Kerry Pianoforte, Editor
The 31st Biennial Western Coatings Symposium was held October 21-23 at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Organized by the Western Coating Societies, the conference serves the people, companies, clients and customers of
the coatings industry, addressing issues and concerns through
oversight, advocacy, expertise and information sharing.
This three-day event featured technical sessions, tabletop exhibits and a panel discussion. The Symposium was well attended
with an attendance of 1,140 with a breakdown of 930 attendees, 130 exhibitors and 80 speakers.
“The general feedback we have received so far has been excellent with several emails to the WCS Board thanking us for
putting on a great Symposium and Show,” said Hal Harlan,
member of the Western Coating Societies Board.
Technical Program
The technical program featured two keynote addresses. The
;rst day featured a keynote address “U.S. Economic Outlook”
by Dr. Robert Fry, a senior analyst at DuPont. Fry expressed
cautious optimism for the future of the U.S. economy.
“U.S. recovery remains disappointing,” Fry said.
“Employment has grown steadily, but too slowly. It will take us
a while to get back to pre-recession levels. U.S. consumer con-
;dence has come down due to the government shutdown, but I
think that it will be temporary. The U.S. avoided a 2013 reces-
sion thanks to pent up demand for housing and automobiles.
The economy has grown despite ;scal contraction.”
The second keynote address was given by Cyriac Alexander,
vice president of technology and purchasing at Behr Process Corp.
The three-day event featured technical presentations, tabletop exhibits and panel
discussions from experts in the paint and coatings industry.
Western Coatings
Symposium Review
The Leadership Panel: Eric Fernandez, Vince Anderson,
Wilhelm Wessels, John Gilbert, Sheryl Southwell and Patrick Kelly.
