In an era when many finishing operations struggle to find labor, maintain production capacity, or weather economic slowdowns, Crest Coating in Anaheim, California, has taken a decidedly different approach.

Jeff EricksonThe company operates 24 hours a day, five days a week, running multiple shifts across its liquid, powder, and functional coating operations. The strategy is not simply about maximizing capacity—it is about creating flexibility for customers while protecting the workforce that has helped fuel the company’s growth.

Today, Crest Coating employs approximately 150 people, a dramatic increase from the roughly 40 to 50 employees the company had when President and Owner Jeff Erickson joined the business in 2010. Even when business conditions soften, Erickson remains committed to maintaining staffing levels whenever possible.

“There’s been times since we’ve been running three shifts where it’s like we’ve slowed down a little bit or the economy slowed down,” Erickson says. “And it’s, ‘Gosh, should we go back to two shifts right now?’ And we’re, ‘No, we are never getting rid of that third shift.’”

That philosophy reflects a broader mindset that has helped propel Crest Coating through nearly six decades of growth: invest in people, invest in technology, and continue expanding capabilities long before customers demand them.

As the company approaches its 60th anniversary, Crest Coating has evolved into one of the industry’s most unique finishing operations, combining traditional powder coating services with highly specialized fluoropolymer coatings and ceramic coatings that serve a wide variety of industries, including aerospace, defense, and semiconductors.

A Company Built on Adaptation

The company operates 24 hours a day, five days a week, running multiple shifts across its liquid, powder, and functional coating operations.Crest Coating’s story began in 1967 with a focus on Teflon coatings.

“We’ve been in business now for almost 60 years,” Erickson said. “Through all those years, there are a lot of things that we’ve just added to our kind of quiver.”

What began as a specialized fluoropolymer coating operation serving housewares eventually expanded into aerospace, defense, and numerous industrial markets.

As coating requirements became more sophisticated, the company added the pretreatment capabilities necessary to support those coatings.

“We started as a Teflon coating company,” Erickson explained. “Then pretreatments came along — which were needed for the Teflon coatings — and we added those.”

Today, Crest operates an extensive suite of surface preparation technologies, including zinc phosphate systems, pickling, stripping operations, multiple burn-off ovens, and a wide range of abrasive blasting capabilities.

“My dad and my grandfather jumped into it and said, ‘Hey, let’s embrace this technology,’” he says.

With fluoropolymer coatings, Erickson emphasized, surface preparation is everything.

“With Teflon coatings, they say non-stick. They’re non-stick to the surface as much as they are on the outside,” he said. “So really, the prep is very important.”

Because of that philosophy, Crest maintains a broad range of blasting media and equipment tailored to specific coating requirements.

“We have seven, eight, nine different blast media at any given time,” Erickson said. “We have multiple booths. We’ve got a couple of walk-ins. We’ve got a couple of automated blasters. Just depending on what the coating call-out is, we have a wide variety to choose from.”

Early Believers in Powder Coating

Erickson's grandfather founded the company in 1967 with a focus on Teflon coatings.One of the defining moments in Crest Coating’ history occurred during the late 1980s when the company became an early adopter of powder coating technology.

At the time, powder coating was still viewed as an emerging technology with tremendous potential but limited market acceptance. Erickson recalls hearing stories from previous generations about the first powder coating equipment Crest installed.

“We had a salesperson come in and talk to us about the technology and how it was going to change the world,” Erickson says. “At the time, I think we had to suspend the gun from the ceiling because it weighed so much.”

Despite the limitations of the earliest systems, Crest saw the opportunity.

“My dad and my grandfather jumped into it and said, ‘Hey, let’s embrace this technology,’” he says.

That willingness to invest in emerging technologies has remained a hallmark of the company.

“We’ve always been a shop that embraces new technology,” Erickson said. “Sometimes they haven’t worked out, and sometimes they’ve been great. Powder coating obviously is one that’s worked out well for us.”

The investment paid off. By the mid-1990s, Crest had installed its first major powder coating line. Today, powder coating represents a significant portion of the company’s business and operates alongside its extensive liquid and functional coating services.

Jeff Erickson began working at the shop in high school, and eventually purchased the company.

Two Facilities, One Mission

Unlike many finishing companies that focus exclusively on powder coating or liquid paint, Crest operates two complementary facilities that share a parking lot.

One building houses the company’s powder coating operations while the other focuses on what Crest calls its “functional coatings” division.

“Our one building is our powder coating facility,” Erickson said. “And then our other is what we call our functional coatings.”

Those functional coatings include Teflon, Xylan, high-temperature ceramics and silicone-based coatings, chemical-resistant coatings, dielectric, non-stick/low friction, and cryogenic-stable coatings.

