During the 1990s and early 2000s, increased competition from emerging markets drove many large manufacturing facilities to outsource production. Recently, we have witnessed an uptick in domestic manufacturing (reshoring) due to increases in both international shipping costs and in domestic manufacturing productivity driven by trends such as design-build, robotics, Lean Six Sigma analysis, and Value Stream Mapping. These tools have helped identify methods to increase productivity gains and cost-saving practices in painting operations as well. These include utilizing automated blasting equipment to reduce surface preparation time, plural-component sprayers to reduce waste and VOCs, robotic painting to increase efficiency and quality control, and painting structural steel in fabrication shops prior to shipping to the construction site.
Over the past 10 years, industrial maintenance coatings based on polyaspartic coatings have demonstrated proven performance and increased productivity in a variety of corrosion protection applications. This article reviews the chemistry and technical performance of polyaspartic coatings, and outlines their advantages and disadvantages versus traditional coatings.