The Fall Show Season, and a Focus on Distributors

September kicked off the fall show season with the Coatings Trends & Technologies Summit, which was a huge success. The event had 480 attendees and 89 exhibitors, with 50 companies renewing their exhibit or sponsorship on-site for next year. You can mark your calendars now for the CTT Summit 2025, which will take place September 3-5, again at the Westin Lombard in the Chicago area.

The keynote panel discussion, Navigating Materials of Concern in the Coatings Industry, drew a lot of interest, comments, and questions. We defined PFAS; learned of breaking news on the regulatory front (the EPA has changed PFAS reporting deadlines); discussed the impact these regulations are having on businesses, such as issues with insurance companies; as well as the need for a de minimis level of PFAS in products; the latest on replacement technologies; and much more. It is an overwhelming topic, but I think everyone who attended took away some good, and hopefully helpful, information. For those of you who couldn’t be there, you can still watch the panel discussion and four of the technical presentations from the event On Demand here. I am already thinking about topics for our 2025 panel discussion. Please e-mail me if you have an idea for a good industry discussion!
 A few days after the CTT Summit, I travelled to Seattle to attend Northwest CoatingsFest on the shores of Lake Washington. This biennial event is organized by the Pacific Northwest Society for Coatings Technology, and featured 35 high-caliber technical presentations on the latest coatings technologies, including an innovative white pigment, PFAS-free additive solutions, a 100% solids, bio-based binder, and UV/EB for EV, just to name a few. There were also interactive networking opportunities for the 140+ attendees, including an opening night cruise aboard the Lady Mary, and a very entertaining closing night murder mystery dinner (who knew Evonik’s Jim Reader was a murder suspect?). All around, it was a great event.

Coming up in October are the Pigment and Color Science Forum and TiO2 World Summit in Vienna, Austria; and the Chemical Innovation Exchange (CIEX) in Indianapolis. And in November, the TZMI Congress will take place in Kuala Lumpur, and ChinaCoat is set for Guangzhou. You can link to all industry events on our Shows and Conferences page.

This October issue is a big one. While we include articles on a number of topics and technologies, the main focus this month is chemical distribution. Chemical distributors play a massive role in the coatings industry, and we recognize their impact in this issue. As our Distribution Insights article states, “They manage logistics, provide technical support, help customers navigate complex regulatory requirements, and collaborate with suppliers and manufacturers to develop new technologies. Distributors also offer valuable market insights and trends, helping manufacturers stay competitive and adapt to changing market demands.” I hope you enjoy the variety of articles about distribution, as well as the distributor spotlights featured throughout the issue. Be sure to scroll through the entire issue so that you don’t miss any information!