Gerald Vandezande, Ph.D.
President
1st Source Research, Inc.

Dr. Gerald Vandezande is the President and CEO of 1st Source Research Inc. 1st Source provides services in Marketing, R&D, Testing, Engineering and Supply Chain support in the coatings, building products, and related industries. Formerly, Vandezande was the Global Development Leader for “Marine and Container” and “Maintenance and Protective” coatings markets for Dow Coating Materials. He was responsible for IA strategy, portfolio management, and annual global market business volume and EBIT. Previously, Vandezande was the Global Architectural Leader for Dow/UCC. Including global responsibility for product development strategy and research.

Big Box Stores – Head to Head in Premium Paints
Two of the major “big box” stores each have a wide range of quality paints supplied in a variety of colors and sheens. The leading brands for each of them are two of the largest paint suppliers in North America. These paint companies each have their own strategy for meeting customer needs through their paint application performance and durability. This presentation will examine similarly priced and marketed paints from both paint suppliers in their respective big box stores. During this talk we will compare and contrast a variety of their paint attributes, ranging from “in-can” properties including stability and odor; application attributes such as rheology, wet hide, and dry time; and dry paint properties demonstrated by dry hide, sheen, scrub, washability, adhesion, and surfactant leaching. Additionally, by utilizing the appropriate analytical tools, the underlying chemistry that imparts these properties were investigated and will be reported. Results include pigment volume concentrations, latex types and VOC content, all of which are standard tests in the industry. More sophisticated tools such as GC/MS, GPC, HPLC/DAD, SEM/EDX, and TEM were employed to elucidate the chemical makeup and morphology of these premium paints, and thus provide insights into the making of a quality product.