NEWSWATCH

The Powder Coating Institute presented two men with PCI Hall of Fame Awards at the 2003 PCI Annual Meeting. The awards recognize individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the powder coating industry and given many years of dedicated service to The Powder Coating Institute.

The inductees are Chuck Johnson, who passed away several years ago, and Doug Richart, a consultant and Industrial Paint & Powder magazine contributing editor.

A pioneer in the powder coating industry, Chuck Johnson began working for Ferro Corp. in 1972 and was promoted to general manager of its powder coating division in 1988.

He was one of the charter members who founded The Powder Coating Institute in 1981 and served as PCI’s first vice president. Johnson was elected PCI’s president in 1984, 1986, and 1990; served on the board of directors throughout the 1980s; and performed other duties.

He was also chairman of the PCI Technical Committee, helping to set up powder presentations at various finishing industry shows and conferences in the early 1980s. He served on the PCI Strategic Plan Committee in 1988 and 1989.

Johnson passed away on February 13, 1998, at the age of 60.

Doug Richart started his career in the powder coating industry in 1960, when he began working for the Polymer Corp. (Reading, PA). The company had recently obtained the North American patent rights to fluidized bed coating technology developed in Germany. As group leader in the coating powder division, Richart developed materials that could be ground finer and provide better flow than thermoplastic resins then being used.

Richart and his group developed a stable, thermosetting powder based on epoxy resins. The electrostatic application of thermosetting powder allowed for much thinner coatings, in the range of 2 to 6 mils.

Richart was promoted to technical director in the early 1980s, making many advances in powder coating materials and new market applications.

He has received 17 patents in the field of powder coatings, his first one in 1966. He has also written over 50 articles and technical papers on powder coating technology and contributed to PCI’s powder coating handbook. He is also the technical editor of Industrial Paint & Powder magazine’s Powder R&D Newsletter.

He has been an active member of The Powder Coating Institute for many years, serving on various technical committees, including as chairman of the Health & Safety Subcommittee from 1992 through 1996.

Richart retired from Morton in 1994 and serves as a consultant to the powder coating industry.