Adam Grubb:
Building science has traveled to Fort Myers, Florida, to look at one of the most unique testing sites in the United States sitting on 6 acres of land and housing over 100,000 samples of its product. A small team gathers daily data and in one case, has watched their product perform in a real world environment for forty eight years. This is the building science of Valspar Coil and Extrusion.
GFX: BUILDING SCIENCE
GFX: Hosted by Adam Grubb
GFX: valspar Part 1: Innovation Begins on a Test fence
Standing back and marveling at the sheer beauty of these brightly colored panels, sparkling and changing tints in a hot Florida sun, its easy to forget the real purpose of this testing and research facility to prove their product stands up to weather, exposure and most importantly time. And nobody takes that responsibility more seriously than testing site group leader Marlene Garrow.
Marlene:
There are about 100,000 panels out there.
Adam:
The oldest And you know each one?
Yes, well, they're like my children.
Channing Beaudry
We have racks and racks of panels where we're doing pigments studies.
GFX: Channing Beaudry Technical Director, Coil and Extrusion Coatings
We're looking at the next generation of pigments, we're looking at all the different color spaces we can do to understand how were they going to weather, how are they going to hold up in a natural environment.
GFX: Rick Afton Global Technical Director Coil and Extrusion Markets
Rick Afton:
It never ceases to astound me how they maintain their quality, their color, and their look for that period of time in a severe environment like, like Florida.
Channing:
This facility right here is really in one of the harsher places that buildings go up.
GFX: Valspar's Test fence is the most accredited manufacturer's test facility in the coil coatings industry
Adam:
So this is the world famous 1968 row.
Marlene:
The first two rows have been out here since May of 1968.
Adam:
So they've been hit by the sun, by wind, and rain,
Marlene:
hurricanes
Adam:
hurricanes salt.
Marlene:
Yes, they withstand it all.
Channing:
You see these panels here are 45 degrees south facing. That's a standard that will give you the most direct sun exposure. We have some that are vertical. The vertical ones are similar to sidewalls of buildings or building curtains. And see how the product perform in that environment.
GFX: Jeff Alexander Vice President of Sales North American Coil & Extrusion
Jeff Alexander:
Some of these panels you know were put together for our customers and some of these customers come back and look at the specific panels more than a couple of times a year.
Channing:
We've learned a tremendous amount of how pigments, the resins and polymers affect our coatings. And we're continuing to learn more every day that's why it's fun coming back out to this site. We looked through all the different panels and we're able to make assessments on what that next generation of product is going to look like.
Jeff Alexander:
Our products have pretty long warranties and it's important to have confidence behind the chemistry that's in those. And the only way to really, really know is to put it out on exposure and wait.
Channing:
If a customer comes to us and asks for something new or different, or if we decide this is something the market would be interested in, we've got so much data here that we can pull from. We don't have to wait 10 or 20 years. We've already collected that data. We know ahead of time what the risk is and what raw materials can we combine together to give us this end performance. So it really cuts down the cycle time of new development products.
Adam:
These are the 1970s panels.
Marlene:
Yes.
Adam
So most these panels does this, does this bother here?
Marlene:
No.
Adam:
Does that bother you?
Marlene:
No.
Adam:
Why not?
Marlene:
Because they're our competitors.
Adam:
Ok, so that's good news then.
Channing:
When we see failures, we want to understand what's happening. What's the chemistry behind that failure. Is it the pigment breaking down, is it the resin? I think it would be a challenge. I mean, I think when you dig into anything like of paint or coating it seems so easy. People walk into a Lowe's and they see paint and that's mixed up and it's all that simple. You don't look at the all the panels out here and the years of development to make sure that that's going to last as long as it should.
Adam:
From the oldest color sample on the test fence being secured when Lyndon Johnson was president, to the latest that was hung yesterday. The reason for the testing has not changed. Proving a product's value in the marketplace. The science behind Valspar's product doesn't stop at the research equipment either, but continues to the sales teams, engineers, and the global technical team that is responsible for not only creating new products, but ensuring the durability of their current ones. And we meet all of them next. For Building Science, I'm Adam Grubb.
GFX: Building Science valspar