By Chris Mansfield - QUALICOAT Chair
We often refer to labels that quickly identify brands, products or
services in our daily lives. Often these labels set an expectation of the
product and possibly more importantly the quality or service that we expect
from past experience. Across Europe the QUALICOAT label has now been synonymous
with high quality architectural powder coating for almost four decades and is
now widely specified across the Globe.
The label, which can only be used by licensed members of the
QUALICOAT Association, is registered worldwide. Members of the Association
include powder manufacturers, pretreatment systems suppliers and powder coating
applicators. These three main membership groups form the vertical integration
required to precisely specify both product and processes that offer the best
quality coating for architectural aluminium products used in either commercial
or residential applications. Companies found to be using the QUALICOAT label
who are not licensed members of the Association are asked to remove the
registered logo from all their market communications.
Forming the backbone of the label is the QUALICOAT Specification
which identifies not only the product and testing requirements, but detailed
parameters for the complete process of powder coating. This Global
Specification is updated in real time following extensive research carried out
by its members, all members are regularly third party inspected to ensure they
meet the Specification. For all licensed powder coaters unannounced full day
plant inspections takes place twice yearly.
The problem with any national quoted standard, such as the powder
coating standard BS EN 12206, is that it can be claimed, but often not
substantiated without physical checking of the product supplied, or indeed a
process review of the supplier. As a customer, how can you be sure you are
getting the quality you specify? Most of you reading this right now know that
all quality powder coatings consist of a robust pretreatment followed by the
application of powder coating, but, can you make a visit to every supplier in a
contract prior to placing an order to check that this is being done? Don’t let
a competitive coating price be the deciding factor, reducing the quality of the
powder coating, or worse, still eliminating the pretreatment stage which cannot
be seen on the finished product.
The Global QUALICOAT label exists to offer quality architectural
powder coatings to all specifiers. All reputable architectural powder coaters
in the UK & Ireland are now licensed by QUALICOAT UK & Ireland and work
to the QUALICOAT Specification. The Specification is also freely available,
without cost, for all to review from QUALICOAT’s own website.
As you would expect from the very name of the Association,
consistency in supplying quality is paramount for applicator licence holders.
The secret to quality is only achieved by regular monitoring of the powder
coating process through the Member’s own test laboratory and this is where the
laboratory technicians are crucial in the powder coating process.
Over the last few years the Association has made it mandatory that
all QUALICOAT licence holder’s own laboratory technicians attend a refresher
training course at least once every two years. This ensures that the latest
developments in the QUALICOAT Specification for production monitoring and
production testing is implemented and maintained. This, in turn, ensures
compliance with the Specification when unannounced applicator plant inspections
are undertaken every six months. Passing these quality audits ensures that an
applicator maintains their licence to offer the QUALICOAT Specification. For
specifiers, this is a key reason why they specify QUALICOAT for all their
architectural powder coating. The annual training meetings are organised by IFO
who are QUALICOAT UK & Ireland’s independent test house located in Germany.
The last training day, took place in Daventry in July 2024 with a
record number of over sixty laboratory technicians in attendance. Testing
equipment was made available for the testing of chrome-free analysis including
photometers and a hand held x-ray spectrometer. Members came from all over the
UK and Ireland to discuss the Specification updates and listen to technical
presentations. Brought to the event was a Q-SUN Xe-1 xenon arc chamber which
reproduces the damage caused by full-spectrum sunlight and rain. In use over a
few days or weeks, the Q-SUN test equipment can reproduce the damage that
occurs over months or years in the harshest of environments.
With several new powder coating applicators receiving their licences
recently and further powder coating applicators currently undergoing training
and review by IFO, the vast majority of quality architectural powder coaters in
the UK & Ireland are now licensed to supply to the QUALICOAT Specification
and carry the prestigious QUALICOAT label.
In the Association’s pursuit of offering the highest quality
architectural powder coating, it has launched QUALICOAT 3.0. Over the last
decade, as we use more recycled aluminium, the Association has recognised that
poor quality recycled content does affect the sustainability of the powder
coating. A QUALICOAT 3.0 specification targets the aluminium processor to
ensure that their output of extrusion or sheet aluminium reaches strict
tolerances for both process and contaminant content to ensure the longest possible
surface coating life expectancy. This specification is now live and open to
specifiers to use.
The up-to-date QUALICOAT Specification is freely available for
download via the UK & Ireland Association website, qualicoatuki.org and the website offers an up-to-date list of licensed UK and
Ireland Powder Suppliers, Pretreatment Suppliers and Applicators including the
applicators who carry the Seaside class accreditation. Telephone support is
available from QUALICOAT UK & Ireland Head Office in the Midlands on 0330
240 9735, the Association can also be followed on Twitter @Qualicoatuki or on LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/company/qualicoat-uk-&-ireland.
