Coatings World - May 2010

Editor’s Page
What recession?

Walking the floor of the American Coatings Show (ACS) last month in Charlotte, NC, it was hard to believe that we’re still climbing out of a recession. The show was vibrant. In conversation the recession was talked about in the past tense like a bad memory. Don’t get me wrong. The residual effects will be felt for some time.

It’s even likely your business hardly looks the same as it did prior to the recession. Key people may have left the company, employees let go, inventory dwindled down, competitors may no longer exist and your customer base may have shifted from good long standing customers/clients to anyone with money willing to buy.

Business is a long way from returning to pre-recession levels, but markets are rebounding. The main point, and what I noticed more than anything else in Charlotte, is that the industry is excited and moving forward, perhaps with more gusto than it had previously.

The context within which the paint and coatings industry is operating has shifted. As we all know, there is a growing demand for environmentally friendly materials that are less harmful to our health. The demand for these “green” products has led to the increased investment in innovative technologies.

Now that “green” product portfolio’s are common, what are the new technologies that will push industry forward? One way to help differentiate products will be through the development of functional components for coatings.

In the last of a three-part series discussing the potential for biofunctional coatings to serve as catalysts for revitalizing the coatings industry, functional additive pioneer Reactive Surfaces discusses how biologically-derived additives offer a novel approach for functionalizing coatings and surfaces to help paint and coating formulators transform their conventional products into functional materials designed to address unmet customer needs. To read more about RSL’s novel technology turn to page 28 for, “Bioengineered Additives: A Pipeline of Value Delivering Unique Functionality.”