Longtime roofers understand product quality is critical to any successful coating job. At Progressive Materials, we strive to be the most trusted team in the coatings industry … and a major part of earning that trust revolves around product quality. With that in mind, this blog explores our quality control processes and how PM constantly strives for perfection.
Teamwork
Product quality starts with each employee at PM. “Every employee here has their own quality control checks,” PM Quality Manager Dylan Lipps said. In the early stages of production, checking labels on materials and making sure the right number of materials are added to each batch get the process off to a great start.
But PM goes much further than that, with a full quality control team dedicated to checking every step in the production process.
In-Depth Production Testing
PM strives for batch-to-batch consistency and puts many checks in place to ensure that high standard is met. A few of those many product quality checks include:
- Color checks: Customers can use different batches on the same roof project. These checks ensure, for example, that one batch of light gray and the next batch of light gray have the identical color.
- Checking sag: Testing determines at what milage our coating will start to run on a vertical surface. Our coating must meet rigid specifications before it is approved for customers.
- Viscosity rating: Checks are in place to ensure our coating will flow and level properly on a roof.
- Hardness: Lipps and his team use a durometer to check coatings’ hardness levels. If the coating is too hard, the elongation won’t be correct. If it’s too soft, our coating will be too stretchy.
- Solids testing: PM’s High Solids Silicone Roof Coating has 92% solids (plus or minus 1% or 2%). Silicone with lower solids content will have more of the material “flash off” in the curing process. This will leave less product on the roof. Our solids testing ensures that we meet that high standard.
Aging Checks
PM Director of Research & Quality TJ Flick notes that our silicone sometimes sits in customers’ warehouses for weeks. Our aging checks proves customers can count on the same great quality if the product is used before its expiration date.
PM does these aging tests on a month-to-month basis, ensuring our silicone retains its high quality even after months in storage.
Recordkeeping
PM retains its quality control sheets in perpetuity and holds on to quality control samples for 2 years after date of manufacture. If a customer has any issue with a product or its shelf life, PM can go back and check these records to find out if a problem occurred.
Conclusion
Product quality is critical, and this blog shows PM takes extra steps to manufacture the best silicone on the market. From the first step of production until it goes on the roof, each PM team member understands quality control and how each employee has a role to play.
“Every employee here essentially has their signature on the buckets when they leave the plant,” TJ said.
For more information on this process or anything PM-related, reach out to your local Regional Manager here.
Thanks for reading.
