Second part on an analysis of the world of paints and coatings based on the famous universal concept of Edward A. Murphy Jr.
by Julián Restrepo*
In the first part of this article, the meaning of "Murphy's Law" was generally deepened, contextualizing it with our specialized sector. Now we will talk about how does "Murphy's Law" relate to the world of coatings? In this sense we will analyze several examples that are presented in this sector [4]:
On some occasions some readers have asked me the following question: "Why if the formulation has not been changed and we have manufactured it in the same way for several years now, now it has shortcomings?"Here it is very important to keep in mind all the dynamics of the sector, and really, to affirm that you can have a formulation of a product for several years without modifications is a bit difficult, but impossible, considering the current development of materials and variation of costs that they present.
In addition, this is also due to the presence in the market of some products that, at lower prices, offer similar performance to competing products at a higher cost.
To understand it better, if we assume that the equipment, processes, protocols and procedures associated with the manufacture of a product have not changed, it only remains to pay attention to the materials and raw materials used: Can we really expect them to remain immovable over time? From my point of view no, since each manufacturer of raw materials seeks to improve the quality of these, make their processes more efficient, less polluting, improve their cost / benefit ratio, which ultimately makes these raw materials if they present a variation in their characteristics and therefore in their final performance, perhaps in many cases subtle, but considering the number of materials used in a formulation, these can become appreciable.
We must consider that the world of coatings changes so fast, or better, those materials that we use as raw materials in formulations do so fast that, if before it was considered a reasonable optimization time for a certain formulation about two years (in reality Murphy states: "everything takes longer than you think"), currently trying to have "optimized formulations" is practically impossible.
This is basically due to the fact that materials, production processes, sources and techniques of extraction and profit, marketing trends, regulations and technical and environmental limitations, make the quality associated with the materials used so dynamic that, we can not take a certain time to optimize a formulation, and in the end, when we are writing our final report, we will simply realize that many of these materials have changed their specifications, their cost has risen, their use becomes less attractive or the company has been bought by a larger one, etc., etc. What from the Murphian point of view: "If you understand it, it is already obsolete" (Bit's law), or "the error in the premise will appear in the conclusion" (Baxter's law).
We must bear in mind that globalization is a reality, and that really, the "enemy" is not only possibly the manufacturers that come from outside, since according to the "Murphy's Law": "Every knife challenged, will have enough edge to cut off a finger" (Fausner's first domestic rule), this if we consider the fact that many large companies have underestimated many small companies that little by little have been gaining a significant share of their local market.
This can be reinterpreted in some way with the fact that every time, in a Globalized environment, the various manufacturers, large or small, are increasingly having access to the same materials, equipment and processes, perhaps not at the same prices, but considering that several small companies do not have complex R&D equipment inside, this allows them to offset the costs and can offer a final product with features with an excellent cost/benefit ratio for a certain portion of a customer market that is increasingly difficult to impact, perhaps with misleading advertising.
In some companies, the right weight is not given to having experienced teams, professionals and perhaps, veterans, since they consider, as Murphy does, that "an expert is anyone who comes from outside", with which they show a complete distrust in the capacity of their research teams.
On the other hand, another situation can be raised in which, more than in age, and although many times both concepts go hand in hand, there is talk of the fact that there are teams with a wide technical career in the company: when a company usually renews, for example, its research equipment, although it ends up injecting a dose of new energy, paradoxically, this energy can end up being spent on "inventing the bicycle again and again" (perhaps depending on the idea of eternal return), which could have been avoided if the team had a leader who has a clear head to define the proper course of a set goal and it had not been fired ... which in Murphy's terms is: "In any organization there is always a person who knows what the thing is about and that person must be fired" (Conway's Law).
It may be useful to mention that ancient cultures considered the elderly a valuable reference of knowledge, since through their vision of the world and better, their experience, they allowed to maximize the probability of success.
Currently the technicians of various companies are so loaded with work that, in many cases, they do not have enough time for the evaluation and analysis of new raw materials, new alternatives, new developments, new approaches, etc., since they are engaged in the resolution of some production or formulation problem, which, paradoxically, cannot be solved by the lack of evaluation of any of these new concepts that they have not been able to analyze. Here we must appeal to Mafalda's wisdom: "As always: the urgent leaves no time for the important."
Final comment
When we do not find an apparent explanation in the face of daily adversities, there will be the "Murphy's Law" to clarify that, although we believe that the world conspires against us, everything has a logical and scientific explanation, and that in many cases the problem lies in the perception of the world that our senses provide us [2].
References
[2] (a) http://www.calidoscopio.com/calidoscopio/principal36.htm; (b) http://www.frasesgraciosas.es/frases/ley-de-murphy/page/2;
[4] a) Restrepo J.A., "The Nash Equilibrium, Part I". Inpralatina, Vol. 17, No. 5, Sept/Oct 2012, pp. 23-25; b) Restrepo, J.A., "The Nash Equilibrium, Part II". Inpralatina, Vol. 17, No. 6, Nov/Dec 2012, pp. 20-23.
* M.Sc. Ph.D. Julián A. Restrepo R. Factory Service of PPG Industries Colombia, juliá[email protected]
