New centre opens for coatings training

As the UK's largest independent industrial coatings manufacturer, HMG Paints has always been committed to education and development, the company claims. The new facility is intended to provide customers, distributors and members of staff with the highest possible standard of technical application training. The training centre houses a spray facility designed and installed by PNS Garage Installations based in Manchester. This facility contains a booth large enough for six sprayers, with extraction capabilities and an oven with a bake temperature of up to 70°C. The facility also contains a fully equipped paint kitchen and a dedicated preparation booth, complete with extraction capabilities and sanding equipment for abrading substrates. And thanks to sponsors DeVilbiss and Mirka, the spray booth is fully stocked with industry standard paint application equipment and sundries. Paul Summers, managing director at PNS Garage Installations, was pleased with the results of the uniquely customised spraybooth. He commented: "We are proud to work with such a prestigious company on this innovative booth, completing the project on time and within budget. HMG [has] been trading for over 80 years and [still delivers] quality and service. PNS [is] happy to supply the equipment which enables them to keep delivering such high standards to their customers." The new innovation, development and application training centre represents the third phase of a development project to complete the Riverside Training Facility. This development project originated in November 2011 after HMG Paints was selected to receive a grant from the Government's Regional Growth Fund. Since then, the initial phase of development was completed in December 2012, with the revitalisation of The Riverside Building. The second phase involved the opening of The Newton Centre, a manufacturing facility that specialises in the production of advanced coatings, focusing specifically on new water borne technologies. With all three phases now completed, HMG Paints has the facilities to offer a number of training courses to all customers. These range from an introductory, classroom based session, familiarising participants with the HMG Paints product range, to an advanced application session, focussing on specific products and providing participants with a hands on application lesson, fully utilising the spray facilities.