Return to Growth Through Powder Coating Conversions

Powder coatings have proven they’re stronger, greener, and better but in many so-called “mature” markets like appliances, HVAC and fabricated metal, legacy liquid lines still are primarily used to coat key components. To spark continued growth in powder coating, the industry must finish the work of conversion and unlock the untapped potential where powder should already be the default.

Contributed by Chris Reding

The palette is ready. Now it’s time to finish the work of conversion. (All photos courtesy of Shutterstock.com.)

It seems that at some point over the last 10 to 15 years, the powder coatings industry quietly decided that certain markets were “mature.” Fabricated metal parts. Enclosures. Racking. HVAC equipment. Appliance components. General industrial widgets. Powder worked there. Everyone knew it. The conversions that were going to happen had already happened—or so we seem to have concluded.

And so, without ever saying it out loud, we moved on. Powder coatings had proven themselves. The technical arguments were settled. Durability, corrosion resistance, transfer efficiency, and environmental performance were no longer in serious dispute. Powder had earned its place. And that place—roughly 12% of the total industrial coatings market—was somehow deemed sufficient.

But there is a difference between technology proving its case and an industry finishing its work. And it is worth asking: have we mistaken stalled efforts for true saturation? I believe we have.

When you look closely at many of the applications we now label “mature,” incumbent technologies are still there. Not at the margins, not as exceptions but in meaningful volumes, in places where powder should already be the default. This is not an argument about powder’s technical fit—that ground was taken decades ago. It is an argument for deliberately returning to growth through conversion.

Powder coatings—setting aside noteworthy advancements that may open genuinely new application spaces—are technically mature. Even so, penetration in the markets where powder has long been the best coating solution has somehow stalled in adolescence. It is no longer in infancy, but it is clearly not in adulthood, either.

For an association whose stated mission is to advance the use of powder coatings, that reality might be at least mildly disturbing.

Global market data reinforce that growth has been sluggish. Most major market research firms project steady mid-single-digit growth for powder coatings—typically in the 5% to 6% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) range—driven by appliances, industrial equipment, automotive components, furniture and architectural applications (Grand View Research, Powder Coatings Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report, 2023; MarketsandMarkets, Powder Coatings Market – Global Forecast, 2023).

What these reports do not show is a dramatic collapse of liquid coatings in those same end-use markets. Powder demand is growing, but largely in parallel with end-market growth and installed powder capacity—not through a broad, sustained wave of liquid-to-powder conversions.

In short, our collective behavior suggests that we have settled, quietly and perhaps unconsciously, on organic growth (collectively) and competition within the powder community (individually) as our primary growth mechanisms. We will eventually arrive at a place where that makes sense, but we are not there yet.

If conversions were the dominant growth engine, we would expect clearer evidence of declining liquid volumes in industrial metal applications. Instead, liquid coatings remain large, stable incumbents. That does not signal saturation. It signals unfinished work.

Powder coatings deliver durability, corrosion resistance and environmental benefits, yet many components—like internal brackets, frames and subassemblies—are still coated with legacy liquid.

Appliances. Appliances are often and rightly cited as a powder success story. Exterior panels for washers, dryers, refrigerators and ranges are overwhelmingly powder coated. Even so, the full picture is more nuanced.

According to the Home Appliances Coating Market report published by Reports and Data (2022), liquid coatings still account for roughly 40% to 50% of total global appliance coating market value, even as powder is the fastest-growing technology. The persistence of liquid is largely tied to internal and structural components—frames, backs, brackets, compressor mounts, and subassemblies—where legacy liquid lines remain in place.

The implication is straightforward. Recent growth in appliance powder demand has come primarily from manufacturers that adopted powder long ago and expanded throughput or product lines—not from wholesale conversion of incumbent liquid processes. This is not a technology performance gap but rather a gap in attention, energy and willingness to do the hard work of conversion in obvious places.

HVAC equipment and components. HVAC is another segment frequently cited as a powder growth driver, and again, the data support that view. Both grandviewresearch.com and marketsandmarkets.com identify HVAC and industrial equipment as key contributors to powder demand growth.

At the same time, powder is commonly used on housings, panels, and selected assemblies, while liquid coatings persist on internal frames, brackets, and subcomponents.

Here again, the barrier is not coating capability. It is plant architecture, capital cycles, and risk aversion—factors that, historically, this industry was quite good at navigating.

Fabricated metal. General fabricated metal—brackets, frames, weldments, stampings, tubing assemblies—represents one of the largest aggregate coating surfaces in industry. It is also one of the least visible. Conversion is sometimes framed as an active and ongoing challenge rather than a solved problem.

