Benefits of Powder Manufacturer Certification

By Joelen Lima

Businesses driving the powder coatings industry aren’t just adhering to the strictest industrial standards, they’re working to raise them and provide powder coaters with a unique differentiator.

Audits and certifications are essential to supporting the specifier in their decision-making process and understanding how their chosen products will perform in real world environments. Increasing the durability of a building or product’s surface, for example, can translate into significant money saved over the building’s life cycle. Mapping a powder coating’s performance to energy savings and waste reduction is also important in product selection.

Whether it’s a powder coating certified to a recognized country/international standard such as International Organization for Standardization (ISO), American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), or European Norm, or a quality label such as QUALICOAT, Global Sustainability Board (GSB), or Fenestration and Glazing Industry Association's (FGIA) AAMA standards, customers are fundamentally looking for the same thing: evidence of quality and consistency in color, finish, and performance.

All certification schemes have their advantages. But whereas AAMA, for example, has been in place for many years, and is undoubtedly important as a benchmark, the specification is voluntary. As such, there are also manufacturer-specific programs which support custom coaters in demonstrating even higher levels of excellence and equip them with the skills and the confidence to take on longer-term project commitments.

Powder manufacturers’ programs are principally designed to ensure all-around quality, and to act as ‘guardians’ of a powder coating’s full performance capabilities. They test the capability and quality of the application process, and in doing so, give customers increased confidence and certainty of the coating’s performance in line with its stated warranties.

So, what are the advantages of adhering to a powder manufacturer’s own certification program? What benefits does it bring to the coaters and, ultimately, their customers? What does a coater typically have to do to be a part of a program? How do they need to prepare? And how can one manufacturer’s program benefit not just the individual member, but also the wider powder coating community?

Program Rationale
Powder manufacturers’ programs, as stated, are fundamentally designed to ensure the consistent quality of a finished product in terms of its coating. If we take, as an example, the Interpon D Approved Applicator program, it requires the technical services team from AkzoNobel to work closely with the coater not just at the start to gain an initial accreditation, but also on an ongoing basis. The ethos of the program is one based on a partnership of continuous improvement, and a system that includes regular monitoring and periodic testing. Such is the commitment to shared quality that partners must continue to meet the high standards demanded of them in the testing process or risk having supplies of the powder coatings temporarily withheld.

The genesis of such programs was an understanding of the need to demonstrate what a powder coating is capable of in an architectural environment where liquid paints (in the U.S. especially) have tended to dominate. A powder coating, professionally applied by a certified applicator, can deliver a consistent, high-quality finish that will protect a surface for a guaranteed timeframe in line with a customer’s expectations. The surest way of maintaining that quality and providing the warranties that are essential to any new design was to develop a program of continuous improvement.

Architects, designers, specifiers, contractors, and the coaters themselves all have reputations to protect. Working with a preferred manufacturer’s program gives them the comfort and assurance of knowing that their reputations— and their respective brands—are protected.

Program Benefits
Powder manufacturers’ certification programs are not self-serving. Their purpose is typically with an eye on how they can bring benefits to the whole powder coating ecosystem. Customers want an assurance of quality. For example, if it is stated that the film integrity of a surface coating is warrantied for 30 years, they need to know that it won’t start degrading prematurely. Similarly, a specified finish with a 20-year decorative warranty needs to maintain its aesthetic for at least 20 years. The product warranty covers the inherent performance of the powder coating itself, while the project warranties cover the performance of the powder within a specific project. Since the warranty is determined by the skill in the pretreatment process and how the coating is applied and cured as much as the formula of the coating itself, the way of ensuring quality is by using an applicator certified to use that particular product.

Quality and consistency of a single product in isolation is comparatively easy to maintain. However, some projects, like architectural, comprise many different parts—doors, windows, façades, panels, etc. It is critical, therefore, that the performance of the windows and doors, coated by one applicator, are of an identical quality to the façade panels which may be provided from elsewhere. Having all surfaces coated to an approved standard can guarantee the consistency and quality of a product, even when delivered from different suppliers and/or from different parts of the world.

The benefits to the customer are matched by the benefits that such programs bring to the applicator, but are perhaps more subtle. Customer satisfaction is key, and long-term relationships are built on delivering consistently high-quality services. Being an approved applicator delivers enhanced customer retention as well, and being known for quality and reliability is a powerful sales proposition. Having a reputation for protecting your clients’ reputations is also a way of differentiating one company’s services from the mainstream.

Working with a specific powder manufacturer’s program can provide an applicator access to even higher levels of training and technical support. In certain cases, it can enable validation of various pretreatment systems and their impact on final performance, and exclusive access to particular products, perhaps with enhanced levels of durability—as well as involving applicators in early trials of new products and innovations.

At an industry level, powder manufacturers’ programs also benefit those within the wider environment by generally raising the performance bar. It helps deliver a better, higher level of expectation of what can be achieved and assures the customer that wherever they engage with applicators approved to a recognized manufacturer’s standard, they will receive a consistent level of quality.

Joining the Program
So how does a coater become part of the program and what do they need to do to prepare? This will vary depending on the program. In our case, coaters can be invited to apply but they are also welcome to apply themselves. Either way, the approval process is the same. The technical services team conducts an initial audit, after which samples are provided to be processed over a period in which they are rigorously tested.

Typically, a sample is tested for its adhesion or given accelerated simulation testing for how it performs against corrosion. In the case of architectural coatings, samples are tested against the minimum AAMA specification level desired.

Various tests are performed: pretreatment quality; application process efficiency; and accelerated weathering conditions. The technical services team takes advantage of our own AAMA-accredited laboratory, enabling it to conduct all the necessary tests internally. The laboratory is similarly accredited to American Association for Laboratory Accreditations (A2LA), which means that the facility itself has been audited by a third party to confirm its independence.

Depending on the certification levels required, and the program being followed, the entire process can take up to six months to complete. Subsequent to the initial audit being conducted, the sample processing will start, followed by a comprehensive five months of testing. Once approved, the applicator is then audited annually.

Continuous Evolution
Powder manufacturers’ programs are increasingly well regarded, being valued by both industry peers and customers alike. They are helping deliver exceptional rates of warranty success. While the market has long relied on liquid coatings as the performance benchmark, manufacturers are increasingly helping coaters to seek more sustainable alternatives that offer the same level of quality that can be evidenced, measured, and maintained.

What is important is that powder manufacturers’ certified applicator programs all retain their standards, and only firms that reach and retain those standards are included. That way, as an industry, we can continue raising the bar and support others to achieve excellence. Similarly, the programs cannot afford to stand still. They, too, must evolve and be continuously updated by referencing the latest global specifications, real-world data, and research.

Joelen Lima is regional segment manager architectural North America for AkzoNobel Powder Coatings.