ARCOR® Epoxy Technologies, a Massachusetts-based company that produces a wide range of high-performance epoxy coatings and metal rebuilding compounds, has revealed its underlying philosophy that enables it to go beyond just producing and supplying coatings, but instead providing total coating solutions that solve their customers’ problems and produce long-lasting results.
ARCOR was founded in 1982 by Ken Fowler, and it began business in power sector projects, mostly in nuclear power plants in Eastern Europe. Over the years, it has worked on projects in more than 80 countries worldwide, developing various installation methods and coming up with unique solutions for numerous industrial sectors. In one power sector project, the condenser issue had to do with poor fabrication, and ARCOR was able to remediate it. Not only was the problem regarding the condenser solved, but ARCOR was able to increase the overall efficiency of the units by 3% to 5%, which is a huge deal in the power sector.
Rather than just being a manufacturer of epoxy products, ARCOR seeks to develop and provide a range of technologies to solve all different issues across multiple infrastructure-based industries. ARCOR continually modifies its product and service offerings to bring the latest in epoxy technology to its customers, with outstanding chemical, heat and abrasion resistance. One of its innovations is a plural component spray system that allows its coatings to be spray applied without the addition of solvents. This brings the advantages of its solvent-free epoxy technology to large-scale projects, providing greatly increased efficiency though spray application versus hand application. All of ARCOR’s products are manufactured in the US, beginning from the raw materials down to the packaging. It recently upgraded its local manufacturing capabilities to meet growing demand and ensure that all production remains onshore.
According to Jordan Fowler, President of ARCOR Epoxy Technologies and Ken’s son, some of the company's solutions have provided 20 to 30 years of performance in extremely harsh environments, including saltwater, acids, and caustics.
“Some would argue that this is a bad business model, because you don't get a lot of repeat customers. But, we believe that it is a source of pride for us to be able to design something so well-made that it could even outlast us in some instances. The real heart of the issue is solving the customer's problem to the best of our capabilities, and that's what we've strive to do across multiple industries,” he says.
Fowler adds that ARCOR does not believe in planned obsolescence, and that it has even walked away from deals with potential clients where they wanted ARCOR to dull down its products and to incorporate a shorter product lifespan than what was actually possible.
ARCOR also frequently conducts field testing of its products, exceeding the industry-standard in-house lab testing done by a lot of companies. Fowler says that field testing allows ARCOR to see whether its products stand up to real world conditions, which are often more varied and unpredictable compared to laboratory simulations. If it determines that the product doesn’t work for the specified application, then it’s back to the drawing board to see what changes could be implemented to make it work.
According to Fowler, it’s quite easy for companies in the chemicals and coatings industry to fall too far into the mentality of ‘if it ain't broke, don't fix it’, especially since many of ARCOR’s systems and formulas from more than 30 years ago are still working. But, despite that, ARCOR keeps on experimenting with new materials and technologies to develop better products and more comprehensive solutions for its clients.
“We’re always on the lookout for new ways to do things. Oftentimes, we look at what our competitors are doing and see how we could do it our way by modifying and scaling it up to bigger applications and making it easier to use. I believe that's our super power – seeing what else is out there and then trying to find a better way to get things done,” Fowler says.
Media contact:
Name: Jordan Fowler
Email: [email protected]
