THE PAINT MAKERS: NEW TECHNOLOGY REMOLDS AN OLD INDUSTRY

Abstract

For the paint industry, 1964 was one of the best years on recent record. Sparked by the nation's general economic well-being, sales of paint, varnish, and lacquer products rose between 5 and 6% to the neighborhood of $2 billion. And most producers of paint tallied solid gains in earnings. Finishes for industrial products deserve much of the credit for last year's sparkling performance. Factory shipments of industrial coatings topped $800 million, up 7 to 8% from the year before. About 40% of the paint industry's total sales come from industrial coatings. Since demand for these products tends to parallel over-all activity in the volatile durable goods industries, output has fluctuated more widely than that of trade sales products, the industry's other broad product area. On the whole, however, sales of both trade products and industrial finishes have increased at about the same rate during the past decade. Now, though, many ...