New Hire Spotlight: Ashley Louth

Ashley Louth

Account Manager

I’m an Account manager providing service to existing accounts and re-connecting with previous customers. Since becoming a part of the team in June, my primary focus has been to engage and segment current Mighty Hook customers.  I will also be investigating possible opportunities for expansion into new markets that would greatly benefit both Intech Services and our partners.

I am a recent graduate from the University of Delaware, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing and Management. My previous job was a sales and management internship at Sherwin Williams. In my last position, I was able to develop strong customer relationship skills, which will help me transition into my new position. Part of my job was to perform a competitive analysis of other pertinent players in the industry. This portion of my previous position will support my responsibility of exploring potential new growth opportunities for Intech and our other clients. My determination, creativity, and strong drive to learn make me a good fit for Intech and for our customers.

Outside of work, I enjoy trying recipes from Pinterest, doing yoga occasionally, going to the beach as much as possible, finding new restaurants, and convincing my parents to adopt a puppy.  

I can be reached at:

Ashley@intechservices.com

302-366-8530 x134

Alouth@mightyhook.com

773-676-1813

New Hire Spotlight: Francesca Vavala

Francesca Vavala

Market Development

I am thrilled to join Intech Services this year in the role of Market Development. Since becoming a part of the team in January, my primary focus has been working with President Mike Patterson to produce and implement new policies that define and reflect Intech’s unique culture, attract exceptional new talent, and grow the company. The creation of the team structure, open PTO plan, company’s core values, and the ongoing project of writing a new handbook have been fulfilling and exciting. 

Recently, I have also assumed the responsibility of exploring potential growth in new markets for our partners. This opportunity is a great way for me to use my skills as a researcher, content writer, and presenter to benefit Intech and our clients. Customers will profit from my critical thinking and assessing potential opportunities to advance their business as well as reap numerous other benefits of my work with Mike to grow Intech’s services and strengthen its internal structure. Prior to working at Intech, I left my position as an English Lit teacher in a local private high school to pursue (and achieved) a successful career as a full time Realtor. My experience as an entrepreneur in sales and business development along with my passion for reading, writing, and researching provided the perfect skillset to step into my role at Intech.

When not at Intech, I enjoy running in perfect weather, getting to the beach whenever possible, petting all the animals, reading good books, and participating in local theater productions.

To reach me directly, you can e-mail me at FrancescaVavala@intechservices.com.  

UV Safety Month

July is UV Safety Month!

This makes sense. July is one of the hottest months in the US, and it’s also right in the middle of prime vacation time. As we know, UV rays from the sun are the main cause of skin cancer, which is the nation’s most common type of cancer. And that’s not to mention the painful sunburns, dry skin and wrinkles that UV rays can cause.

The Wellness Team at Intech wants to support the efforts of the United States HHS department to raise awareness about skin cancer and the dangers of UV rays. They include encouraging families to adopt good sun safety habits together, including wearing sunscreen. Throughout the month, sunscreen products will be available to our staff.  The smaller size products are a great way to stay protected while on the go. Spread the word and encourage others to protect themselves from the sun's damaging UV rays.

Find out your UV:IQ! Just click the link to find out more and take the interactive quiz to find out how much you know about protecting yourself from the sunʼs UV rays.

New Hire Spotlight: Andrew Barnes

Andrew Barnes

Account Manager

I am an Account Manager for TCI Powder Coatings, providing service and support to active inside accounts and re-engaging previous customers. My primary focus is to help TCI achieve inside account sales goals and expand their presence in the custom coater market through outstanding customer service, customer education, and problem solving. 

My work ethic, adaptability, and ability to work across teams has made me a good fit for Intech and our customers. As the TCI segment continues to grow, our role requires us to collaborate more with marketing and customer service to ensure our customers have the best service possible and are educated on all of TCI’s product offerings. 

