Slippery When In Hudson | Boyd Coatings covers the world in Teflon
Teflon, as you may know, is a trade name for one of many polymers designed to lubricate stuff without the use of oil or other lubricants.
I suppose I knew that before I visited Boyd Coatings Research Co. in Hudson, the largest, licensed, independent applicator of Teflon in the United States. But it took the company’s owner, Don Garcia, to tell me just how many applications such coatings have.
You’ve probably heard the term “performance coating.” That’s what Teflon and other fluoropolymer coatings are. Teflon is simply the most recognized name. Most of the others get by on their technical or chemical names.
And Boyd doesn’t just coat pans, medical devices and satellite parts with the stuff, it manufactures fluoropolymers, as well.
Fluoropolymers are essentially plastics, Garcia explained, and they can be applied in either liquid or powder form and baked or sintered onto the surface of almost anything. So your fish doesn’t stick to the pan.
Space Race
That’s a simple application. But in space, moving parts can’t be lubricated with oil, so fluoropolymers coat parts that move against one another.
In medical devices, parts are made slippery with these materials so they move freely through veins or arteries without introducing anything into the bloodstream that can cause clots. These materials are also inert and non-toxic, Garcia explained, and the coating won’t come loose from the device.
Boyd’s materials are also used in semiconductors, electronics and applications that require resistance to high temperatures and the pressures of the ocean’s depths.
“They’re in every industry you can think of. I like to say our work is at the bottom of the ocean, the furthest reaches of space and everything in between,” Garcia said.
Boyd got its start the way many Central Massachusetts manufacturers get their start: In somebody’s home. In this case it was Edward Boyd, who with Pedro Diaz, started the company in 1965.
Both men worked at a Teflon coating facility when they decided to go into business for themselves.
“They were working on the floor and they decided they could do the work that was being done as well or better than it was being done,” Garcia explained.
The company grew into then outgrew mill space, and in 1978 moved into 10,000 square feet at its current location.
That facility is now 51,000 square feet and employs about 100 people.
As it’s grown, the company has also evolved, Garcia said.
“It’s been an evolution based on the needs of our clients,” he said. “As technology advances, these coatings advance. How you can employ them has changed. How we manage and run our business has changed.”
Over the years, the company has adopted lean manufacturing and continuous improvement, not because Garcia likes the way the certificates look on the wall, but because those practices and methods make the company more efficient and better able to serve some very demanding customers.
And Garcia ought to know about evolution. He started with the company like its founders did. Almost 30 years ago, Garcia was working on the factory floor at Boyd. As the years went on, he worked his way through the ranks to become Boyd’s president, CEO and owner.
Got news for our Industrial Strength? E-mail WBJ Managing Editor Matthew L. Brown at mbrown@wbjournal.com
Watch as Don Garcia, owner of Boyd Coatings Research Co., explains what his company does:
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