“We do really anything functional you can think of,” Erickson said. “Whether it be chemical resistance to slick surfaces, to high heat exposure, to extreme corrosion. We do a little bit of everything here.”

The dual-facility structure allows Crest to serve customers with an unusually broad range of requirements.

Many shops specialize in powder coating. Others focus exclusively on industrial liquid finishes. Few maintain expertise in both while also supporting sophisticated fluoropolymer and specialty coating systems.

A Third-Generation Transition

While Crest’s history stretches back nearly six decades, Erickson’s route into the family business was far from traditional.

Before joining Crest, he worked in banking, focusing on business acquisitions. That career changed abruptly during the financial crisis.

In January 2009, Erickson received news that his division was being eliminated amid economic challenges. The timing was difficult, as he had recently become a father, and his wife had left the workforce to stay home with their new baby.

Recognizing the situation, Erickson’s father approached him with an offer: “What do you think about coming to work for the company doing sales?”

Erickson joined Crest in 2010. Although new to a full-time role, he had spent years around the company. Like many family-business successors, he worked summers in the shop and was exposed to industry conversations throughout his childhood.

“I’ve learned about everything in the company,” Erickson recalled. “At family dinners, my grandfather and my dad were always talking about coatings.”

“We do a lot,” Erickson said. “All those different things to make sure that we’re doing what we need to be doing to send out a good product.”

After several successful years in sales, Erickson moved into broader management responsibilities. Eventually, his business acquisition background influenced a major decision.

“In 2017, I made an offer to buy the company from them,” he said.

The transaction closed in 2020. Unfortunately, the celebration proved short-lived.

“I officially took over as owner on January 1, 2020,” Erickson said. “I was all excited, and then March happened.”

Navigating the Pandemic

Crest Coatings' management team says the 24/5 schedule allows Crest to absorb urgent requests without disrupting existing production schedules.Like many manufacturers, Crest faced extraordinary uncertainty during the early months of COVID-19. For Erickson, the responsibility felt especially personal.

“It was a very scary situation,” he said. “I’ve got my house on the line. I’m a personal guarantor on things.”

The company experienced a brief slowdown in spring 2020, but then demand surged.

“We hit a little bit of a trough in May of 2020,” Erickson says. “And then we’ve gone gangbusters ever since.”

That growth has continued through expansion investments, increased staffing, and diversification into higher-value markets.

One of Erickson’s most interesting observations is how Crest’s fluoropolymer experience has elevated every other aspect of its operation.

“Teflon’s not easy,” he said. “It’s hard to get it to stick.”

Because fluoropolymer coatings demand strict process control, Crest developed systems and validation procedures that now support the entire business.

“I think being forced to be a good Teflon coater makes us a better powder coater as well,” Erickson says.

That quality mindset extends throughout production. The company routinely validates oven performance using multiple instrumentation methods.

“We’re always running data packs through our ovens to make sure that our ovens are doing what they’re supposed to be doing,” he said.

The company also conducts frequent temperature profiling and utilizes multi-point verification to eliminate oven hot spots and cold spots.

“When we have new controllers that are better than previous ones,” Erickson says. “We use multi-point analysis to ensure we don’t have hotspots or cold spots in our ovens.”

Quality controls extend well beyond curing systems. Crest maintains in-house testing capabilities including salt spray testing, mandrel bend testing, impact testing, gloss measurement, profilometer, and spectrophotometer color analysis.

“We do a lot,” Erickson said. “All those different things to make sure that we’re doing what we need to be doing to send out a good product.”

Four Conveyor Lines and Growing

Today, Crest operates an impressive collection of finishing equipment.

On the functional coatings side, the company uses both overhead and belt-line systems designed for fluoropolymers and high-temperature coatings that demand elevated cure temperatures.

On the powder side, Crest operates three conveyorized systems. The first two are traditional automated powder coating lines featuring integrated pretreatment systems.

“We do a zirconium six-stage on one of them,” Erickson said. “And we do a five-stage iron phosphate on the other.”

The third system offers unique flexibility.

“We have a third one that’s more of a large-parts conveyorized batch,” Erickson says.

The line accommodates both powder and liquid coatings and can process larger, heavier, and more complex components that require extensive masking or specialized handling.

The curing oven measures roughly 20 feet long, eight feet high, and six feet wide. That flexibility helps Crest support customers whose products do not fit conventional high-volume finishing operations.

The Power of 24/5 Production

Crest Coating Inc. is a leading industrial coating applicator with over 40 years experiencePerhaps the most distinctive aspect of Crest’s operation is its commitment to around-the-clock production. The company runs three shifts, five days per week.

While many finishing shops struggle to maintain second-shift staffing, Crest has fully embraced continuous operation. The decision is driven less by volume than by customer responsiveness.