Prior to Intech, I worked in the non-profit sector, most recently at Big Brothers Big Sisters in Philadelphia, PA. Though Big Brothers Big Sisters is a youth-serving organization, one of my primary responsibilities was to ensure that the expectations of our corporate donors and partners were exceeded. The experience I gained in partnership management has transferred easily to my current role as an Account Manager since it was very customer and solution focused.

Outside of work, I enjoy sports, staying active, cooking, trying to travel when I can, and anything/everything related to the Dallas Cowboys. 

I can be reached at: 

Abarnes@tcipowder.com

302-602-8733

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/pub/andrew-barnes/4b/159/48b

Twitter: @ABarnesCoatings

New Hire Spotlight: Daniel Rose

Daniel Rose

Account Manager

I am an Account Manager providing service to existing accounts, obtaining production orders, and establishing new accounts. My focus is to help achieve operational objectives and goals while resolving problems and identifying trends and industry patterns.

My diligence, hard work, and motivation provide effective customer care and viable solutions. As our PQ team grows we are able to become more productive and scalable to suit the needs of new and returning customers. Good communication along with a balance of trust, respect, and accountability are strengths that I embody and strive to bring to my new position.

My previous career was in a large-scale industrial processing setting. With this new career I am able to carry industry knowledge along with factory experience and manufacturing know-how to Intech/PQ. This aids in my ability to grasp what customers are looking to achieve through industry vocabulary, manufacturing standards, and operating procedures. I also spent several months in the sales branch as a management trainee where I was on a crash course for scheduling and sales. Becoming an account manager was my ultimate goal and when I was offered the chance to do it at Intech, I jumped. 

In my free time I enjoy playing tennis and watching live music.  In the summer time you can catch me back home in Ocean City, MD riding a bike or trying to find the nearest beach to set up shop, and who doesn’t like blue crabs and Old Bay? 

I can be reached at:

drose@intechservices.com

302 366 8530  x133

drose@pqovens.com

302 602 8707

https://www.linkedin.com/in/danrose13

Coating Markets for Teflon® Fluoropolymers:Metal Coating and Finishing

The metal coating industry consists of about 6,000 companies with estimated annual revenue of $19 billion. Major sub-segments include engraving and coating (50%); electroplating, galvanizing, and anodizing (30%); and heat treatment (20%). Major customers for these fabricators are the auto, aerospace, building construction, petrochemical processing, and utility markets. While most companies are small and compete within a focused niche close to their geographic location, there are some major players such as Tower Automotive, Precoat Metals, and North American Galvanizing and Coating. 

Fixturing in these industries can be expensive, and the cleaning process is also expensive and/or hazardous to the environment. The need for industry participants to find more efficient ways to clean fixtures represents a market opportunity for coating companies. In addition, use of Teflon® offers an alternative to current processes such as burn-off (e-coat) and high pressure water washing (wet paint).

Key Benefits of DuPont™ Teflon® industrial coatings:

• Release
• Ease of cleaning

Typical Applications:

• Grates
• Car carriers
• E-coat racks

For more information on the coating markets for DuPont™ Teflon® industrial coatings and resources available, visit our Solution Center. 

Precision Quincy Ovens’ New Brochure: Chart Recorder Highlights

We are very excited about the creation of Precision Quincy’s new Industrial Ovens Options Brochure.

Intech Services represents Precision Quincy Ovens, an industry-leading manufacturer of many types of industrial ovens. For over 60 years, Precision Quincy Ovens have been used industry-wide across the globe.

For the past few months, Intech and Precision Quincy have been working hard to create a new client brochure.  The Precision Quincy Options Brochure is the perfect guide to selecting the right oven options for your process application.

Chart Recorders

Chart reorders provide a permanent record of your process times, dates, operating temperatures, and part temperatures.  Each pen records data from a different point.  For example, a recorder with two pens can use one pen to record the internal oven temperature and the other to record part temperature.  Chart recorders are ideal for recording batch processes and are an excellent choice for all industrial processes requiring logged data over an extended period of time.  

