It’s a Corker for Qualicoat

Qualicoat UK & Ireland members recently held their second meeting in Cork at Doyle's Jurys Inn. Situated on Anderson's Quay, the hotel is in the heart of the city and the meeting offered members time to network and discuss pending standards and challenges within the sector.

Topics discussed during the meeting included the progress towards commencement of Qualicoat UK & Ireland’s test programme of supporting work to assure the quality of coatings in a coastal environment. The results will be reported back to Qualicoat Zurich and it is hoped that the proposed revision will be made to the standards in due course.

Bodycote, the independent testing house who monitor all members output, explained that they had just renamed the group to Exova and offered a short presentation about how the new group is to operate. There was confirmation from the members that for Qualicoat, UK & Ireland, Exova would remain the testing house for members through to 2010.

This was the last meeting for the current Chair, Paul McCarthy of APA Systems, who steps down after two years in office. Member’s offered their thanks to him. Mo Panam of Barley-Chalu, previously Vice-Chair, steps up to take the Chair for the next two years. Alan Maginnis of Sprint Coatings, Dublin, was appointed as Vice-Chair.

The next meeting for members will take place during the ESTAL Congress (European Surface Treatment on Aluminium) which at St. Catherine’s College, Oxford during the 20th to 22nd September. The ESTAL Congress meets at various locations every other year across Europe, this year Oxford hosts the meeting, the first time in the UK for over 25 years.