2014 | Accessa

Colorful Outlook Improves for Finishers

The future looks bright for the coatings industry. There appears to be plenty of opportunity for finishers ready to make the leap. As I write this post, a very positive November jobs report was released. Another indication we’re getting the economy back on track. More than a half million jobs were added in the past two months alone. This is more than the estimated 200,000 a month needed to keep...
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Nucraft’s Global Business Has a Local Partner

Since its founding in 1944, Nucraft in Comstock Park, Mich., has worked with customers to create inspiring conference rooms, private offices, reception areas, and training spaces. Accessa Coatings Solutions works closely with the Nucraft team to provide them the expertise, service and wood coatings products they need to do great work. Enjoy our latest video case study. To view more, visit o...
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2 Advances in manufacturing challenge your control in 2015

Survivors are no longer the largest, strongest or even the most intelligent—they just know when to adapt. In light of the challenges, they also know that growth begins with control, not revenue. You wonder where they get such insight. Each year around this time, scads of articles appear with predictions about the future and, more importantly, what’s next for manufacturing. This year, two topics s...
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Cost & Delivery: Opportunity for Finishers

Finishers focus on quality, cost and delivery—“QCD”—for good reason. It’s a popular metric and, if you can do it efficiently, it keeps customers happy. Trouble is, from a management point of view, “quality” always seems to trump cost and delivery. It’s probably because poor quality is so unacceptable. Well, I agree with the latter, but not so fast. Here’s the problem: There’s more potential fo...
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Troubleshooting 4 Common Coatings Issues

Some people seem like they are just asking for trouble. The way they act, talk and live suggests that they welcome the next disaster. Part of my job is to make sure my customers aren’t asking for trouble when it comes to their industrial coatings. I have been involved in the industrial coatings industry, in one form or another, for well over 30 years. During this time, I’ve troubleshot a lot of...
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Forecasting 2015 Manufacturing Costs for Coatings Industry

People who seem to make the smartest long-term buying decisions in the coatings industry and basic materials industry aren’t lucky or smarter than everyone else. They are more likely diligent forecasters in tune with the market and how it’s affecting costs. STABILITY FOR NOW Right now, and in particularly in the last 12-24 months, manufacturing costs and related costs have stabilized somewhat in...
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Manufacturing-quality: How exactly do you hit the mark?

“Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.” It is presumed that Henry Ford made that insightful statement, but I doubt it. Ford’s take on quality was entirely strategic—he was an industrialist after all. Sure, he knew integrity was important but I believe he had a different idea for quality as it relates to the manufacturing floor. I think it’s a definition worthy enough to kick around ...
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3 Better Questions to Ask Industrial Coatings Vendors

When it comes to evaluating finishes and vendors of industrial coatings, it’s not necessarily what you ask. It’s how you ask it. Most purchasers, finishing managers and others whose daily lives on the job can be affected—negatively or positively—by the coating they are using are concerned with how well a product is going to perform, how much it’s going to cost and the quality of the vendor’s s...
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Customized Solutions, One Customer at a Time

The very notion of a “solution” has become overused and overpromised, like “quality” and “service.” As a result, “customer solutions” echo will-fit parts. Sure it’s gonna-kinda fit, but will it work? Will it solve your immediate problem and get you the results you need? Is there anybody assuring you that it will? Do you feel important, or are you all alone on this one? True customized solut...
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Industrial specialty products are customer focused

A great distributor knows; customers define the specialty products he will purvey. It’s what makes an industrial product a “specialty” in the first place. He knows an anti-flutter could be an unusual specialty to one customer yet an essential stock to another. What’s important, it’s your business—you define the specialties. A great distributor understands that your needs are unique—it’s a customer...
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