Becoming a successful coatings contractor takes lots of time and training. It can be a very technical job that requires an extensive amount of knowledge and the ability to adapt to many different situations. No job is exactly like another. It should be no surprise, then, that it takes many years of experience to be able to handle any type of coatings challenge. Maybe even just to be able to handle a few types of coatings challenges.

You can’t often bridge the gap between the past and present as directly as Thomas Industrial Coatings is on the 139-year-old Eads Bridge rehabilitation. By using the TruQC application (or app), they’re connecting the bridge’s history with the app’s innovation. For this project, highlighted in “The Mighty Mississippi: Coating Crew Saves River’s First Bridge” (CoatingsPro, May 2013), the coatings crew is maintaining quality control over the daily hazard analysis, weekly environmental report, toolbox talk, incident report, and timesheet submission.

When examining efficiency in machine design, it is arguable that the human body contains some of the best-automated systems around. The circulatory system, for example, contains chambers and valves that efficiently direct and pump blood from the heart to the organs and the extremities of the body and back to the heart at a regular rate appropriate for production demands.