Following the success of COATING WEST in Las Vegas this past March, COATING EAST is designed to be a cost-effective, two-day conference & exhibition that provides outstanding educational opportunities to finishers on the East Coast. The technical conference features a wide array of sessions covering everything from emerging pretreatment technologies to lean manufacturing for liquid coating technologies; corrosion testing to marketing your business in a tough economy; and small to mid-size volume powder coating to determining if your finishing system uses too much energy to survive. A total of 25 conference sessions from 43 industry experts will deliver timely and valuable information that will help finishers improve their operations.
Evaluations from the COATING WEST conference overwhelmingly rated the conference sessions as being “very good to excellent.” The top-rated sessions are being repeated at COATING EAST, complemented by a variety of new sessions targeted for finishers on the East Coast.
More highlights:
Harley-Davidson will be the featured keynote presentation on Thursday morning, Oct. 1. The engineering, marketing, manufacturing, and styling departments at Harley-Davidson work together as a well-established and respected team to find feasible finishing solutions for their motorcycles. Their goal is to develop finishes that not only perform well and appeal to the target market but, more importantly, look good. During this keynote presentation, attendees will hear from members of the Harley-Davidson team as they share the history and current state of coating technology used on Harley-Davidson motorcycles. They will discuss the coatings used to meet the demands of their discriminating customers and deliver the look and performance Harley-Davidson owners come to expect. Note: This session will be open to all conference and exhibit-only COATING EAST attendees at no cost.
COATING EAST will also feature a variety of special events, including a virtual spray painting competition on the show floor and an evening concert and reception at Opryland’s new nightclub, FUSE. This will be the perfect time to network with other attendees and exhibitors. The conference program will conclude on Thursday afternoon with two outstanding plant tours: a walk through MetoKote’s Lebanon, Tenn., plant where attendees will see two state-of-the-art monorail electrocoating lines and one powder coating line. A second tour option: A.O. Smith’s Ashland City facility, where residential water heaters are manufactured. Attendees will see A.O. Smith’s porcelain enamel and liquid painting lines in operation. Plant tours are available for a separate registration fee and are available on a limited, first-come, first-served basis.
"COATING WEST proved that if we take quality programming and exhibitors to finishers, they will come,” said Anne Goyer, COATING EAST Conference & Show Manager. “We had great response from finishers who typically do not travel to our traditional finishing show in the Midwest. We reached a new audience and believe we’ll have the same success in Nashville. It is centrally located and within easy driving distance of many manufacturing areas in the Southeast.”
More importantly, Goyer says she and her team have worked hard to make COATING EAST affordable and a great value for attendees and exhibitors alike. "Finishers will walk away with important information, ideas, and new contacts to help them in their plants now,” she said. “I encourage all finishers to review our program and exhibit list and register early.”
To review conference abstracts, complete event details, a list of current exhibitors, and to register and make hotel reservations, please visit the show website. Visitors can also find COATING EAST information on Facebook under “Coating East” or via Twitter at “coatingeast.”