QUALICOAT Welcomes Tomburn
Chris Mansfield left and Paul Hepburn right
During the last few years membership of QUALICOAT in UK & Ireland has increased significantly as the QUALICOAT specification has become more widely known by specifiers in the Construction Industry. The latest company to join the Association is Tomburn, a well established architectural powder coater based in the South of England.
Tomburn’s Commercial Director, Chris Mansfield, explains the reasons for joining QUALICOAT: “Tomburn Ltd have been operating at LBL Finishers for over 25 years, working across a variety of markets and offering both Powder and Liquid Coatings. Five years ago the company decided to focus on Powder Coating and split the LBL factory operation into Steel and Aluminium coating areas.
“In August last year, Paul Hepburn and I completed a management buyout of the UK Tomburn Ltd business and together we looked at where we might be able to develop the business in the future. We discovered that we were missing some opportunities with both our current customer base and with potential new customers because we lacked Qualicoat Approval.
“A review of our business with Jan Lukaszewski, Secretariat of QUALICOAT UK & Ireland, identified that we could, with a few changes to plant and procedures, be able to apply for a QUALICOAT licence and that these changes would further improve the business. It was also felt that gaining Qualicoat approval would further enhance the reputation that Tomburn already has for providing a high product standard.”
The QUALICOAT UK & Ireland Association is the regional association for the global QUALICOAT organisation whose head office is based in Zurich. Now with 38 members across the architectural powder coating supply chain in UK & Ireland, the finishing specification continues to gain traction in facade procurement. Applying for a QUALICOAT licence opens up the applicator up to independent third party inspections that ensures the latest QUALICOAT specification is being followed and that output is continually quality checked. Specifiers now recognise the importance of third party accreditation by specifying QUALICOAT as opposed to a BS EN 12206 specification which is reliant solely on the applicator to get it right.
The global QUALICOAT Standard is incrementally revised in real time with regular update sheets and is revised to include all updates each year end. The Specification, its appendices and any update sheets are freely available for download at www.qualicoat.net. For details on the availability of various colours and finishes contact any QUALICOAT UK & Ireland member for more information. For updated information about the use and specification of QUALICOAT in the UK and Ireland, please visit the UK & Ireland Association website at www.qualicoatuki.org.