Episode 38: On the Line — Looking Back on 2023

Photo Credit: MKS Atotech

With the requested high speed of product rollout and the race to release new EVs to the market, there are currently not many “standards” that are aligned on how to make these components. Traditional automobiles had decades of development and have settled into very defined processes and standards. As we know, in the past, the automotive market wasn’t known for high-paced, frequent changes. Reliability and quality requirements have always been very important to carefully track changes and create a level of high-volume repeatable results. Any finisher knows this with the current processes of PPAPs and current production requirements, as looked at from the OEMs, changes can be risky. We see the automakers racing to release the first generation of product to the market. Get a good, reliable product out quickly to satisfy the fast, early growth of the market. This may mean that the initial product may not be as optimized as possible. But in the second and third iterations of the product development, there will be a lot of work upfront to look to simplify designs, improve reliability, efficiency and performance, all while driving down costs.

One thing that cannot be ignored — automakers need to produce profitable products while satisfying the needs and desires of the customers. For EV adoption rates to continue to grow past this first phase, this will all have to happen. And current raw material price increases and demands for limited materials, as well as new processes in recycling and reuse, will be very important in possibly driving further opportunity for finishers. The ability to recycle and to create appropriate life-cycle products is also in line with the increasing understanding of the need to develop, produce, drive and recover vehicles and the corresponding parts sustainably. This is common sense, in society, end-customer, OEMs, tiers and the further industry, including the chemistry experts.

—Darrick Gula, North American regional OEM manager, MKS Atotech

Photo Credit: MKS Atotech

Another bottleneck we are seeing in this EV race is limited production capabilities at the applicator level. Since there are many new parts with varying geometries and performance requirements, there are not many applicators set up to plate or paint them. We have already seen this lead to some delays from OEMs on their delivery timeline for new models and likely will continue to be the case. It is apparent that the number of applicators that have the capacity and capability to produce EV parts, especially some of the large battery components, will need to increase in the coming years.

—Brandon Lloyd, global product manager, paint support technology, MKS Atotec

Photo Credit: Trion Coatings

The industry has been trying to make the transition for many years now. And some facilities certainly have, especially in California. There are successes that work for a lot of applications. And there are still technology limitations to the process, and then OEM approval spec approval limitations.

I think where [Trion] differs is that we have a foundationally different technology in the use of ionic liquids in our process. While we do use a trivalent chrome to produce plated chrome metal, the foundation of the process is not your typical aqueous chemistry where the existing technologies have been in that space for the past 30 years.

We are very empathetic with the platers — we don’t want to see anyone have to shut down or a facility go out of business. We want to work with [state regulatory] organizations to help them evaluate our technology in that particular state, and then of course, as the regulatory environment moves out of California into other states and potentially down the federal path. We feel like these are all regulatory tailwinds for a new technology. But the most important thing is that it has to perform. It has to meet the needs of the customer. It’s a slow process because there’s a lot of testing involved.

— Kyle Hankinson, Vice President Marketing & Sales, Trion Coatings

Photo Credit: LAB Midwest

Finishing companies are now being forced to compete for talent. When 85% of manufacturers are saying, “We can’t find enough people,” it’s not enough to put an ad out there or go to a temp service and say, “Hey, give me some bodies.” We have to create a culture and an environment that attracts really good talent. And so, if you are the kind of person that has a degree of talent and has a level of proficiency that allows you to add value in a finishing operation (or in a powder coating operation or metal plating operation) — if you’re that type of person, the opportunities are endless. Especially now — in an environment that is advancing and becoming way more interesting, way more technical — in this day and age of disruption in the workforce, for the people that figure out how to play that game and play it well, there are going to be a ton of opportunities for those individuals.

— Matthew Kirchner, president, LAB Midwest

Photo Credit: FANUC

We’re seeing a change in the identity of the workforce. I think that is a huge factor in the demand for automation. With the younger generation, we’re not seeing a huge group of people who want to go into manual spraying or finishing. That identity of the workforce is making people kind of think outside the box. People are looking to automation as an answer for those challenges.

When you implement the use of robots in a manufacturing facility, you’re introducing new jobs, because we’re not really talking about total lights-out facilities. We still need someone to operate the robot. We still need someone to program the robot and perform maintenance. And, thanks to smartphones, PCs and smart TVs, people are a lot more comfortable around robots and computers than they were, say, 25 years ago.

— Hope Dollarhide, project engineer, FANUC