Students in the Surface Finishing Industry, a bright future awaits you
The CCAI Capítulo en Español considers it essential to encourage young talents to become the surface finishing specialists of the future.
The Capítulo en Español of the renowned Chemical Coaters Association International (CCAI) announced a series of conferences in Spanish designed to bring university students closer to the finishing industry, with a focus primarily on engineering related to coating processes, and subsequently covering other topics that have an indirect impact.
To learn more about this initiative, we interviewed Konrad Mierendorff, member of the board of directors of the Capítulo en Español, and managing director of the company IFS Coatings Internacional, who expressed his excitement about this effort to connect with engineering students and the future benefits that this will bring to the finishing industry in the country.
“Student development is an initiative that brings infinite value to the future of students seeking to specialize in the surface finishing industry. Learning the basic principles and the vast number of options that the industry offers at an early age allows students to build their foundations and apply for jobs with a competitive advantage over other applicants,” Mierendorff said.
In the conversation that took place over the phone, Konrad expressed his pleasure at being able to collaborate in bringing the industry closer to students and at the same time contribute to promoting the development of new talents for the coatings sector. He stressed that the message is better transmitted and received when students hear about the experiences of other students who are already on the path to specialization in the surface finishing industry.
The first conference will be held at the Chemical Sciences Faculty of the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (UANL), and will be presented by Montserrat Flores, a current student of Chemical Engineering at such university and an active member of the CCAI Capítulo en Español.
Montserrat told us about her experience and how she developed her interest in the surface finishing industry.
“In the university’s study program, we are required to do internships throughout our senior year. I applied to the faculty’s job allocation program and found an opportunity as an intern at MTX Servicios, a company that performs industrial maintenance and installation of surface finishing systems,” Flores said.
Regarding her experience in the workplace, the student shares that it was very useful that the company shared CCAI manuals in Spanish with her on the operation of surface finishing processes and systems, and in this way, she found answers and fell in love with the industry, from which arose the motivation to become a member of the CCAI Capítulo en Español.
“In the activities in which I work there is a mix of office activities and others in the production plant, being in the latter where I have interacted with E-Coat painting systems, powder painting and water and wastewater treatment systems. I have been learning and understanding that these are very deep specialties and that each require preparation and academic technical knowledge, but especially developing field experience to master them, and I discovered that in the faculty there is very little talk about these areas of industrial application,” commented the future chemical engineer who finally added: “Faced with my problem of finding an academic reference, the company made available to me the CCAI training manuals where I found many answers, and I was able to study in advance many concepts that later made sense to me in the production plant. That was where I fell in love with the industry and decided to invest in becoming a student member of the Capítulo en Español.”
Regarding the scope of this student engagement initiative, Konrad Mierendorff said the following: “The initiatives of the CCAI Capítulo en Español are ambitious and are in high demand in the Hispanic industrial community. We are not just talking about Mexico but about all countries where there is a Spanish-speaking person working in the surface finishing industry. Although this is an industry that can be learned academically, consolidation comes when anyone experiences the industrial finishing processes.”
To find out how women’s participation in the industry is increasing, we spoke with Mónica Romero, a member of the communications committee and the board of directors of the Capítulo en Español, as well as a Marketing specialist at Helmut Fischer Mexico, who told us the following: “It’s inspiring to see young women like Montse discover their passion for the industry and that motivates us at the Board to facilitate the drive for young people to develop their own future, but especially to materialize a benefit for young women seeking a career in industrial fields, finding the surface finishing industry as an excellent option.”
The date of the first conference event collaborating with higher education institutions will be next Friday, October 11 at 2:00 p.m. in the auditorium at the Chemical Sciences Faculty of the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, where the conference “Students in the Surface Finishing Industry, a bright future awaits us” (“Estudiantes en la Industria de Acabados Superficiales, un future brillante nos espera”)will be held, being Montserrat Flores its main speaker and will be assisted by Konrad Mierendorff. Access to the conference is free for students of that institution.
The same conference is planned to be held in webinar format, so that it can reach students from other latitudes who are looking to learn more about the fascinating surface finishing industry. Dates and times will be shared later.
Finally, we spoke on the phone with Pedro Castillo, President of the CCAI Capítulo en Español, and Managing Director of TTX Mexico and subsidiaries, who shared a message for those students who wish to advance towards a promising profession:
“To reach the future, you must take the first step towards it and not wait for the future to come to you. You must have the disposition and desire to maintain a constant learning attitude throughout the journey. The experience you gain is what makes the difference. All the topics you see in textbooks have applications, but you must go out and find them to apply them, and not wait for them to come by chance. This is the difference between those who grow professionally and manage to propose and design solutions versus those who limit themselves to participating in operating solutions.”
He stressed that the upcoming conferences and lectures will be given by students who are currently active members of CCAI to students from various universities throughout Latin America and the United States.
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