Purchase Powder SMART!

[color="Blue"]The Woes of Buying Powder Solely on Price![/color]
[color="blue"]By Travis Stirewalt, CSI of TIGER Drylac USA[/color]

Let’s cut right to the chase; I make my living selling powder. Now that we have cleared the air, I want to provide you with some tools to assist you in saving money on your powder purchases.

If you have attended one of our TIGER Drylac USA Powder Coating Schools, you will be familiar with the evaluation process we train our customers on how to give yourself a cost analysis on powder purchases. Make no bones about it, we want to maximize your dollar and keep you running efficient.

With the large number of suppliers in the marketplace manufacturing and selling powder, many powder coaters are tricked into the nickel and dime cost savings game to try and save money. Who could blame you? There are many “smoke and mirror” tricks that suppliers will use to make you think you are saving money at $1.00 off per pound. However, truth be known, the transfer efficiency with a particular powder may be very poor and you might be wasting higher volumes of powder. All said and done, you might be getting hundreds or thousands of extra square footage of coverage off of the same purchase of powder at the $1.00 per pound higher price.

Let’s discuss a few commonly used terms when it comes to the pricing of powder jobs.

[color="blue"]What is Transfer Efficiency? [/color]
In basic terms, it means how much powder is used effectively vs. powder that ended up on the floor of the booth, in the reclaim or spray-to-waste cartridge. Theoretically, the higher the transfer efficiency; the more powder will be on the part. The lower the transfer efficiency; the more powder will be on the floor of the booth. Transfer efficiency is driven by spray equipment, powder, operator knowledge, part configuration, rack density, ground, particle size distribution as well as many other shop specific issues.

[color="blue"]What is First Pass Transfer Efficiency? [/color]
The term first pass transfer efficiency is used to describe the amount of powder that is successfully transferred from box or hopper to the parts on a first run (pass) scenario. This does not take into consideration reclaim systems.

In order to calculate first pass transfer efficiency, follow the basic testing steps.

1. Weigh a box or hopper of powder prior to beginning your parts.
2. Weigh a specific number of un-coated parts.
3. Powder coat the parts and cure them.
4. Weigh the box or hopper of powder after powder coating out of it. This will give you the amount of powder that was actually used while spraying the parts.
5. Weigh the cured parts to determine how much powder (by weight) actually made it onto the parts.

Now you know by ratio the weight of powder sprayed vs. the weight of powder that actually ended up on the parts. Now you have a true first pass transfer efficiency measurement. If you can determine that you used 10 lbs out of the box and the post-powder coated and cured parts weigh 5 lbs more than they did prior to coating, you have determined that you are at a 50% first pass transfer efficiency.

[color="blue"]What is Applied Cost?[/color]
Applied cost is basically a theoretical calculation that uses the specific gravity of any given powder and determines a theoretical coverage in square feet – in a perfect world.

How can you calculate your applied costs? This is done with a simple set of calculations. Every powder has its own Specific Gravity. Specific Gravity determines the theoretical yield of the powder. Specific Gravity by definition is the density of a formulation relative to water. Once you have this number, you can plug it into the following calculation to begin breaking down a theoretical cost analysis of the powder.

[color="blue"]EXAMPLE JOB FOR ANALYSIS[/color]
JOB: ALUMINUM PANELS – 2,000 SQUARE FEET TOTAL
COLOR REQUIREMENT – ANY WHITE POWDER
MIL REQUIREMENT – 2.5

Let’s take two competitors white powders and stack them up against each other and see which one you would choose. Supplier names have been changed to protect the identity of the guilty.

Powder Supplier 1
White Powder
Specific Gravity 1.20
Cost Per Pound $4.00

Powder Supplier 2
White Powder
Specific Gravity 1.80
Cost Per Pound $3.25

The calculation you will need to know for this applied cost analysis is:

193.2 ÷ SPECIFIC GRAVITY = THEORETICAL COVERAGE IN SQ FT PER 1 LB OF POWDER AT 1 MIL

÷  THIS NUMBER BY DESIRED MIL THICKNESS  =
THE THEORETICAL COVERAGE IN SQ FT PER 1 LB OF POWDER

Now for the sake of ease of argument, let’s assume that the powder application system is spray to waste and we get an estimated 50 percent loss in the spray to waste system.
[color="blue"]
Analysis of Powder Supplier 1:[/color]

When you calculate the powder, you should find that they can cover 161 sq feet at 1 mil per 1 lb of Powder Supplier 1’s powder. Divided by the mil thickness requirement of 2.5, we find that they can cover 64.4 sq feet per pound.

