Trion Coatings has named Kyle Hankinson to serve as its Executive Vice President of Marketing and Sales.
Doug Morrison“Kyle brings over 20 years of experience in the surface finishing industry across several markets, including finishing operations within the Department of Defense’s organic and outside supply chain,” says Douglas Morrison, President of Trion. “We are thrilled to add his immense talents to our team.”
Hankinson previously served as President and CEO of KCH Engineered Systems and continues a supportive role as Director of Special Projects with its successor company KCH Surface Finishing, an ECS Company. KCH is the exclusive equipment partner to Trion for its SAFE Chrome® technology.
“Trion has been developing different variations of the SAFE Chrome® process to include decorative, thin dense, traditional functional, and now a specialized inner bore process,” Hankinson says. “We now have a pipeline of prospects working with Trion to trial plate components with our thin dense and decorative variations at the pilot process line located inside Imagineering Finishing Technologies in South Bend, Indiana.”
Hankinson is a Certified Electroplater-Finisher (CEF) and has been a longtime volunteer within the surface finishing industry, serving on the NASF Board of Directors and SUR/FIN trade show committee for several years. He is an avid pilot with commercial ratings in helicopters and airplanes. Hankinson previously served in the U.S. Army for nearly 10 years as a Chief Warrant Officer and Aviator.
Trion Coatings was founded in 2015 at The IDEA Center at the University of Notre Dame and is owned by Middleburg Capital Development along with Nucor Steel. Trion Coatings is now commercializing SAFE Chrome® as an environmentally friendly alternative to the hexavalent chromium electroplating process for functional, thin dense and decorative applications. SAFE Chrome® is a patented process which combines trivalent chromium with a non-aqueous stable solution that provides faster electroplating speeds and improved deposit characteristics over traditional hexavalent chrome, while offering an excellent health and safety profile.
The SAFE Chrome® process is currently being tested within the U.S. Army’s Research Lab of the Combat Capabilities Development Command Armaments Center (DEVCOM Armaments Center). Headquartered at Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey, the Armaments Center is the U.S. Army’s primary research and development center for new and existing armament systems, which are used by U.S. Service members around the world.
