A recent survey conducted by AMT gave insight into the aircraft painting industry, what the current trends are and what the professionals need and want out of their products.
Of the industry professionals who responded to the survey, 50 percent paint for general aviation; 35 percent for business jets; 30 percent for helicopters, and 30 percent for commercial and cargo airline; and 16 percent reported painting military aircraft. In the coming year, 82 percent of respondents say they plan to increase their paint purchases– correlating with a significant trend in the industry – that business is on the rise.
“I think it's mainly the economy. The economy is doing well, and so people are wanting to take care of maintenance while they can,” says Julie Voisin, global product manager at Sherwin-Williams Aerospace Coatings, as to the industry boon.
Paul Moore, Paint Shop Manager at C&L Aviation Services in Maine, agrees with Voisin’s assessment from his own experience.
“On the corporate side, I think a lot of that is just driven by the U.S. economics. When you have an upturn in economics, the corporate operators have a tendency to loosen up a little bit of money. They want to go get their airplane paint renewed, and a nice, fresh, shiny paint job,” Moore says. “On the commercial side, the operators have a presence they want to keep up in the public eye. The public, they see a nice, shiny airplane sitting on the ramp and it leaves a great impression with the customer that, ‘hey, if they're taking care of the paint job, they must be doing good with maintenance.’ There's a feeling of safety."
Moreover, Mark Birmingham, Paint Program Manager, at West Star Aviation in Colorado, says much the same.
“Owners and companies are spending more discretionary money than before. Corrosion protection and decorative finishes are equally important now. The work has increased, and a more creative aspect is gaining in popularity every year,” Birmingham says.
With business in an upswing and technicians saying they plan to increase their paint purchases, the kind of paint they purchase is being influenced by what they’re looking for it to do.
Ease of use and ease of application was listed by 14 percent of survey respondents as the most important attribute about their primary aircraft coating system. Close behind, 13 percent said that the quality of the coating was most important, and just over 10 percent of respondents said paint durability was their top concern.
“When they're doing a full refresh, they're looking for products that are going to have great durability. That's one of the things that hasn't changed from year-to-year, the durability factor, they really want the aircraft to look great through the lifetime of the paint job.” says Voisin. “Then as far as the applicator, they're looking for things that are more environmentally friendly, so from chrome-free primers that go on the aircraft, and then they're also looking for productivity, like faster dry times for example; all things that can get the aircraft in and out of their facility as fast as possible, especially since they're busier now.”
Roy Block, paint shop manager at Elliott Aviation in Illinois, says that durability is key for him.
“First of all, it's MIL-SPECs are a zero-space compliant kind of paint. Has it already proven itself? Is it good enough for Boeing, is it good enough for Cessna, has it already passed a lot of the testing for salt sprays or pencil hardness testing and all that? We look at all those,” says Block. “We'll start at the primers. We'll see which primers, specifically the primers that we use now, who's using them, and what’s the test data? We'll draw all that in and then just build off of there.”
Moore concurs, saying: “My first concern is longevity. I want to make sure that customer isn't calling me up in a month and saying, ‘hey, I got a problem." I want that paint to last him for years.”
In a follow-up survey question asking, “what is one thing your present coating brand could do better?” Twelve percent of respondents said “pricing;” 7 percent said, “color match;” and 6 percent said, “faster drying times.”
In the shop, technicians are saying a growing trend of the past several years has been increasingly unique and intricate paint schemes – a trend Sean Gillespie, Executive VP of Flying Colours in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, sees first hand.
“As all our clients are business aviation clients, we receive requests for and produce many different custom designs annually,” says Gillespie. “What we are noticing for current trends is the rise in the requests for darker base colors, some with, and some without stripes. Integrated patterns on certain parts of the aircraft like engine nacelles and vertical stabilizers are also on the rise as clients look to stamp an identity on the aircraft whether the jet is being used for personal or corporate use. It is an extension of the trend we see in the cabin designs for owners to include their personality in the design. The use of metallic paint is always a trend and in demand constantly for both base and accent colors. It can look striking when done well.”
Says Block: “The tastes are changing. Even over the last few years, the tastes are changing. We're seeing a lot more custom paint jobs. We're seeing a lot more people choosing to go down the roads of micas and pearls for paints.”
“People want a unique color, a unique effect, something that makes their plane stand out from a brand perspective. So, we've been getting a lot of requests for a little bit more on the, as I would say, unusual side for people that want to do something striking, stunning, eye-catching with their plane,” elaborates Voisin.
To help facilitate the unique demands of clients, Voisin says Sherwin-Williams designed a product called ACRY GLO HLG which lets the overall area of a plane be painted in metallics.
