Early involvement of coatings experts can have big impact on project success

U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center
Published Oct. 30, 2024
Early review of project specifications and on-site evaluation of construction projects before coatings and paints are applied are among the services provided by the USACE Paint Technology Center, Technical Center of Expertise.

Early review of project specifications and on-site evaluation of construction projects before coatings and paints are applied are among the services provided by the USACE Paint Technology Center, Technical Center of Expertise.

The USACE Paint Technology Center, Technical Center of Expertise offers construction professionals across the USACE enterprise and Department of Defense several training opportunities.

The USACE Paint Technology Center, Technical Center of Expertise offers construction professionals across the USACE enterprise and Department of Defense several training opportunities.

The USACE Paint Technology Center, Technical Center of Expertise provides a wide range of field support services to the USACE enterprise and the Department of Defense. Among those capabilities are on-site coating and corrosion evaluation, training and early reviews of project specifications.

The USACE Paint Technology Center, Technical Center of Expertise provides a wide range of field support services to the USACE enterprise and the Department of Defense. Among those capabilities are on-site coating and corrosion evaluation, training and early reviews of project specifications.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Paint Technology Center, Technical Center of Expertise (PTCx) is at the forefront of cutting-edge research and development, while also supporting project managers across the Department of Defense in ensuring the correct coatings, methods and personnel are used to protect infrastructure, reduce downtime and extend service life.

From offering timely reviews of project specifications and scrutiny of coatings planned for construction, to establishing the criteria by which our military uses these coatings, the PTCx’s Field Support Team has become a key resource for use in early project planning and, when needed, in helping mitigate challenges.

The team can provide inspections or conduct failure analyses but hopes to interact with the project teams earlier to ensure projects stay on budget and schedule.

“We have a team of coating experts ready to support,” Brooke Divan, Director of Field Relations, said. “It’s not fair to expect every project engineer on every type of project to be a coatings expert in addition to all the other things they have to know in order to make these projects run successfully.”

Divan’s team, which includes several certified coating experts and leverages the world-class R&D arm of the PTCx, is focused on helping project managers early in the planning process to address challenges long before they arise.

“A call or an email asking us to review a specification, RFI or product variance can mean big cost savings to [project managers],” she said. “They can throw us something for a couple of hours that we already have the knowledge and baseline of information for. It saves them from going down a rabbit hole.”

The USACE works with counterparts in the Navy and Air Force, establishing tri-service guidelines on the use of coatings and paints, conducting coating training sessions for personnel throughout the services, as well as testing and analyzing paints and coatings.

“Paint is just paint, and even using the best paint in the world for the wrong application can have detrimental effects down the road” Divan said.

But it is the field support component where PTCx capabilities can provide the biggest and immediate return on investment for customers. This support includes surface preparation, application, inspection and any oddity that arises along the way.

“Our team is so connected within the industry, with the manufacturers and the different testing labs. We know there is a huge cost savings, a positive impact on the project, to reach out to us,” she said. “It is our job to take the pressure off a project manager to have an expert check the homework, to make sure the project is specifying the best thing, the right thing, to get the longest service life of our structures as possible.

“So that small upfront cost of getting us involved early really does pay off down the road in making sure you have quality materials and procedures in place once the project gets rolling.”

Over the past year, Divan said her team worked with 39 different USACE districts, three Army installations, three government agencies and responded to more than 700 inquiries spanning military and civil works applications. She also has seen her team grow, adding additional coating professionals to help.

“We won’t turn anything, any request away,” she said. “We love building the relationships in the districts, with the other [service] branches, because we know we can help. And the sooner the better.”