D Sullivan Moore is a retired chemical engineer who spent 33 years in the paint industry. He writes of his many experiences
in the coatings industry in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
Now there was the case of Willie the fire engine. It should have been Dennis the fire engine but we in Port Elizabeth always get things wrong. The whole disaster started when the Port Elizabeth Council decided to buy a new fire engine. Well it was not exactly a new fire engine, it was quite an old fire engine. It had been used by a farmer in the Grahamstown area to water his pineapple crop. He would fill the thousand gallon water tank and then drive through the pineapple crop with the big pumping diesel roaring at top rpm and the water cannon spraying water out for hundreds of yards in all directions. When he died the council purchased the fire engine from his estate and appointed half a dozen mechanics to totally rebuild it.
Since the farmer was dead he could not enter into a legal
contract to sell the fire engine. There is something in the South African law that forbids a dead
person from entering into a contract with a living person. I don’t know if the law permits a dead person from entering into a contract with another dead person. Anyhow enough about legal contracts, just make sure that when you enter into a contract that the person with whom you are contracting is either dead or alive, depending upon the applicable law.
Come to think of it, our problem in South Africa is that we often don’t know if someone is dead or alive. You just need to talk to a politician to realize that fact.
We won’t worry about the rebuilding of the monster but will talk briefly about the painting of the fire engine which was the catalyst for the disaster that was to follow. Now it was decided that the fire engine, now universally know as Willie, was to be painted in Day-Glo orange. This fluorescent orange is so bright that on a sunny day the reflection blinds you. It was given up to us to design the coating system for Willie. I spec’ed a marvelous coating system, at least ten coats of paint to cover Willie. This coating had flexibility, it had rigidity, it resisted salt spray and humidity, it resisted chipping, and stone chip, and mandrel bending, and cross hatch adhesion, there was simply nothing that it could not protect Willie from - or was there ?.
Once the coatings were finalized the paint plant produced the batches as required and the painting of Willie began. Finally the great day arrived and the unveiling of Willie was to hand. The dignitaries crowded into the fire station for speeches and lunch. Willie had been polished until he looked like a new pin.
The sun baked down on the fire engine, half of the vehicle was exposed to the burning midday sun while the other half was protected by the wall of the fire station. The minutes passed and suddenly the off duty fireman called the attention of his colleagues to Willie. The area exposed to the sun had turned a deep rich nappy brown. The section protected from the sun had retained the Day-Glo orange. The effect upon all who attended the unveiling was mind blowing. Something had gone wrong. The magnificent fire engine was now a two toned work of art, but it was not supposed to be a two tone, it should have been a beautiful single colour - but it wasn’t. To say that the council dignitaries were dumfounded was an understatement. To say that the panel beaters who had sprayed the vehicle were deeply troubled was an equally understated statement. And the paint company personnel - they vacillated between wrath and tears. Only one person knew the whole sad truth. I had read about the degrading of these Day-Glo pigments in sunlight. I had read about the need for high levels of UV absorber. In accordance with therecommendation I added the required quantity to the formula . When I checked the stock I discovered that I would use everything that we had in stock, that it would be 14 weeks before we could receive replacement stock at a cost of R500.00 per kilogram. In those days R500.00 was an expensive material.
Now I was not aware that having issued the formula to production that the logistics manager would decide that we could not use the UV absorber because it had been allocated to another product. He simply went ahead and reallocated it. That was well within his authority but he had completely circumvented the way things were done. In a very typical sequence of events the operator ticked the batchcard indicating that he had personally checked both the code and the mass of the UV absorber. It indicated that he had added the chemical which he had not actually done. He then went off to tea leaving the batchcard at the batch of paint. The second operator, seeing the material ticked off indicating that the material had been added sent the card to the lab for testing. I got back from a trip to Johannesburg to find the clearcoat had been tested and passed. We were all ready for Willie. The rest is history.