Divide this number by 50% (estimated powder loss in spray to waste environment) and we get 32.2 square feet per lb.

[color="blue"]Analysis of Powder Supplier 2:[/color]

When you calculate the powder, you should find that they can cover 107 sq feet at 1 mil per 1 lb of Powder Supplier 2’s powder. Divided by the mil thickness requirement of 2.5, we find that they can cover 42.9 sq feet per pound.

Divide this number by 50% (estimated powder loss in spray to waste environment) and we get 21.45 square feet per lb.

So, Just What are the Real Numbers?

We know that the job is 2000 total square feet. We also know now, how much it will theoretically take of each of the supplier’s powders to complete the job.

Supplier Powder 1: At 32.20 square feet per lb, it will take 62.11 lbs of powder to do the job. FINAL COST ANALYSIS - The 62.11 lbs at $4.00 per lb totals $248.44 in powder for the job.

Supplier Powder 2: At 21.45 square feet per lb, it will take 93.24 lbs of powder to do the job.  FINAL COST ANALYSIS - The 93.24 lbs at $3.25 per lb totals $303.03 in powder for the job.

Now, I know you are in the business of powder coating to make money. This analysis shows an apples-to-apples view of one powder vs. another powder and compares them with all of the same parameters. Here is what we found out. The cheaper powder (Supplier Powder 2), at $0.75 per pound cheaper, actually ended up costing you, the powder coating shop, $54.59 more to do the same exact job. Not much of a savings is there. The Supplier Powder 1, the higher priced powder, yielded 10.75 more square feet per lb, which translated into using 31.13 less lbs of powder for the same job.

[color="blue"]What is Actual Cost? [/color]
Actual cost is what your true cost is. This figure takes everything into consideration. Take all of your daily financial operations figures and break them down. Divide this number by the number of hours your line is in operation and you have a true cost of running your operation per hour. Many successful shops price by this method and also factor in profit margins they must meet. Depending on how many parts (and what kind of parts) you will be able to run per hour, you can easily determine a per part cost. By using this method, you can determine the actual cost on a per part basis.

I am often asked by my customers, “How should I price my powder jobs”? This is a loaded question and not one that any powder salesman should readily answer. Reason being, we do not know the specific details of your particular business. Sure, we have an idea in general, but there are many factors. Here are a few of the many issues that determine how much you should charge per part:

* Do you offer medical insurance to your employees?
* How much does it cost to run your oven everyday?
* What are your maintenance costs? Grease, chemicals, tools etc.?
* How many parts can go into the oven or through the oven per hour or batch?
* How many parts deliveries and pickups do you make?
* How much did you spend at OfficeMax for your printer paper and paperclips?

Ok, you get the idea. Every penny you spent, every minute utilized or wasted, every day to day action in your shop determines the actual cost.

It is my hope that this article was able to help you in your powder purchasing. I welcome the opportunity of helping you save money. I too have been tricked many times in my life by the “smokes and mirrors” of a great price, but just how great was Powder Supplier 2 after it was all said and done. I would rather keep the $54.59 in the bank than keep excess powder on my shelf that may never be used again.

For information on attending an upcoming TIGER Drylac Powder Coating School, please visit www.southernmetalfinishing.com. This powder coating school will be held in Charleston, SC on August 7 and 8, 2006 in association with the Southern Metal Finishing Conference. You can visit this web site for more information and to register.

This article was written by Travis Stirewalt. He is the Regional Sales Manager for TIGER Drylac USA for NC, SC and TN. He welcomes calls and technical support questions from any of our readers. You can reach him by calling 615-400-1220 or by emailing him at t.stirewalt@tigerdrylac.com.