CHARLES HEGEDUS
Industry Consultant
Could you please share your current role, what it entails, and what excites you most about it? Currently, I work as a coatings industry consultant, following 43 years working as a coatings scientist for an end user and then a raw materials supplier. I mainly work with coating manufacturers to solve formulation problems and coating failures. I’m excited to use my career experiences to solve a wide range of problems and to help others in the coatings industry.
What brought you to the coatings industry? Was it part of the plan, or did you discover coatings along the way? Working in the coatings industry was not part of the plan when I majored in Chemical Engineering in college. In my second year of college, I obtained a co-op position in the coatings laboratory of a Materials Division at a U.S. Naval R&D facility. I helped develop new coatings and corrosion preventive materials for aircraft and other equipment. I loved the work and they offered me a scholarship and a full-time position when I graduated.
How important has mentorship or a piece of advice from someone been in your career—and have you had the chance to mentor others in return? Mentorship played a critical role in my professional development and throughout my career. I worked with tremendously talented, experienced people who taught me a lot about chemistry, materials, working in a lab, and working in a team. In addition, I was fortunate enough to join and participate in coatings societies and interacted with many of the historic technical icons in the coatings industry—many of whom I built career-long relationships that continue to this day. They taught me a tremendous amount. If I didn’t know the answer to something, I knew experts who would give me the answer or direct me to it. This served me well over my entire career. I have paid this forward by mentoring many that I’ve worked with, from I also have learned. These relationships have provided me a very fortunate and rewarding career.
How, if at all, did your educational background shape your path into coatings? When I started my co-op position with the Navy, I was majoring in Chemical Engineering, which gave me a great technical foundation in many areas, especially technical problem solving. I realized I needed to learn more about materials, so I extended my formal education to earn M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Materials Science. This combination of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science formal training fit perfectly with my career progression.
What’s one project or innovation you’ve worked on that you’re especially proud of? In the past, typical aircraft coatings and many industrial coatings systems consisted of an epoxy primer and a polyurethane topcoat, each providing specific essential functions. By inspecting aircraft and having discussions with hands-on maintenance crews, I realized a lot of time, money, materials, and hazardous waste could be saved by developing one coating to do the functions of two—a self-priming topcoat. Our team developed such a coating. In fact, we developed an entire family of coatings from many polymer systems. I believe we have 15-20 patents on this technology, which is used in some applications today.
Also, many years later, when consulting, I was tasked with developing a resin/composite system to be used in repairing bone fractures in place of traditional metal rods, which seemed drastically different than coatings technology. Initially, I had no idea how to do this; but my materials and coatings technology experiences led me to develop a biodegradable polyurethane/glass fiber composite that could be used for bone repair reinforcement and then would biodegrade in the body once it was no longer needed, thus avoiding a second surgery. This technology also has been awarded several patents. This development clearly illustrates the wide scope of coatings technology and how it can be utilized in other scientific areas.
How do you stay current with advancements in coatings technology? Reading as much literature as I can, listening to lectures, and talking with my industry peers.
Are there any misconceptions about your role or industry that you’d like to correct? Once I was labeled as “just a paint guy.” I think I’ve demonstrated that coatings technology—and my knowledge and experience—spans well beyond coatings technology, which is itself extremely complicated. Consider this… almost everything we see is painted in some fashion—vehicles, airplanes, road markings, clothing fibers, even playing cards—and all these coatings serve a critical function that supports the success of the end product. The coatings industry is large, it’s important, and it’s scientifically complicated.
Have you faced any significant professional challenges, and if so, how did you overcome them? The major professional challenge I’ve faced, other than solving difficult technical problems, has been simply growing my knowledge and experience to enable me to solve more problems.
What trends or developments do you think are shaping the future of coatings? Definitely environmental concerns. Many of these concerns are driven by regulations, which are forcing advanced technical developments to minimize environmental and health issues, while maintaining performance. This is a very difficult challenge.
Are there particular industry innovations or shifts you’re excited about? All of them!
What skills or traits do you think are essential for success in this industry? A desire to learn and grow from many sources. The ability to address complex issues. Think about it… many coating formulations contain 15-20 ingredients. From a thermodynamic perspective, how likely is it to have that many ingredients be compatible and stable? This is only a part of the complexity of coating formulation, manufacturing, application, and in-service performance. Successful coatings technologists need to be prepared to learn and then apply this knowledge to the complicated issues within coatings technology.
What advice would you give someone just starting out in the industry or considering a career in coatings? Learn, read, interact, do. From my experience, the more you learn, the more you can do. And the more you do, the more you learn. It’s a very real, self-fulfilling progression that leads to success.
What’s something people outside the industry might not understand or be surprised to learn about working in coatings? It’s very complicated and also very important to society.
Do you have any professional goals that you’re still eager to accomplish? Continue to contribute to the growth and success of coatings technology and the coatings community.
How does company culture impact your work and ability to perform successfully? A strong team culture and performance, even with a collection of mediocre team members, is much more productive and successful than a dysfunctional group of highly intelligent individuals. The collective intelligence of a strong interacting group is always smarter and more successful than a single brilliant individual. And an important contributing factor is diversity of knowledge and experience. The technician applying the paint makes just as much of a contribution to the paint’s success as the chemist who synthesized the ingredients and the formulator who developed the paint.
What keeps you motivated and eager to come to work each day? All of the above.
Charles Hegedus, Ph.D., is a coatings industry consultant and serves as technical editor for both CoatingsTech and the Journal of Coatings Technology and Research.