Honeywell DR 4300 Series

• Most economical solution for recording one and two process parameters
• 10 in circular chart recorder
• Easy to operate and maintain, and is ideal for recording most applications that can be handled by analog recorders
• No longer meets AMS-2750E standards
• Standards in the near future may require digital recording
• Honeywell DR 4301 - one pen to record on data point
• Honeywell DR 4302 - two pens to record two data points

Honeywell EZ Trend

• Cost-effective, general purpose electronic data recorder
• Easily replaces paper strip chart recorders
• Captures continuous and batch data electronically
• Data is recorded in a secure digital format, eliminating errors that can arise from transferring data from a chart recorder to a spreadsheet for analysis
• Recommended for future compliance
• Digital touch screen display with 5” LCD to record 3+ data points

Don’t see what you need in the brochure?  Just ask us!

Click here to download the Precision Quincy Options Brochure

For new oven inquires, contact sales@pqovens.com.

For parts and service, contact service@pqovens.com.

SDS Transition Update

All Teflon® product SDS’s have been updated on our website. To see the updated SDS’s, create or login to your account on our website.

What's the difference between MSDS and SDS?
Both MSDS's and SDS's are documents for hazardous substances that explain all the dangers associated with the material and information on handling, storage, and disposal. There were several formats of MSDS's, so OSHA's Hazard Communication Standard (HazCom) has been updated to globally standardize the content of all safety data sheets.

Why has this been done?

June 1, 2015 was the deadline by which manufacturers, distributors, and importers must reclassify chemicals and update all SDS's and labels to the new GHS (Globally Harmonized System) format.  The GHS conversion by June 1 was not unique to Chemours (DuPont). It applied to all chemical manufacturers in the US.

The June 1, 2015 deadline is just the next in a series of ongoing deadlines as part of OSHA’s GHS implantation transition. Other important dates include:

• December 1, 2015: Deadline for distributors to eliminate inventory with old labels. Effectively, they can continue using the pre-GHS labeling system until December 1.
• June 1, 2016: The final deadline and date by which employers must be in full compliance with GHS. That means making any necessary updates to their hazard communication programs, training employees on new hazards identified during the reclassification process, updating workplace labels, and anything else required by HazCom 2012.

Our customers are not impacted by the compliance with the regulation. The products have not changed, just how they are labeled. 

Summer Series on Coating Selection #2: Understanding the Part

This summer Intech Services will provide a series of blogs dedicated to the Teflon® coating selection process. In order to select the right product for your coating job, there are three important areas that need to be understood:

• Understanding the Project
• Understanding the Part
• Understanding the End-Use Environment

Within each of these areas are vital questions that need to be answered to ensure the most effective coating for the job at hand.

The second in the summer series will focus on Understanding the Part.

Understanding The Part:

• What is the substrate?
• See Figure 1
• What are the heat limitations of the part?
• Low melt temperatures: Tin, lead, and zinc
• Thin metal concerns: structural integrity, inability to hold heat, and grit blast limitations
• Non-metals: Plastics, glass, wood
• Lowest cure DuPont™ Teflon® industrial coating is 300°F
• What are the part dimensions?
• Can the part fit in the oven?
• Is the part mass consistent?
• Can the surface be grit blasted?
• Will the part be able to hold heat for powder application?
• Can it be removed from the end user's facility?

For additional resources on the coating selection process please contact us directly at 302-366-8530, refer to the Compass Corrosion Guide, or refer to our Comparative Property Chart. 

A Letter From Chemours CEO Mark Vergnano

Mark Vergnano, CEO of Chemours Company, has released a customer letter and video describing the new company. Please see the letter and click here to watch the video.

The Chemistry for What's Next Starts Now

Greetings,

We are Chemours. While you’ve probably heard a bit about us in the last few months as we separated from DuPont, we would like for you to hear directly from our President and Chief Executive Officer, Mark Vergnano. We invite you to take a moment of your day to watch this linked video in which Mark shares his thoughts about our commitment to you, our customers.

