From left to right: Sean Feng, president, West Coast Societies and
chairman of the Western Coatings Symposium; Dr. Dane Robert Jones,
associate dean and professor, department of chemistry and biochemistry, California Polytechnic State University and this year’s recipient of the WCS Samson-Adler Distinguished Service Award; Eunice
Leung, WCS technical committee co-chair; and Melinda Forbes the
2009 recipient of the Adler Award.
products. Let your product stewards innovate. Reinforce inno-
vative behavior. Kill projects that aren’t going anywhere. Load up
key products with resources. Innovation is something new that
creates economic value for a company and its customers.”
Other technical presentations covered green chemistry, envi-
ronmental friendly color technologies, additives for improvement
and new trends in coatings. In addition to the technical sessions,
the Symposium featured student posters and an exhibitor show-
case. There was also an awards presentation.
The Samson Adler Distinguished Service Award was presented to Dr. Dane Jones, associate dean and professor, department of chemistry and biochemistry, California Polytechnic State
University. Dr. Jones oversaw the development of both undergraduate and graduate polymers and coatings programs for Cal
Poly’s chemistry department and has more than 30 years of experience in the polymers and coatings field.
“My greatest joy is working with the people in this industry,”
Jones said. “They have provided equipment, raw materials and
most importantly expertise. I’m deeply humbled. It’s been a great
ride and we are going to continue to provide the industry with
the best students.” CW
According to Fry, a U.S. recession is not inevitable, but there
are risks that it could happen.
“Five times since 1960 there have been declines in U.S. stock
prices of this magnitude that were not followed by a recession,”
he said. “That happened last summer and 2002. So there is a
precedent to have these economic conditions and not have a re-
cession. Consumers and investors have lost confidence in leaders
in the U.S. and Europe. Consumer sentiment has plummeted.
Stock prices are down sharply, especially in Europe. Stock price
declines are both a predictor and a cause of slower growth. A
U.S. recession is not inevitable but the risks have risen.”
The second day of talks began with a keynote session on “The
Challenges of Innovation,” presented by John Gilbert, vice pres-
ident of R&D for Behr.
“Today I’m going to address innovation in the workplace,”
said Gilbert. “To be successful in producing innovative R&D
work, we need to retain our best technical employees to provide
an environment in which they can innovate. Motivating your
workforce is a key to innovation.”
Gilbert defined innovation as “a change in a product offer-
ing, service, business, model or operation that meaningfully im-
proves the experience of a larger number of stakeholders.”
Another key to innovation is the filtering of ideas. “Inno-
vation is not about ideas, it is about being productive with
those ideas,” he said. “Focus not on the idea of ideas, but the
value generation. Innovation happens somewhere between
chaos and control.”
Innovating in today’s economy can be a challenge. “There has
been a decline in median household income,” said Gilbert. “Na-
tionwide it dropped 2.4 percent. How do we respond to this?
Middle class shoppers are trading down. The key is to figure out
how to please both the high-end and the low-end. We need to
think beyond price points. Pull ahead things discovered in your
innovation projects and incorporate them into your current
John Gilbert, vice president of R&D for Behr delivers his keynote presentation, “The Challenges of Innovation.”
Robert Fry, a senior economist at DuPont during his keynote address,
“U.S. Economic Outlook.”
www.coatingsworld.com
December 2011
