By Laura Lanza, Marketing Committee Chair, National Coil Coating Association

Today’s prepainted metals offer much more than just beautiful, flawless top coats. Coil coated metal’s specialized coatings differentiate your products from the competition. Specialized coatings include antimicrobial, non-skid, fingerprint resistant, reflective, anti-graffiti and anti-static coatings just to name a few. Whatever your product needs, the National Coil Coating Association and its members have the coating solution that will set you apart. Here are a few to consider.

Antimicrobial

Bacteria, mold, mildew and other fungi are growing concerns in places like medical facilities, food service, office buildings and more. Building owners and managers must protect occupants from the health threats posed by these environmental contaminants. Antimicrobial coatings are the solution.

Antimicrobial coatings kill 99 percent or more of the bacterial they encounter. Plus, unlike cleaning products, these coatings last indefinitely. By utilizing pre-painted, antimicrobial coatings, manufacturers provide an important health benefit to their manufacturer partners without adding a step to their manufacturing process. The antimicrobial coating is applied offsite at a coil coating facility and delivered to the manufacturer pre-coated and ready to use.

Non-Skid

Another specialized coating is non-skid, or anti-skid. Non-skid coatings are designed to reduce the potential slippage hazards in the workplace and home and help fulfill OSHA and other safety requirements. Popular uses include boat decks, truck floors, shelving systems, ladders and more. Don’t let your customers slip up and miss out on the benefits of non-skid coatings.

Fingerprint Resistant

Consumers are demanding home appliances in a full magnitude of color and finishes, As a result, fingerprint resistant coatings and embossing have also grown in popularity. Fortunately, the coil coating industry kept its finger on the pulse of product design and has developed numerous fingerprint resistant coatings. Never again will your customers have to wipe away fingerprints on refrigerators or other appliances.

Reflective

With reflective coatings your products can help reduce your customer’s energy costs and increase their comfort. Using reflective coating cuts down on heat buildup on metal roofs, trailers, campers, shipping containers and more. These cool coatings reflect ultraviolet rays, near infrared, mid-wave infrared and even long wave infrared waves; all with reflective pre-paint coatings.

Pre-painted metal roofs are energy efficient, durable and sustainable. A test conducted in Fort Myers, FL, showed that reflective roofs reduced cooling energy consumption as much as 21 percent and peak demand up to 35 percent.

Anti-Graffiti

Graffiti is an eye sore and a maintenance headache for commercial and industrial facilities, transportation companies, city leaders and more. In the past, preventing or eliminating graffiti was almost impossible. But now, coil coaters can provide steel and aluminum with anti-graffiti coatings that make tagging structures much more difficult and clean up much easier.  Sometimes clean up requires nothing more than a garden hose.

Anti-Static

In today’s high-tech manufacturing facilities, where advanced computer technology is being developed, clean rooms are required. That’s because seemingly innocent particles such as lint and dust can produce product failures. A coil coater can alleviate these problems with anti-static coatings that help keep particle build up to a minimum on HVAC surfaces, manufacturing equipment and more.

Antimicrobial, non-skid, fingerprint resistant, reflective, anti-graffiti and anti-static coatings are just a few of the specialized coatings the coil coating industry offers. Coil coating lowers cost, reduces hassles and offers ways to differentiate your products. Talk with your service center, coil coater, or coil coating supplier about unique coating solutions to fit your exact needs. To find a coil coater near you, go to https://www.coilcoating.org/ncca-member-list.