“We found that by running 24 hours a day, it just gives us a lot more flexibility with our customers when they say, ‘Hey, I need a favor.’” Erickson says. “They say, ‘I got this job, I need to get it quick.’”

The arrangement allows Crest to absorb urgent requests without disrupting existing production schedules. Maintaining that flexibility has become a strategic priority. Even during slower periods, Erickson resists reducing shifts.

“I’d rather do one line, three shifts than do one shift all the lines at max capacity,” he says. “It’s so hard to add it once you’ve taken it away.”

Investing Ahead of Demand

Crest's new oven allows for wood coatings.Much of Crest’s recent success comes from investments that were made before customers required them. When Erickson began moving into leadership, he developed a long-term roadmap.

Among the priorities were ISO certification, enhanced traceability, ERP implementation, clean manufacturing environments, robotics and automation, and aerospace quality systems.

“We need to be ISO certified,” Erickson says he remembered telling himself.

The company achieved that goal and subsequently implemented systems that allow near-complete process traceability.

“If a customer calls me in 10 years and says, ‘Hey, that job you ran for me, what was the titration? What was the pH that day? What was the temperature? What was the oven set at? What was the material batch?’ I have all that information,” Erickson says.

That level of documentation has helped attract increasingly demanding customers in aerospace and semiconductor manufacturing.

Bringing Robotics into Functional Coatings

A six-axis robotic spray system provides exceptional consistency for demanding aerospace applications.Automation has played a growing role in Crest’s strategy. One of the company’s most significant investments has been a six-axis robotic spray system, a technology that provides exceptional consistency for demanding aerospace applications.

The shop has a six-axis spray robot, and for one critical aerospace component, Crest maintains extraordinary coating thickness control.

“We keep plus or minus two ten-thousandths on this whole part,” Erickson says. “Every part’s the same, and that’s what our customer needed.”

The company also utilizes automated high-speed spraying systems that increase efficiency across larger production runs.

Another recent investment addresses a common challenge involving primer-topcoat powder systems. Many protective specifications require both layers, and historically, that often meant processing parts twice.

Crest recently installed new equipment that enables customers to receive primer and topcoat applications in a single production flow, with significant benefits.

Erickson says reducing handling decreases labor costs while minimizing opportunities for product damage. For customers managing demanding finishing specifications, the capability can produce substantial savings.

Building a Culture that Supports Growth

Growing from roughly 50 employees to 150 requires more than equipment and technology. It requires management systems capable of scaling.

Erickson credits Crest’s leadership team for helping navigate that transition. The company relies on a strategic planning group that combines long-term vision with operational execution.

“I’m blessed to have a really good management team,” he says. “We all complement each other.”

Training and documentation have become increasingly important as shifts and staffing levels have expanded.

“It’s a lot of training,” Erickson said. “And it’s making sure your processes are well documented.”

That commitment extends into customer service as well. Unlike some manufacturers that operate with minimal administrative staffing, Crest intentionally maintains personnel levels that support responsiveness.

“We make sure we have enough customer service people,” Erickson says. “I expect that as long as it’s during business hours, they get back to a customer within an hour.”

Looking Ahead: AS9100 and NADCAP

Crest Coating has a belt line for high temp coatings up to 850F.Although Crest has experienced remarkable growth, Erickson believes the company is just entering its next phase. Aerospace certifications are a major focus, and customer demand continues to push the company toward increasingly rigorous quality standards.

Beyond AS9100, Erickson already has his sights set on the next milestone.

“I’m thinking probably NADCAP is the next frontier for us,” Erickson says, and the company has already completed a gap analysis and begun planning the investments needed to achieve accreditation.

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Crest Coating is not its equipment, certifications, or production capacity: it is resilience.

The company survived an early arson fire that nearly destroyed the business. It navigated technological transitions from Teflon to powder coating. It weathered economic upheaval, ownership changes, and a global pandemic.

Along the way, it grew from a small specialty coater into a sophisticated finishing operation serving aerospace, semiconductor, industrial, and commercial markets. The name itself emerged by chance.

When Erickson’s grandparents were deciding what to call their new company decades ago, they happened to be meeting in a hotel conference room.

“They looked up,” Erickson says, “and they were in the Crest Conference Room.”

Nearly 60 years later, the company still strives to live up to that name. From three-shift operations and advanced robotics to fluoropolymer expertise and aerospace-level quality systems, Crest Coating continues pushing toward the next crest on the horizon.

And if Erickson has his way, that climb is only beginning.

“I want a clean shop,” he said. “I want to walk through it, impress people when they see our shop, and have the best of the best equipment.”

Visit https://www.crestcoating.com.