Politics and Protective Coatings

The 2012 SSPC Show, to our convenience, was held in Tampa Florida - only a hop, skip and a jump away from us on the opposite coast. We made the drive and enjoyed the fantastic weather the west coast of Florida had to offer. When we arrived at the lovely Tampa Convention Center we were quite astounded at the amount of media that was covering the event. Don’t get us wrong, it’s a wonderful show and has a great attendance, with about 2,024 of us this year, but it did seem a tad peculiar that there was such a large amount of broadcasting going on for a protective coatings exhibition. It wasn’t long before we discovered that Mitt Romney was on the level below us at the convention center, during the first day of the show. It was there that the announcement was made that he won in FL, hence the entire hullabaloo. I guess it does make a bit more sense that the paparazzi were there to snap pics of current political endeavors and not of our new SaltSmart Meter (which I must say met with its own share of good attention as well ;).

IFT in The Big Easy

It was another great year at the IFT Annual Meeting and Food Expo! Located this year at the New Orleans Convention Center, this show provided the opportunity for food professionals from countries around the world to join together to hear about the latest food science and technology developments, learn about the newest products and trends, and of course enjoy the unique culture and cuisine that Naw’lins (New Orleans :) had to offer. We did just that, see pics below for proof. Even in the hot and humid 99-degree weather, the show had a huge turnout, a total of 15,156 - both registrants and exhibitors.

It was the first time at the IFT Expo for one of our team members and as she explained, “Between seeing the passion of the “foodies”, meeting famous chef John Besh, and enjoying the fun activities at the show such as taking a quick test and becoming a certified ‘FOOD GEEK’ with an official badge, the show was a super success!” 

Amongst conveniently skipping lunch to walk through the show and fill up on tasty treats offered at nearby booths :), we were also able to take advantage of the updated IFT app for smart phones.  It was a definite benefit for both attendees and exhibitors.  There was loads of information at the tap and swipe of a fingertip. It had alerts to tell us of events, a place to vote for the best new product at the show, a feature to help us keep track of who we wanted to visit and where they were on the show floor - it even had a schedule so we could organize our time better. We are definitely living in the technology age!

Aus Deutschland Zurück - ( Back From Germany ;)

We’re back from the European Coatings Show, which was held in Nuremberg Germany, and it was one of the largest coating shows that we have attended. This year they had 887 exhibitors from 45 different countries and welcomed more than 26,000 visitors from around the globe.  Wow!!  In addition to those high numbers, there was more than 30,000 meters² of exhibition floor used, setting a new record in floor size.  There were 150 feature presentations attended by more than 650 participants… and I could go on, phew, now that’s a BIG trade show!  This year we had customers from Russia, India, Japan and France stop by our booth to say, “Hello” and our technical sales representative James also had a chance to visit with some of our suppliers, located outside of the U.S., such as; TQC, Fibro Systems, Rhopoint, Zehntner, Fisher and Byk.

The ECS is truly a global world-class show that caters to the coating community.  It gives us the opportunity to develop relationships with new customers and solidify our presence with the international community.  It also provides us with an excellent venue to meet with our European suppliers and develop new channels of business interest.

Web-iversary (15th Anniversary on the Web)

This June we will celebrate 15 years on the World Wide Web… and, boy oh boy, have things changed! :)  When we first put up our website back in 1996 it was more about having an advantage in the industry and not so much of a necessity, but nowadays those tables have turned.  Fifteen years ago most of our business was generated through our extensive and thorough catalog.  Though the catalogs can still be a useful tool we have acknowledged the desire among consumers to surf the web to find new products, comparison deals, and to make purchases. 

 We began our site with only about 8 products and currently we have over 1000 - whoa quite a difference!  We have been able to provide greater amounts of information that no “conveniently” sized book could carry and we can consistently keep it updated, it’s a win-win situation for our customers.  As we look back at webpage’s past, take a trip down memory lane with us and check out how gardco.com has grown over the years…

Protective Coatings In Las Vegas

We are back from the 2011 SSPC Show held in the warm and sunny Las Vegas Nevada… well, “sunny” maybe, but not so much the “warm” part. The temperature there ranged from mid 30’s to the 50’s, which for a Floridian is right about freezing. The weather was definitely a factor on the event’s turn-out, due to the snowstorm in Texas and the northeast, attendance was down. It might have also been because it was the first year the SSPC show was not paired up with its usual partner, the Decorators Showcase. If you are not familiar with the SSPC show, it is the only non-profit association that is focused on the protection and preservation of concrete, steel and other industrial and marine structures and surfaces through the use of high-performance industrial coatings.

This year there seemed to be quite a bit of interest in instruments that would read dry film thickness, non-destructive, on non metal substrates and also a coating thickness meter that would work on concrete. Of course accurate measurements can be tricky with concrete because it’s generally not a “flat/smooth” surface and averaging the measurements is about the only way to get an acceptable number. Thus, this subject causes a great debate (maybe we will leave that for our next blog? :).

Gardco, Food, and Transformers!!

We are back from the IFT Food Expo, the largest annual food science forum and exposition in the world. It has been considered one of the most important events held for professionals involved in food science and technology. We have participated at this event, as exhibitors and sponsors, since 2005. You may be asking, “Hey Paul Gardner Company, why are you at a Food Expo, aren’t you mainly involved in the Paint and Coatings industry”. Yes, in fact we started in 1936 with our focus on paint and coatings testing, but today we carry numerous items that can be used in a multitude of industries. For the food industry, for example, we provide such items as the CT3 Texture Analyzer, the Grain Moisture Meter and even our own manufactured Viscosity Cups and Weight Per Gallon Cups fulfill specific food testing needs.

The IFT Food Expo had a spectacular turnout this year, 22,000 in attendance and many of them international visitors. Though the heavy traffic at our booth was appreciated, it was a different story outside. A segment of Michigan Avenue was closed down due to the filming of the Transformers 3 movie. That’s right folks – we not only enjoyed a great Expo but we also experienced live street entertainment… jealous?! Don’t be, we have included some pics so you can feel a little part of the action! See the photograph with the car hanging off the bridge - boy was that a rough morning for us, we told our cab driver to get us to the Convention Center by 8am no matter what and he sure did. Yikes! Kidding of course :), it’s from the movie shoot.

This was the first year the show was combined with the Process Expo 10, a food Processing & Packaging Show, which happened to be located right across from the IFT show entrance. Vendors and guests could benefit from the best of both worlds. Several college students came out to be a part of these two large events. All in all it was a successful expo, you simply can’t lose when you mix beautiful Chicago weather with a Hollywood movie set on the street in front of you, delicious food and great show attendance.

 

 

Even Coating Industry Heroes want a pic with GARDCO Employees

Well, we are back from Charlotte NC, and boy was it a great turn out at the American Coatings Show! There were a whopping 6,700 attendees and 328 exhibitors at the Charlotte Convention Center including even those who were visiting from other countries.

The show was upbeat and positive. We had many guests come by our booth just to enjoy a hands-on experience with the unique instruments we had on display. While our PowerPoint movie entertained people in close proximity, we chatted with old and new friends, demonstrated products, and distributed free literature of items we carry specifically for the paint and coatings industry. All in all it was a successful show.