New finishing technology leads to more opportunity.

A huge upside to editing this magazine is that I can read firsthand about the new and exciting technological advances in the area of wood finishing. I also see it up close and personal when I visit a manufacturing facility with a leading-edge wood coating department.

With every issue of Finishing, I discover just how broad and deep the wood finishing sector is. In this issue contributing editor Phil Stevenson provides a historical perspective on just how far wood finishing has come over the past few decades.

"Looking back on the coating technology available 35 years ago, I now realize the chemistry was very basic and elementary," Phil says in his article beginning on page 10. He adds that environmental pressure had a lot to do with prompting these advances.

As the editor for more than 20 years, I see a parallel trend in the area of wood processing. Twenty years ago CNC machining technology was still new to secondary wood processing. Back then, a commonly held overview said the wood industry was years behind the metalworking side of the manufacturing world.

That's no longer the case. In some instances, I can safely say woodworking has surpassed metalworking, particularly in the area of CNC processing in a mass customization environment.

A similar comparison could be made with metal finishing -- particularly in the automotive industry -- and wood finishing. Robotic coating technology has been a standard on the automotive side for years. Common use of robots in wood finishing is a long way off; however, a strong case can be made that high production finishing operations in this country are incorporating robotic technology at an ever-quickening pace.

There's so much more to be learned with coating advances happening all the time. But despite these technological gains over the years, there's still a lot of room for craftsmanship and artistic flair in wood finishing. There are so many options available.

I doubt we'll see the day when "distressing" of metal components on new automobiles will be much of a trend. But you never know.