Tom Frauman has joined the editorial advisory board of Finishing Today. A recognized industry expert in the global powder coatings market, Frauman brings with him nearly 25 years of industrial coatings sales, marketing and business management experience and an extensive list of publications and insights that will enrich the magazine’s editorial content.



Tom Frauman has joined the editorial advisory board of Finishing Today. A recognized industry expert in the global powder coatings market, Frauman brings with him nearly 25 years of industrial coatings sales, marketing and business management experience and an extensive list of publications and insights that will enrich the magazine’s editorial content. Tom currently serves as the global marketing director for Rohm and Haas Powder Coatings.

When asked if the powder market has reached maturity, Frauman replied, “I am still very optimistic about the growth prospects for powder coatings to displace less environmentally friendly finishing technologies. We mustn’t lose site of the fact that powder currently represents less than 15% of total OEM product finishing, leaving significant headroom for growth in both developed and emerging markets.” According to Frauman, additional conversion will depend heavily on advancing powder chemistry and application in the following areas:
  • Lower energy cure
  • Improved application at higher line speeds on both simple and complex parts
  • Coatings that provide corrosion resistance and other protective properties with minimal surface preparation
  • Enhanced appearance properties including brighter metallic effects
  • Smoother thin film coatings
  • Better solutions for customers requiring frequent color changes
  • Reparability
“Developing products that cost-competitively address these issues will enable powder to deliver substantial benefits to the industrial coatings buyer and compete more aggressively with liquid coatings. Opportunities in new markets like engineered wood and plastics face the same technology hurdles but with order of magnitude changes needed to drive more sizeable penetration,” he said.

Frauman can be reached at 215.939.4709 ortfrauman@rohmhaas.com.