Brett Suvagia is a man you need to get to know. He is the Vice President and co-founder of American Powder Coatings based in St. Charles, IL and he knows more about Powder Coating than anyone I’ve ever met. I took some time to talk with him this past week and obviously started with the most important question……

Of all the colors in the APC lineup what is your favorite? 

“Our metallics come out really nice, I’m a fan of our organic colors, the purples. I’m a big fan of gloss black.”

How did you get started in Powder Coat Manufacturing?

“My dad was a powder paint chemist at Valspar for 20 years. I was getting a degree in Chemical Engineering. He knew the formulation side. It was a father and son team with another silent partner that started this thing back in 1992.”

Past or Present, who do you most admire?

“My own family, they inspire me quite a bit. My sister, my dad, my mom, we are a very close knit family.”

APC continues to be a family operated business. He and his dad, Dave Suvagia, lead the company as President and Vice President and Brett’s wife, Rina Suvagia is the Office Manager.

How do you ensure that every APC Powder is the best quality?

“Every batch of powder is tested throughout the whole lot. If we make one box or 100,000 lbs we are spraying test panels throughout the process to ensure that the batch meets customer specifications and that there is no contamination in the batch.”

He also said they keep detailed recipe records so that whether it’s a custom color or a regular (Bright White), when you order that powder a year later you can be sure it’s the same as before.

What do you do to continue to grow as a company and as a leader?

“We want to be in front of the customers, we strive to be flexible to their needs”.

Brett talked about the importance of communication. They are constantly communicating with their vendors to stay on the cutting edge of raw material and additive technology to develop formulas that better meet the customer’s needs. I talked to Brett about advancements he’s seen in recent years and low cure, higher salt spray resistance, and anti-graffiti formulas are some of the more requested powder technologies that have continued to get better and better.

What makes APC stand out from other powder manufacturers?

“We aren’t the biggest but we can do things that the biggest manufacturers can never do. Make powder in a couple days. Quick turnaround is very crucial for us and being able to create high quality spec powders while keeping price stability. We can also offer top notch tech support since we are the formulator.”

What advice would you give to a beginning powder coater?

“Tech is so available. You need to subscribe to publications, "Powder Coated Tough" and "Powder Coating" are great resources. Talk to your sales guys, your powder manufacturer, equipment guy, pretreatment guy. I’m a big fan of communication. If you have a question that you don’t know, somebody knows out there and you better find them.”

MIT Powder Coatings is proud to offer the APC color line. They offer great service and incredible powder. APC also offers RAL, Pantone, and custom color matching. If you are interested give us a call 616.350.8549 and we can help you out.