Membership Memo—Sharing a Wealth of Knowledge
Posted on Thursday, August 25, 2022
Thinking about my many years as a PCI member brought me back to the person who introduced me to the association. It was the late eighties and Pacific Powder Coating was just getting started. While our founder did some initial research on powder coating, I knew very little and was in dire need of someone to share their knowledge with me. Hans Galleska was that guy. A chemist and sales representative for Fuller O’Brien, Hans was like a human encyclopedia for powder coating and taught me so much. During one of our many meetings he told me about a fairly new trade organization that was working to promote our industry. That organization, of course, was PCI. Having learned so much from this gem of a man, I was not going to ignore any advice he offered. So, I joined PCI and have been a member ever since.
Over the years my company and I have benefited in many ways from our affiliation with PCI. We have sent several of our employees to PCI workshops and have utilized countless forms of training literature and webinars.
In 2016, I was approached by PCI and asked if I might have interest in joining a custom coater peer group. Having a friend who grew his business exponentially and attributed much of that growth to his peer group, I jumped at the opportunity. Participating in a peer group has been an amazing experience for my company and for me personally. The relationships that we have built within the group are very special. We help each other, not because we have to, but because we want to, and are in a unique position to do so given our combined experience.
In March, I was invited to Powder Coating Week to sit on a panel at the Technical Conference and share my experiences as a custom coater. As much as I enjoyed that experience, I was even more impressed by the quality of the sessions I was able to attend afterwards. PCI does a fantastic job of finding highly qualified people to share their expertise at these forums. I highly recommend attending one of these events to anyone interested in the powder coating industry.
Like Hans and the Powder Coating Institute, sharing experiences to help someone else grow is truly what it is all about. I’m thankful for both!
Jeff Rochester is president of Pacific Powder Coating & Manufacturing.