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Two scenarios help illustrate Alliance Color Supply’s business model and the importance of the paint industry segment known as durable coatings.

The first? A sleek corporate jet skims across the sky, its skin reflecting sunlight in just the right way to catch your eye. If that happens, then the aviation paint sprayed on that Gulfstream or Learjet at a factory has only done half its job. The other half involves protecting that plane’s finish from the stresses of high-speed travel at 35,000 feet.

The other scenario: fleets of freight trucks zooming down America’s highways through all kinds of weather while dodging bugs, gravel and other debris from the open road. The paint that’s used on those trucks has to withstand those forces while also meeting the specifications of the original equipment manufacturers (OEM’s) that built those vehicles.

DuPont Performance Coatings fills all of those needs, and also gives Alliance an extra dab of color on its own business strategy palette. DuPont Performance Coatings offer up special durability and corrosion protection – so much so that only a few dealers are authorized to sell the paint in the United States. Alliance Color Supply has been an exclusive DuPont distributor since 2004,  but company owner/president Mike Pfarrer says that’s only a part of what gives Alliance an edge over the competition.

“It’s all about the service and the technicians available on call 24 hours a day,” Pfarrer said. “We’re always there if there’s a problem. We’re there to fix it. We’re looking for long-term relationships, even among the key employees I have. Every one of them has pretty much grown up in body shops or truck shops or aviation shops. So I have guys in the automotive sector, then I got them in the aviation sector and the truck sector.”

The difference that experienced employees bring to the durable paint mix can mean tens of thousands of dollars when refinishing and insurance considerations are taken into account. “You’re talking insurance companies, people who are paying $100,000 for paint jobs. If they go wrong, you’re responsible.”

The stakes involved in getting the paint job right the first time are echoed by Chris Nath, Paint Shop Manager for Jet Works, a corporate jet paint jobber that uses Alliance as a supplier for performance coatings. “When you’re spending $15-20,000 on one paint job, there is very little margin for error,” Nath said. “Alliance Color is a one-stop shop with great pricing. Mike will bring us stuff days, nights, weekends and usually everything I order is in stock. All the paints we’ve had mixed with the primers; we haven’t had any problems.”

Added George Horner, Owner of Wing Tech: “When I had issues with another supplier, Mike was calling on me not only to solicit business, but he was helping and I wasn’t even buying from him at the time. My current supplier was little to no help, whereas he came in and solved my problem and saved me a lot of money. I mean, you can’t ask for anything more.”

Educating customers and helping them maintain the performance coatings on their jets, trucks and boats is another part of the Alliance business picture.  “We don’t want customers who are strictly for the money,” Pfarrer said. “Anybody can deliver the paint – it’s everything else that goes with it. You’ve got to have value, you’ve got to have technicians, training – if you’re switching somebody from a competitive product, you want to make sure all the painters are trained before you leave that shop.”

For more information, go to http://alliancecolorsupply.com/index.php