It's 2019! Really? It seems like we just punched the clock on 2017! When you're busy time goes fast. And are we busy. Let's do a quick review 2018 and look forward to 2019.
The SilcoTek team continues to be dedicated to creating a positive customer experience. How did we do that in 2018 and how are we planning on making game changing coatings in 2019? We're looking forward to a the new year!
Improving Service
2018 was a real challenge because we implemented a new ERP system. The dedication of our Customer Service, Production, and Sales & Marketing teams pulled us through a successful implementation. As with any difficult job worth doing, there were some trying times and some inconvenience to our customers but in the end it was worth it because we can now build on improved service now that the system is in place. Looking forward to 2019, we'll begin to offer apps and systems that make it easier for the customer to order coatings and monitor the status of their parts through the process.
Customer Facing
We added to our Marketing staff and expanded our international sales team in 2018. This improved customer reach and continued our effort to make our coatings more available world wide. Looking forward to 2019, we'll continue to expand customer reach and service by informing our customers through continued expansion of our sales network and providing educational materials and webinars.
Refining the Process
Our Engineering and R&D team continued to expand and fine tune the process capability of the plant. They brought on new capacity through innovation and improved process and tooling design. It's easy to throw out a line about process improvement but it's no easy task. Engineering and R&D put in hundreds of hours a year studying the process and implementing controlled experiments. They run statistical models to quantitatively assess results. The team then reviews the results and discusses each modification at the highest levels. That takes discipline and a deep understanding of process control. Looking forward to 2019 the team will continue to improve the process. A high quality process is always evolving. Curious about how we coat your parts? Watch our Coating Process Video.
New Coating
Throughout 2018 the R&D, Engineering and Production teams worked to develop a new non stick, water repelling coating called Notak™. the coating spent all of 2018 in the beta test phase of release while the team explored product applications, tested the limits of the coating and refined the process. We'll be formally releasing the coating in 2019! Interested in testing Notak? Read more about Notak and learn how to test our new coating and sign up for coating updates.
New Building
SilcoTek® spent much of 2018 in the planning and development stages of a major expansion to our building. Thanks to our customers we've been able to expand our process but our building, after just 5 years, has reached the limit of capacity. Late this year we broke ground on a building expansion that will roughly double our capacity. We look forward to completing the building in 2019 and expanding service to our customers!
As for this blog and website, we'll continue to offer great new and interesting content! We're also working on a new look for our website. We'll continue to have the same easy navigation but we'll add a few features to make reading and accessing our site easier and make it easier to select and buy our coatings.
Have a question about our coatings? Drop us a line and we'll be happy to chat! You can also visit us at a trade show event near you!
