, Ill. 847/3368100. www.coral.com