Nothing says the ‘Great Outdoors’ like Canada, where wild expanses of wilderness are tempered with often cold, rainy, and snowy weather.
Navin MangrueThe owners and managers of family-run Professional Powder Coating in Toronto are ready to coat anything that might need to survive in that treacherous climate.
“About 99% of what we powder coat is going to be sitting outside all day and all night and for years to come,” says Navin Mangrue, Sales Manager for Professional Powder Coating located in Etobicoke, Ontario. “So we are catering to rust, we're catering to blasting, and we're catering to galvanize. We know what these products are going to have to go through.”
That’s one reason that Professional Powder Coating has invested heavily in an in-house laboratory where they subject their coatings to comprehensive testing, which includes conformity to ASTM standards, AAMA requirements, and other demanding testing protocols.
Developing Own Proprietary Coating Processes
Professional Powder Coating was started in 1997 by Mangrue’s parents and has grown to over 75,000 square feet at its headquarters.The company often develops its proprietary coating processes to serve its customers in the electrical grid and the architectural building industry, among many others.
“We're not just buying a typical product off the shelf and coating with it,” Mangrue says. “We believe in quality; it is our biggest selling point, and we push for quality and longevity of a product every time we take on a project.”
That is why Professional Powder Coating often has to walk its customers through a coating process to help them understand what they need to finish the project successfully. Sometimes, the customer will specify an indoor process when Mangrue and his colleagues know it needs an outdoor-quality coating.
Let's use a railing as an example because many customers bring projects to Professional Powder Coating and think one coating — and one process — fits all.
“There's a process for indoor, and there's a process for outdoor,” Mangrue says. “I see all the time a customer may come with an indoor process, but that job is going outdoors. And then you hear, ‘I went to this place, and they recommended this.’ I like to tailor to the customer's needs for the long term. I don't believe in, ‘Okay, we're going to paint it and make it look great now, but it's not going to last a year outside.’ I like to give them five to 10 years outside, and I can guarantee my coating because we use different products. We're using not only regular polyester or super durable but also thermoplastics, fluoropolymers, and polyurethanes. We're using it depending on where it goes.”
Grown to Over 75,000 Square Feet of Coating Space
A new conveyor line was built in 2016 as the demand for work increased. Professional Powder Coating was started in 1997 by Mangrue’s parents and has grown to over 75,000 square feet at its headquarters. Its heavy-duty automatic powder coating conveyor line can handle materials up to 800 linear feet and carry over 500 lbs. per linear foot. Their powder coating batch systems can accommodate parts up to 100 feet long and can handle up to 25,000 lbs.
The company finds most of its work in Canada, but it also has a stream of business coming from Buffalo, New York, Chicago, Detroit, and even Texas.
“Whatever is in maybe a thousand kilometers or maybe even over that range, we serve that as well,” says Mangrue, whose company has about 80 employees.
A new conveyor line was built in 2016 as the demand for work increased. Mangrue says limited coaters could accommodate that volume for contract manufacturing and volume fabrication.
“We decided to put in that line, but only recently we have turned that line into an AAMA 2604 and 2605 certified applicator,” he says. “We are seeing the aluminum work skyrocket because of the architectural coatings.”
Professional Powder Coating is one of the few coating shops with its own chemist and test lab on staff. Together with suppliers, it has brought to market products that exceed the required specs.
Professional Powder Coating is seeing a lot of light poles for the many transit stations being built in that region of Canada to connect people from different cities. They are also focusing a lot of work on heavy weldments for the industrial nuclear power industry, the pulp and paper sector, and wind turbines.
“We're doing a lot of the heavier stuff, and those things require a very specialized coating,” Mangrue says. “So that's typically what we do in our batch system.”
Specializing in Thicker Coatings to Prevent Corrosion in Harsh Environments
The company has worked with powder supplier IFS Coatings on some of the formulations so they can meet even more stringent specifications than those called for by its customers.In a nutshell, the company coats anything that gets submerged in the ground or goes into the ocean, such as offshore projects. Those types of applications require a thicker, specialized coating to prevent corrosion in harsh environments. This type of work has seen Professional Powder Coating begin to grow even more over the last few years.
“Only a few people know how to apply 50 mils of paint without drips and sags,” Mangrue says. “It's not easy, but we have technology, and we've developed different procedures to make that happen.”
That has also led Professional Powder Coating to develop specialized coatings, some of which they have even patented. The company has worked with powder supplier IFS Coatings on some of the formulations so they can meet even more stringent specifications than those called for by its customers.
Professional Powder Coating is one of the few coating shops with its own chemist and test lab on staff. Together with suppliers, it has brought to market products that exceed the required specs.
“They have helped us achieve greatness in our coating,” Mangrue says. “Whether it's salt spray, UV, chemical resistance, or all sorts of things, IFS Coatings has been a great partner with us.”
That laboratory expertise has been extremely helpful when Professional Powder Coating is asked to work on projects where its experience tells it that the specifications might not be correct, or at least not the most optimal way of coating parts to enhance corrosion resistance.
Developing Expertise in Outdoor Coatings
Mangrue says all coated parts that leave Professional Powder Coating are quality-tested between 15 and 30 times before they are released back to the customer.For example, a big architectural project in Toronto came to them recently. The architect specified an AAMA coating on a steel substrate, which was also applied over galvanized. That immediately sent Mangrue and his team into a deep discussion about whether the specification would work or not.
“The contractor reached out to me, and after I looked at the spec, I knew right away this would not work,” he said. “You can use an AAMA powder, but you will not get the warranty because everybody knows steel will rust. I had them change the spec and explain this is what we can do; you can still get the UV, and you can still get some protection, but the supplier will not warranty this product because it's on steel. They went with our recommendation.”
More importantly, Mangrue says all coated parts that leave Professional Powder Coating are quality-tested between 15 and 30 times before they are released back to the customer. They check the finished powder coating, give a packaging test, and check for mil thickness, among other tests.
“If there's any issues, we start over,” he says. “Everyone is trained to know that we have strict high-quality standards.”
Mangrue worked at Professional Powder Coating for his parents growing up but then ventured out on his own, working in the automotive industry for several years before returning to the family business after the pandemic in 2021.
Having worked outside the business for several years gave Mangrue different perspectives on running a business, which helped him better align the sales efforts of Professional Powder Coating when he returned.
“I've always been around powder coating, but I've never fully worked here,” he says. “And then, when COVID hit, I needed a career change. I focus on the sales, and other family members are also working here. Everybody has their department that they're looking over.”
Possibility of More Space and Workforce to Grow
Sales have grown since Mangrue took over that aspect of the business, so they may need to seek additional space as they pack their current facility with incoming parts and other parts ready to ship.
He says they are looking to expand in any way they can, whether it's more workforce, or whether it is a bigger facility, or whether it's another coating line.
“We are going by the demand as we're growing certain industries,” Mangrue says. “We are seeing growth in some more than others. Some of our customers are very close with them, so we're constantly chatting and asking, ‘Hey, where do you see business the next six months, the year, or even two years?’ We have a good projection of where the market is headed.
Professional Powder Coating believes they will stay busy for years to come in certain industries like architecture — especially with the way housing starts and infrastructure keeps climbing.
And a commitment to quality will lead the company as they continue to grow.
“I strongly believe that if you put quality first in everything you do, then chances are your customer would pay the price,” Mangrue says. “If it's a railing and you're dealing with a large project in this area of expertise and powder coating, it takes educated people to tell them, ‘Let's use this product because it will fail otherwise. It has to be about quality.”