In short, we’ve got the heart of a startup and the deep experience and reliability of a 200-year-old powerhouse. You probably already know many of our products and brands, like Teflon®, Opteon®, Ti-Pure®, and Virkon®. Now, we’ve refocused on chemistry – and only chemistry – in order to be more nimble, responsive, and more customer-centered. We’re here to help you thrive and profit. But it’s best to hear it directly from the big boss.

We look forward to telling you more about The Chemours Company in the coming days. Meanwhile, we’ll be busy putting Living Chemistry into action, making everyday things better and turning the ordinary into the extraordinary. To new beginnings and new possibilities,

The Chemours leadership team.

Measuring Up the Product: Part 1

Need to evaluate powder coatings offered by different manufacturers? Some products may appear to be identical but have different prices. Which is the better value, which should you buy, and which product best suits your particular need? See the following information on evaluating powder coatings to help answer the above questions. 

Powder Evaluation - Terms to Understand:

Film thickness is the after-cure depth of the coating, usually expressed in mils (thousands of an inch).  The required appearance and the amount of protection needed determine the necessary film thickness. 

Hiding is the ability of a coating to mask the color or pattern of the surface to which it is applied.  Therefore, the underlying surface should not show through the coating unless clear or translucent coatings are being used. 

Coverage is the amount of surface area a specific amount of powder coating will spread at the required thickness. It is usually expressed in ft²/lb of powder at a given thickness.

Specific gravity is crucial in order to calculate the covering capability of the powder and thus the actual coating cost per unit area covered at a given film thickness. Specific gravity (SG) is the density of a formulation relative to water weight. Powder coatings range in SG from approximately 1.2 to 2.0. A powder with an SG of 1.2 is going to be much lighter and typically easier to fluidize and spray than a powder with an SG of 1.7. This allows for a more even film build, resulting in fewer errors and rejects. The ability to cover more part area with the same amount of powder is another advantage from using low-SG powder coatings. Hence, even though a powder may have a lower price per pound, a material with higher filler content and therefore a higher SG will cover fewer square feet and thus may have a higher total cost.

Look for an upcoming blog on Measuring Up the Product (Part 2) for continued information on powder evaluation to determine which products provide the best value. 

For more information from TCI Powder Coatings on powder coating evaluation, please refer to TCI’s Troubleshooting Guide or click here to contact us today to speak with our experienced team about how we can help you with your powder coating needs.

Intech Takes on the Wipeout Run

On June 13th, Intech took on the WIPEOUT Run at Frawley Stadium in Wilmington. The team, comprised of Megan Ploskon, Francesca Vavala, Nicole McCall, and Ken Barnes, ran the 5K obstacle course to support the Challenged Athletes Foundation, an organization that helps people with physical disabilities enjoy an active lifestyle. Everyone had a lot of fun, and way to go Intech team!

Happy Fourth of July!

Happy Fourth of July!

Intech's office will be closed on Friday July 3rd.

Have a great holiday weekend!

Be Intech: Be Unified

Over the last 20 years, Intech Services has rapidly expanded, evolving from just a coating supplier to a sales, marketing, and operations company focused on the industrial manufacturing segment. Intech started with an open and creative business environment, and we still stay true to those principles as we grow. We want to convey our values to our customers through Be Intech, a campaign that will allow our original values to shine through and continue to shape our corporate culture and customer interactions. 

Be Unified.

Intech has unified some of the best vendors in the industry to make your purchasing experience easier. You no longer have to worry about the hassle of managing several suppliers because Intech has brought the best together and handles the relationships for you. The CoaterONE e-marketplace makes it easier to purchase the coating supplies and equipment you may need in one simple transaction. Intech now offers DuPont™ Teflon® industrial coatings, TCI TruPak powder coatings, Precision Quincy standard laboratory ovens, Mighty Hook racking solutions, and many more coating supplies from multiple vendors, all on one website. Just sit back, relax, and let Intech do the work.