On the Line

When Products Finishing profiled Graymatter Robotics in 2024, the company was an early-stage venture founded by three USC researchers targeting a problem that traditional automation had largely ignored — high-mix, high-variability surface finishing. In this installment of On the Line, PF  catches up with Rand Owens, GrayMatter's head of marketing and go-to-market, to get an update on the company's...

In this installment of  Products Finishing' s ( PF ) On the Line,  PF  editor-in-chief Scott Francis catches up with Remington Schieffer, vice president of  American CRS Equipment , revisiting a conversation the two began in a previous episode. Schieffer discusses the latest technology and trends in the rectifier space, the evolving landscape of safety compliance and his passion for education init...

Kevin Biller has been a leader in the powder coating industry for nearly five decades as director of ChemQuest Powder Coating Research (Columbus, Ohio), the author of the "Ask Joe Powder" advice column and host of its corresponding podcast and a technical editor with Powder Coated Tough , among other numerous roles throughout his career. Last year, the Powder Coating Institute inducted Biller into...

Products Finishing recently surpassed the milestone of our 65 th installment of our On the Line podcast. It seems like as good a time as any to take a moment to look back on the podcast, which launched in January 2021 and celebrate 5 years of interviews from finishing industry professionals. In this episode, we share a couple of excerpts from an older episode and one more recent touching on import...

In this latest installment of On the Line, Products Finishing revisits the perennial topic of workforce trends. With so much evolution in the ways we work, from new automation technologies to rapid improvements in AI and machine learning, the opportunities, as well as the challenges for workers are constantly changing. We recently caught up with PF columnist Matthew Kirchner, the president of the...

Industry education events represent key opportunities for attracting and retaining new talent. In the most recent installment of Products Finishing 's On the Line, we talk with Sheila LaMothe, vice president of strategic initiatives for the Chemical Coater's Association International (CCAI, Independence, Ky.). In her role, LaMothe has worked to found several industry education initiatives for CCAI...

Kicking off 2026,  PF  explores some of the latest trends in media blasting and surface prep. Brandon Acker, president of  Titan Abrasive Systems (Ivy, Pennsylvania), a manufacturer of media blasting equipment and custom engineered blast rooms, took some time to sit down with us and talk through the latest.

In this installment of Products Finishing 's On the Line, we explore trends in electroless nickel (EN) plating, including hybrid applications in an interview with Brad Durkin, conference director for the Electroless Nickel Conference (ENC), which was recently held in Cleveland, Ohio. This is the third year for the event since its revival after a decade-long hiatus. ENC's growing success underscore...

2025 was a challenging year for all of manufacturing, including the surface finishing industry. With economic uncertainty surrounding tariffs, shifts in the regulatory landscape, and the increasing influence of automation solutions, the industry continues to face uncharted territory. In this episode of On the Line, Products Finishing looks back at some of its interviews from the year, along with i...

In this installment of On the Line,  Products Finishing features a recent interview from the SUR/FIN 2026 surface finishing industry tradeshow where we spoke with Timothy Gotsick, VP of Technology and Innovation for McDermid Enthone Industrial Solutions (Waterbury, Connecticut), about the impact of current regulations and trade policies on the manufacturing industry. Gotsick discusses the shift aw...

In this installment of On the Line, PF  explores use of electrocoat (ecoat) technology for aerospace applications. Two experts from  PPG (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) — Robin Peffer, global director of product launch and customer support for aerospace and Jonathan Love, Aerocron commercial support team leader — discuss the use of ecoat technology within the aerospace sector, offer an update on applic...

In this installment of On the Line, Products Finishing  explores ERP systems, digitization of workflow and automation. At this year's SUR/FIN surface finishing industry trade show, we had the opportunity to interview Jeffrey Halonen, CEO of Steelhead Technologies (Calumet, Michigan), about the company's work helping job shops digitize their production.

In this latest installment of On the Line,  Products Finishing  ( PF ) explores some of the latest trends in electroless nickel (EN) plating, both in terms of challenges as well as innovations and opportunities. At SUR/FIN 2025,  PF  sat down with two experts from  MacDermid Enthone Industrial Solutions (Waterbury, Connecticut): Douglas Hughes, wear-resistant coatings industry manager and Ambrose...

