Coatings World - April 2008

American Coatings
Show 2008 preview

A look at the American Coatings Show and the American Coatings Conference scheduled for June 2-5 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

BY TIM WRIGHT

EDITOR

When The National Paint and Coatings Association (NPCA) and Hanover, Germany-based Vincentz Network, hosts of the European Coatings Show, teamed up and announced the launch of the new American Coatings Show (ACS) last year in July, it created quite a stir in the coatings industry. First, it fully exposed the rift that had opened between the Federation of Societies for Coatings Technology (FSCT) and NPCA regarding failed merger discussions between the two organizations. So when NPCA announced it had teamed up with Vincentz, immediately the fate of FSCT’s International Coatings Exposition (ICE), which had been North America’s premier coatings event, was immediately thrown into question, hampered in recent years by a steadying decline in show participation and lack of positive feedback.

It’s been nearly a year since those events unfolded. In that time, NPCA and FSCT agreed to a merger, part of which called for ICE to be combined with ACS and ICE 2008, which was to be held in Chicago in the fall officially cancelled. With the support of both NPCA and FSCT, ACS has become the premier exhibition in North America for the coatings industry.

As industry awaits the premier of the highly anticipated ACS, the only thing left to do is see how the show turns out. The American Coatings Show and Conference will be held in Charlotte, NC, in June 2008. The trade show takes place from June 3-5 and the conference has been extended to June 2-4, 2008.

The new American trade show for the paint and coatings industry, is being hosted by NPCA and Vincentz, and organized by NürnbergMesse North America, Atlanta, and is emulating its successful model, the European Coatings Show, the coatings industry’s largest and most successful exhibition.

The expectations for ACS are high and not unjustified, according to Vincentz. “An impressive amount of exhibit space at the Charlotte Convention Center was sold by the early booking deadline at the end of December 2007,” said Dirk Ebener, managing director of NürnbergMesse North America in a statement. “At the beginning of 2008, approximately 150 companies had booked 43,000 sq. ft of net display space, which is 80% of the total space available and a very

Photo: Visit Charlotte

good response for a new event. Many well-known international companies are already on board, and we are confident the number of exhibitors will continue to increase.”

AMERICAN COATINGS CONFERENCE EXTENDED

The American Coatings Conference promises a forum for the exchange of information and views from high-level scientific experts. “The involvement of the coating raw materials industry in the conference program is overwhelming,” said Esther Schwencke, head of events division, Vincentz Network in a statement.

Due to more than 170 papers submitted, the event— originally designed for 54 scientific presentations—has been increased to 72 presentations, which resulted in the extension of an additional half day. The conference also offers five pre-tutorials, one and a half hours each, as an introduction to the special topics of polyurethanes, radiation curing, corrosion protection, anti-microbial surfaces and easy-to-clean coatings. There will also be poster presentations on coatings research and development work to be held after the oral presentation programs of the first and second conference day.

The plenary session will begin with two keynote presentations. First, Lewis Manring, global platform technology director coatings and color, DuPont Performance Coatings, will discuss, “The Future of the Coatings Industry in America and the Role of Innovation and Technology to Advance the Industry to the Next Level.” Next, Wendy Hoenig, vice president of R& D, Dow Coating Solutions, The Dow Chemical Company, will present, “The American Coatings Industry: Taking It to the Next Level Through Innovation and Collaboration.”

The parallel sessions will cover a wide range of topics including nanoparticles and nanostructures, novel materials, sustainable solutions, polyurethanes, architectural coatings, functional coatings, protective coatings, pigments, dirt pickup and easy-to-clean coatings, testing and laboratory methods, and industrial coatings.