Powder is often the default choice for new or retooled lines. Liquid coatings, however, remain common in legacy captive operations, particularly among small to mid-sized OEMs where fully depreciated liquid lines continue to run. This may not be a glamorous space, but it is enormous, and it remains largely unfinished.

Agricultural and construction equipment (non-Class-A parts). Agricultural and construction equipment offer another clear example of selective adoption. Powder coatings are widely used on premium or high-visibility components, while liquid coatings persist on non–Class-A parts, internal structures and legacy SKUs.

Powder has been portrayed as valuable, but displacement has been partial rather than complete. Once again, the barrier is not performance but incumbency.

Electrical enclosures and cabinets. Electrical enclosures may be the most striking example of all.

These products demand durability, corrosion resistance and consistency. Cosmetic requirements are typically modest. Powder meets the technical requirements cleanly. Yet liquid coatings remain common in legacy OEM facilities.

This is a textbook case of a market declared mature while remaining materially incomplete.

Even rugged, high-visibility components like tractor panels are often powder coated, yet many structural and non-Class-A parts remain liquid. Converting these overlooked areas represents a major growth opportunity for the powder coatings industry.

None of this happened because the industry stopped caring. It happened because the industry adapted to resistance.

As conversion decisions became harder—entangled in sunk capital, organizational inertia, and risk aversion—value-chain participants shifted naturally toward defending share, extending product lines and serving existing powder users more effectively.

That adaptation was rational. But over time, it narrowed the industry’s field of vision.

Conversion selling is hard. It requires engaging capital committees, operations leadership and risk managers—not just coating engineers. It requires talking about lifecycle economics, downtime risk, compliance exposure and throughput—not microns and cure schedules.

Rather than updating our toolkits to meet that challenge, stalled decisions were gradually reinterpreted as evidence of market maturity.

Years ago, the industry captured powder’s value proposition in three simple words: Stronger. Greener. Better. Those words remain true. But they were never meant as a victory lap.

If powder is stronger, greener and better—and in many applications it clearly is—then advancing powder means more than celebrating those attributes. It means doing the harder work of enabling them to displace weaker, less efficient and less sustainable processes, particularly where that displacement is long overdue.

Trade associations exist to advance technology, not to neutrally observe it. That does not require hostility towards alternatives. But it does require clarity of purpose.

Advancing powder does not mean opposing liquid coatings in every context. It means acknowledging that, in many contexts, the work is not finished.

Powder coatings meet the durability and corrosion needs of HVAC systems, yet many internal components are still liquid-coated. Upgrading these lines can improve throughput, reduce waste and drive operational efficiency.

To move powder beyond adolescence, the value chain—including resin suppliers, powder manufacturers, custom coaters and equipment OEMs—must shift from selling product to de-risking transition.

In the examples cited here, the primary barrier is no longer technology but inertia. Accordingly, I offer some “food for thought” as ideas to generate strategic options.

1. Shift the financial narrative. Move beyond cost-per-pound toward Total Cost of Ownership models.
   • Carbon accounting tools that translate liquid-to-powder conversion into measurable CO₂ reduction
   • Leasing and “coating as a service” models that convert capital expense into operating expense
2. Target internal and non-Class-A components.
   • Low-cure, ultra-thin powders engineered specifically for non-visible parts
   • Automated bulk-processing solutions (for example, fluidized beds still have a place) to displace legacy liquid dip lines
3. Solve the touch-up and field-repair myth.
   • Standardized, chemically matched liquid repair systems certified for use over powder coatings
4. Digital twins and brownfield expertise.
   • Virtual plant simulations to model throughput, energy and risk before conversion
   • Incremental retrofit strategies that avoid full line shutdowns
5. Educational outreach beyond the choir.
   • Design-in strategies targeting engineers to upstream the CAD model, not the paint line

Legacy liquid lines are aging. Compliance pressure is increasing. Labor is tighter. Energy costs are less predictable. Tolerance for waste and downtime is lower. Decisions made decades ago under different assumptions deserve to be revisited.

What has not kept pace—and where we must recommit—is how the industry frames the conversation.

Powder will always be sold as a better coating. That is the starting argument. It is no longer sufficient to finish the work of conversion.

The remaining opportunity lives higher in the organization: in capital planning, risk management and operational economics. It requires a different language, and a willingness to re-engage in difficult conversations.

This is not a call to abandon innovation or relitigate old debates. It is a reminder that technical success does not guarantee deployment and that markets do not become mature simply because progress slows.

Some work remains unfinished not because it was impossible but because it was hard. Powder’s next growth chapter will not be written in the lab alone. It will be written in conversations about capital, risk and change. Those conversations are harder than talking about coatings. But they are where the opportunity lives.

Chris Reding is sales strategy and enablement advisor at Brass Tacks Advisory.