Birmingham attributes advances in technology as helping to grow the desire for unique paint schemes
“Technology has led this through the use of 3D renderings, so customers can actually see the aircraft before it is painted, which gives them a sense of ease and a better visual perspective. Social media has also become another platform for customers to see many more schemes around the world that they typically wouldn't see,” he says.
While the industry booms and client demands grow more elaborate, paint operations and their technicians still face challenges – 32 percent, survey respondents said operating space is the number one obstacle they face in terms of growth of their operations; 26 percent cited regulatory concerns; and 25 percent said workforce and skill level as their most significant concern.
“We expected staffing to be the number one issue that we saw in the field, and so when it came up as space, that was a little bit of a surprise, but it makes sense,” says Voisin. “Their needs are becoming a little bit more prevalent because space is your defining thing, it's very expensive to go put a new paint shop or a new hangar add on. So, trying to figure out ways to make that space most efficient, is what's driving decisions right now. So, the space speaks more to the fact of how busy the field is right now and the limited space, limited paint booths out there, and how they're moving them through the shops right now.”
Birmingham says: “A major obstacle we face is keeping to a tight schedule while performing more elaborate paint schemes, while steadily building and developing more talent throughout the shop.”
“In-house we put a lot of emphasis on training and try to ensure we are offering the best products, while also maintaining the regulatory requirements,” says Gillespie.
Block says regulations often are his main headache.
“The books or the manuals for the OEMs say you're going to have to a certain type of paint and nothing else,” says Block. “Sometimes you’re constrained by those manuals and they say you have to use certain products. Then locating it, you might have to go overseas to find it. Those can be a challenge a lot of times.”
For Moore, it’s a lacking work force that causes him the most grief in his operations.
“We opened the shop, actually physically opened in 2014, so we're working on five years open,” says Moore. “I knew that the biggest challenge I was going to face was going to be staffing because there's really not the competition up here to drive the talent up here. That's proven to be the case. It's difficult at best to bring talent up to the area, up here in Maine. That's probably the biggest thing that I've come across since I've been up here, is just the challenge of getting properly staffed.”
Helping to alleviate the headaches of those obstacles is the reliability of the equipment and technology being used in the industry. Over 38 percent of Survey Respondents said that they’ve been using their current paint system for over ten years; 29 percent for three to five years; and 14 percent for six to nine years.
“I'm pretty much old school, to be honest with you,” says Moore. “I don't know, at this point, that there's much on the horizon, as far as technology goes that I'm aware of, that I'm interested in. I'm pretty happy with what we have.
Block adds: “It’s kind of the same technology going through. Some of the paints are kind of just evolving in their pigments in those kind of ways, getting different looks and that, but we're still putting paint on with the same people, the same guns. We're still sanding and doing the same things we've done for years. We're always looking for a better way. There's always the better mousetrap or the better wheel. We're fine tuning all the little steps in the process in that, finding better ways in the environment. We're making sure that we're controlling all those things and that.”
One thing all agreed on is the more environmentally-minded approach the industry is moving towards – lowering the use of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs).
“As far as the applicator, they're looking for things that are more environmentally friendly,” said Voisin. “People are looking for products that are lower in VOCs. That's the amount of emissions emitting into the air, and they're also, especially on the interior, they're looking for waterborne products. And so, it's about coming up with solutions that are equal to performance, but that are providing more safety for those that are applying, and then also for the environment that they are being applied in.”
“Ensuring the products we use are environmentally safe is definitely a key factor in the future. That is something we are cognizant off and we know that increasingly clients will want this,” adds Gillespie.
“We'll be going a lot greener out there,” says Block. “We've reduced a lot of our VOCs and our HAPs in our paints and our processes. You see a lot of the shops out there doing it. There's a paint managers forum that we meet yearly, and we discuss a lot of these issues, and you see all these other shops, and we sit, and we talk about it. We’re dialing in on a lot of little issues, and it's a pretty big issue. But it's not a pretty big bad issue. We're all doing a very good job maintaining and controlling it, so everything from our paint booth filters, to how we protect the people, to collection, to hazardous waste disposal. All of that information is out there and it's easy to get.”
To help with the changing industry, Voisin says Sherwin-Williams has teams to help paint shops with their projects around the world.
“We do try to keep the most recent equipment here in our training facility, and we have a whole team of technical service representatives that go throughout the world to help customers with their projects. So, they keep up-to-date,” she says.
For the future, Voisin says she predicts a “bright and colorful” future for the industry.
“There's a lot of good practices in the field. People are trying to be creative in what they're offering customers. I was up at a facility recently and the design had come in, and it was going to take the layout people, four people, three or four days to lay out the different stripes that the customer wanted to do on the plane, and so, people are coming up with very creative solutions, and I think that plane owners are being a little bit more bold in their selections that they want on the plane, whether it's color or design, and I think that the industry is operating very efficiently right now, so I do feel like it's bold and colorful for the future,” says Voisin.
