The 21st century will be a challenging one for the coatings industry. The need for more durable and resilient coatings that are also environmentally friendly is at the forefront of everyone’s mind. Attention to these needs will be time consuming and costly for all concerned. In a highly competitive field, these costs will not necessarily be passed on. Therefore, manufacturers will need to look elsewhere to keep margins healthy. One area will be in the development and manufacture of new shades for their customers. Saving time during this phase will equate into cost savings. Companies will also need to do a more efficient job of turning tanks around faster during the manufacturing process. A major part of this will be a producer’s ability to bring a color on shade quickly so that a tank can be emptied and filled again.
There are three stages in the manufacturing process. The first is the actual batching itself. Barring unforeseen difficulties, one can reasonably estimate the amount of time this will take. The last stage involves filling and packaging of the finished product. Again, one can usually estimate with some certainty the length of this step.