IPCM IN REVIEW

September and October in Review

The return of face-to-face meetings and the newfound importance of trade fairs.

September brought with it a moment that we had been waiting for over a year: the return of in-person meetings and fairs. At last, we were able to personally distribute our magazines and meet our customers at various national and international fairs, such as the Salone del Mobile.Milano, Expo Ferroviaria (Milan), OMC (Ravenna) and Eurosurfas (Barcelona). There, we have met companies and people who are enthusiastic about being able to interact again in person and ready to face the new challenges that the market offers. Another meeting we took part in (this time virtually, due to restrictions on travels to the United States still in force) is the Powder Coating Summit, officially opened by Alessia Venturi, editor-in-chief of the ipcm® magazines, with a presentation dedicated to Smart Coatings. An important occasion that we hope to be able to repeat soon, this time in person. September also meant the publication of one of the most important issues of the year: the special issue dedicated to architecture and design of ipcm®. An edition full of inspiration, of many “wow!” articles for insiders, and of numerous innovations in the field of chemistry.

The new ipcm® blog

We inaugurated on 13 September the official blog of ipcm®: Surface Treatment 101. Currently available in English and Italian, the articles that we will publish in this new space aim to help those taking their first steps in the world of surface treatment to have a better understanding of the processes and technologies that rule it. The first article that officially launched the blog is dedicated to PVD processes, and explains what they are, the most common industrial uses, application technologies and the advantages in terms of production and sustainability.

Work in progress for 2022

As always in the last four months of the year, we are actively working on next year’s editorial programs, which will follow the trade fairs even more closely. In fact, 2022 promises to be a year full of important events for the sector, starting with PaintExpo, which will return for its eighth edition in Karlsruhe, from 26 to 29 April.

The month of October reconfirmed the positive trend in terms of participation in trade fairs and events, together with great international enthusiasm. Many trade fairs took place in these 31 days, and the ipcm® team participated in-person to many of them. Among these, the three most important events of the year for the industrial cleaning sector stand out: at EMO Milano, parts2clean in Stuttgart and DeburringExpo in Karlsruhe we distributed over 600 copies of the latest October issue of ICT_Industrial Cleaning Technologies. The pleasure of getting together, traveling again and participating in international events is also reflected in the videointerviews from the DeburringExpo fair that we broadcasted live on our social media channels. Several exhibiting companies had the opportunity to briefly present their industrial company as well as their impressions about the post-pandemic trade fair experience. Regarding the events, on 7th October we were invited by the paint manufacturer PPG to the inauguration of the new chemistry laboratory dedicated to STEM education at the National Museum of Science and Technology “Leonardo da Vinci” in Milan, created thanks to the support of the US multinational company.

On the 14th, on the other hand, we participated in the inauguration of the Axalta Coating Systems Colour Experience Room in Cavenago di Brianza (Italy), a permanent space where the company’s experts will be able to present their range of colours and powder coatings for architecture to architects and designers.

A new issue

October was also the month of the 39th issue of ipcm®_Protective Coatings, our magazine dedicated to corrosion prevention and control technologies. This number is focused on innovative technologies and processes to mitigate and contrast corrosion that are less conservatives and used. Think for example of high-thickness water-based paints, which also have the advantage of being nonflammable, or powder coatings, which are an effective and zeroemission solution for the protection of external structures and metal carpentry.

Training continues

While we are defining the last details of the training program for the 2022 course for Technicians of Industrial Surface Finishing Processes organised by ipcm®_Academy, five modules of the second session of 2021 took place in October: powder coatings application, liquid coatings application, controls, failure analysis and maintenance. During the training day dedicated to controls, the trainees had the opportunity to try out numerous coating measuring and control tools and to (finally) get to know each other and the ipcm®_Academy team in person. Stay tuned to discover topics and complete programme.