Thermal Spray Story - 1

Sponsored Links

I have developed this blog regarding the thermal spray coating business directed towards the business person that either owns a thermal spray coatings shop performing plasma spray, hvof, twin-wire-arc or other flame spray coatings or is thinking about getting into the thermal spray coatings business. This may also be of value to those professionals in the plasma spray coatings and thermal spray coatings field that are interested in expanding their revenues in the field of thermal spray technology. This site also deals with the practical but significant details of the thermal spray engineering, quality and processing aspects. The idea to write this came to me very recently, as I was reminiscing about my past -- I was a young engineer working with professionals in thermal spray and I always heard the big bosses talking about ways to increase business -- some of which were brilliant ( and conversely, some of which were not so bright.) Several years later, I went over to the really BIG BOSS one day and told him that I wanted to move from engineering to managing a thermal spray division. He said NO. He probably thought that since I was a smart engineer, I was only a technocrat and not a business major and hence could not "handle" the business aspects. So I quit and found someone who offered me exactly what I wanted -- running a coatings company -- except this was a losing business -- we could barely meet our payroll ! There was poor morale among the existing employees -- most of the hourly workers were getting sent home early on "LOW" -- that stood for lack of work -- ( in retrospect, I think the managers should have received that honor ! ). But the shop looked great -- pristine, clean and with a young man that was given the janitorial duties. He, by the way, was also putting in less than 40 hours per week ! The employees didn't know when the axe would come down and they would lose their jobs. And I thought to myself, "what a FOOL I had been to have quit engineering and come to this !" Engineering was simple -- it was about solving problems using physics, mathematics and chemistry. The situation I got into had no simple pathways to solutions -- at least none that I had been exposed to. However, I was not willing to give up. What started out as a brilliant engineering career, then turned out to be a brilliant management career and what I learnt from those many many years I feel would be of value to others in similar situations ! In this blog I have tried to cover both the technology of thermal spray as well as the business aspects of the process; after all, if you dont make any money, your company ceases to exist.