Haas Automation Entices Powdercoat to Open Plant

Executives of Applied Powdercoat of Chatsworth couldn’t stand being apart from one of their primary customers.

Less than a year after Haas Automation moved from Chatsworth to Oxnard, the powder coating manufacturer made a similar move, adding a production plant in Oxnard to go with its existing headquarters in the San Fernando Valley.

The 12,500-square-foot Oxnard location, on Santiago Court near Rice and Gonzalez roads, employs about 25 workers, with the staff expected to at least double by the end of 1999.

In addition to strengthening an already productive business relationship with Haas, officials of Applied Powdercoat expect the northward expansion to enable them to capitalize on what they see as increased demand locally for powder-coating materials.

“We’ve been in business nine years now, and we’ve been able to capture a lot of the market share in the San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles area,” said Steve George, co-owner and vice president of Applied Powdercoat. “Now we have also been seeing a lot of interest coming out of Ventura, Oxnard and the Santa Barbara area.”

Powder coating, often considered an alternative to liquid paint in manufacturing applications, is predominantly used on metal surfaces. The dry-coating process involves finely ground particles of plastic resins and color pigments that, when cured, are considered an attractive, environmentally clean protection against corrosion.

Along with the Haas machine-tool manufacturing company, Applied Powdercoat’s Ventura County clients include AML Communications, a Camarillo manufacturer of amplifiers for the cellular, paging and satellite communications market, and Drum Workshop, an Oxnard instrument maker.

“We piggybacked with Haas to accommodate them, but there’s also the communication industry, the high-tech industry . . . a lot of sheet-metal houses,” George said. “We’ve seen the growth in this area and we’re banking on that growth. The commercial real estate industry is growing, and the city of Oxnard is targeting manufacturing.”

Haas Automation officials are pleased with the powder-coat company’s increased local presence.

“They do powder coating for most of our sheet-metal enclosures--they are our primary supplier,” said Bob Whaley, material manager for Haas. “It’s imperative that they are close to us, to support our delivery process. We can get parts in minutes from them as opposed to half a day from our other suppliers.”

The Haas-Applied Powdercoat partnership goes back about 2 1/2 years.

“We are used to that close-knit relationship,” Whaley said. “We encouraged them to relocate with us.”