The pursuit of perfection drives excellence in any trade. This was the force behind the inspiration for serial entrepreneur, Joseph Tate, Jr., a former chemical engineer at Cadillac Plastics and the founder of the legacy that is Sun Coating Company. During his tenure at Cadillac Plastics, Joseph observed that there were no consistent Teflon applicators to facilitate the coatings that were being applied on tooling. A true self-starter, Joe rolled up his sleeves, began his research on the technology, and got involved in the coating industry. Thus, Sun Coating was born in 1962 and continues to thrive under the leadership of second generation owner, Mark Tate.

Started as a very small operation, Sun Coating performed custom jobs, and as the company evolved, it became more involved in the automotive industry. Today, the company offers many solutions ranging from applications in the automotive, food-processing, packaging, welding, molding, and military sectors to name a few. These are Sun’s biggest target areas, but the buck doesn’t stop there. Production Manager, Andrew Tate, states, “Each customer presents a unique opportunity and challenge, and here at Sun Coating, we like to pride ourselves on being diversified, to be very effective in all those markets.”

Sun Coating was the first fluoropolymer coating company in North America to be ISO 9000 and ISO/TS certified, and, as of May 2018, Sun Coating will attain the new ISO/ TS 16949 2016 certification. As far as quality standards to the automotive structure go, their solutions lead the market in the industry. Internally, Sun Coating invests 15 percent of its annual revenue back into the company to expand its capabilities through both research and development, and state-of-the-art technology, such as an automated 8-axis production spray robot.

A key focus for Sun Coating is honing its competitive edge and staying ahead of the curve with newer types of processing methods available. The team at Sun has made it a top priority to respond to customer needs while producing effective solutions.

Each customer presents a unique opportunity and challenge, and here at Sun Coating, we like to pride ourselves at being diversified, to be very effective in all those markets

Sun Coating has excellent relationships with its material suppliers Whitford, DOW, and Chemours (Intech Services), working closely with them to determine the ideal material and processing method to satisfy customers’ specific needs.

As a diversified company, Sun Coating handles a broad variety of market sectors, one of which is food processing. Until recently, the company had no prior background in the cheese-processing industry. Despite this, Sun Coating developed three different coatings to meet various requirements in the cheese manufacturing industry, more specifically, the slicing of cheese. Characteristics like the type of cheese, and the moisture content within the cheese determine which of the three coatings is applied to each specific “slicer blade.”

The company’s methodology starts with gaining a better understanding of client needs, followed by offering different solutions to meet their unique requirement. Sun Coating’s staff listens, offers samples, evaluates, and then tests samples to have clients come back and give them their feedback to further refine the solution. Sun Coating is always on the lookout for what tomorrow will bring, staying on the trail for the next great product, new application, or technology to satisfy all current and future customer demands.