Related Topics:
Frank Laster has only been in the powder coating industry for three years, but he can recognize a big need when he sees one.
The president of A1 Paint Powder Coating and Sandblasting in Kansas City, Missouri, came to the finishing industry from retail and the heating and cooling sector, where innovation and building a better mousetrap is a means of survival and not just profit.
What he saw when he joined A1—which his father had purchased in 2010—was the need for a coating that could impress fabricators with its corrosion protection and smooth finish.
“My sales experience in other industries taught me that the way to succeed is to do something for somebody that other people didn’t want to do,” Laster says. “It comes down to having an entrepreneurial spirit.”
With a gargantuan-sized powder coating line that measures 380 feet straight through, A1 is going after a niche market of large-size pieces that other coaters might have trouble finagling through.
The line includes a 60-foot oven, in addition to a 55-foot wet paint booth and a 40-foot sandblasting building. Everything fits just fine in a 61,000-square-foot building—a former shingle factory—located near I-435 that provides A1 plenty of room to wash, phosphate, dry, paint or powder coat, as well as bake, inspect and pack the coated parts for shipment without being exposed to the elements.