The key to staying viable in the face of challenges is diversification. Precision Spray and Coatings (Houston, Texas) got its start providing thermal spray coatings and has since grown its offerings. In the latest installment of On the Line, the company's president John Jenkins discusses Precisions ' origins and its expertise in HVOF thermal spray coatings and hard chrome plating for the oil and g...

In this latest installment of On the Line,  Products Finishing  ( PF ) takes a look back at the industry's past in order to look ahead.  PF  regional vice president Scott Walker discusses his experiences in the finishing industry, beginning with his early involvement with  Modern Metals  magazine and his transition to  P F in 1996. Walker explores some of the industry's recent history, including i...

In this latest installment On the Line,  Products Finishing  delves into the crucial role of rectifiers in the electroplating process and the importance of industry education with a trend toward increasing implementation of automation solutions. Remington Schieffer, vice president of American  CRS  Equipment (Escondido, California), offers his insights.

Looking for insights into which events to attend as the tradeshow and conference season ramps up? In this latest installment of On the Line, Products Finishing editors Scott Francis and Lori Beckman offer an overview of upcoming surface finishing industry events including tradeshows , conferences and workshops. Gain a sneek peek into the Parts Cleaning Workshop (co-located with PMTS), Powder Coati...

With this installment of On the Line,  PF  looks ahead to an important upcoming event for powder coaters — the  Powder Coating Institute 's (PCI) Powder Coating Week in Orlando, Florida, which will take place April 14-16, 2025. In this podcast interview,  PF speaks with PCI executive director Kevin Coursin about industry trends affecting powder coaters today, and what's in store for attendees at t...

Parts cleaning is a critical factor in achieving quality results in any surface finishing operation. In this installment of On the Line, Products Finishing catches up with John Clark, president of E & J Parts Cleaning Inc. (Waterbury, Connecticut) in a follow-up to a March 2024 profile story about the company's technical cleanliness expertise. PF executive editor Lori Beckman interviews Clark to l...

In October 2024,  Products Finishing  attended FABTECH in Orlando, Florida. The event's Finishing pavilion always offers a great opportunity to get insights into the latest innovations for coaters and finishers, and  PF  got the chance to catch up with Derek DeGeest, president of DeGeest Corp. and Lesta USA (Tea, South Dakota) to hear about the company's latest developments. The company held a rib...

In 2020, Andrew Kossowski, a former U.S. Air Force officer and seasoned tech entrepreneur, decided to embark on a new adventure. He was drawn to a traditional finishing operation known as DHS Enterprises based in Clearwater, Florida — a business that had built a strong reputation over three decades in specialized metal finishing, offering processes like anodizing, chem film, and passivation. Kosso...

Products Finishing  recently hosted its  Parts Cleaning Conference , co-located with  IMTS 2024 . In this episode of the podcast,  PF  Senior Editor Lori Beckman interviews conference co-chair,  Darren Williams , professor of physical chemistry and leader of the cleaning research group at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. The pair reflect on highlights from the 2024 conference and...

New regulations involving PFAS substances are presenting new challenges for manufacturing in all areas, including surface finishing operations. In this installment of On the Line, Products Finishing interviews Louis LeBrun, vice president of sales with Axine Water Technologies, an industrial water and wastewater treatment company that specializes in an electrochemical oxidation technology named El...

In this bonus episode of On the Line, Paul Skelton, president of the NASF Palmetto Southeast Chapter offers an overview of the NASF Palmetto Southeast Chapter 16th Annual Fall Conference — Oct. 9-10, 2024 at Folly Beach, S.C. The theme of this year's conference is "Succession on the Horizon" and the event features brilliant speakers, informative topics on impacting your business and the surface fi...

Recently,  Products Finishing attended the SUR/FIN 2024 surface finishing industry trade show, an annual event hosted by the National Association for Surface Finishing (NASF, Washington, D.C.). This year at the show, the NASF announced a rebranding aimed at unifying various aspects of the organization, including its educational foundation, as well as its various chapters. In this installment of PF...