The Hidden Cost of Skipping Training

Skipping training to "save money" is like buying a boat and refusing to learn how to steer, and then acting surprised when you're upside down in the marina.

In powder coating, people usually don't skip training because they are lazy. They skip it because they think they're being smart:

• "We'll figure it out as we go."

• "Youtube is free."

• "We can't afford training right now."

What they really mean is: "I'm comfortable paying for mistakes, just not for knowledge."

And that is where the math gets ugly.

Skipping training looks cheap on paper. In real life, it shows up as:

• Jobs you have to re-shoot.

• Customers you never see again.

• Equipment you destroy without knowing why.

Employees who get frustrated and quit because nobody ever taught them how to win.

Training feels like a cost. But for a powder coating shop, it's actually an accelerator.

What Skipping Training Really Costs You

Let's unpack the "savings" that actually bleed you dry.

1. Failed jobs and rework

Every time you under-cure a batch, misground a rack, or fight with Faraday cage areas until the part looks like a zebra, you're not "learning."

You're lighting money on fire.

Rework means:

• Double labor on the same part

• Extra powder

• Extra gas/electricity for the oven

• Lost time you could have spent on a new paying job

Do that a few times a week, and you've quietly burned through more than the price of proper training.

2. Lost contracts from poor quality

Customers don't always complain. Sometimes they just disappear.

You:

• Get pinholes, orange peel, or thin film build on edges

• Ship it anyway because the deadline’s brutal

• Hope for the best

The customer:

• Notices

• Smiles politely

• Sends the next RFQ to your competitor

Low quality doesn't always show up as refunds. It shows up as silence, the quote requests that suddenly stop.

3. Unsafe practices that can shut you down

Improper grounding, poor booth ventilation, and sloppy housekeeping around powder can lead to fires, shocks, and angry inspectors.

Training around safety isn't about being "by the book", it’s about making sure:

• Your people go home in one piece

• Your insurance company isn’t calling you

• Your facility doesn’t become a cautionary tale in a Facebook group

One serious incident can cost more than a decade of training.

4. Equipment misuse that kills your ROI

Powder coating equipment is built to be an asset, not a mysterious box that sometimes works.

Without training, operators:

• Crank kV and microamps around randomly

• Misuse flow and atomizing air

• Ignore gun maintenance

• Oven-cure "by vibes" instead of validated metal temperature

Result: clogged guns, inconsistent finishes, premature equipment failure, and a system that never delivers the efficiency you paid for.

What Trained Coaters Bring to the Table

Now the fun part: what happens when people do know what they're doing.

When your team is trained (properly, not "Steve showed them for 10 minutes"), they gain things that directly move the profit needle:

Proper grounding = higher transfer efficiency

Grounding isn't just a safety buzzword. Good grounding means:

• More powder sticks to the part

• Less powder floats around your booth and into your filters

• Fewer passes to achieve target mil thickness

That's straight margin.

Mastery of oven curing = fewer defects

A trained coater understands:

• Cure schedule vs. part metal temperature

• When to use data loggers / temp probes instead of guessing

• How to prevent under-cure (poor adhesion) and over-bake (brittle, discolored finishes)

They stop gambling and start controlling.

Real pricing models that actually make money

Technical training is huge, but business training is the difference between:

• "We're busy all the time... but broke."

• "We're booked out and profitable."

When pricing is built on cycle time, material cost, overhead, and margin instead of "what the other shop charges," you stop giving away work.

Troubleshooting: Faraday cages, back-ionization, powder flow

This is where advanced training shines. A trained operator can:

• Adjust kV and gun distance to get into corners and Faraday areas

• Recognize and fix back-ionization craters instead of just sanding forever

• Dial in flow/atomizing air for consistent powder cloud and film build

That's the difference between "this job took forever" and "this job ran like a production line should."

Joey Golliver and The Powder Coach’s Playbook

Joey Golliver has trained more than 20,000 people in the powder coating industry, from brand-new job shop owners to large production facilities.

As President and CEO of Powder-X, he built The Powder Coach's Playbook as a roadmap for exactly this: turning technical skill plus business knowledge into real revenue.

The Playbook and his live trainings cover:

• System design and setup

• Surface prep and cleanliness standards

• Gun settings, grounding, and transfer efficiency

• Oven profiling and cure validation

• Quoting, pricing, and shop workflow

• Scaling from side hustle to full-blown six- and seven-figure operations

Those 20,000+ people aren't just "trained." Many of them built very real businesses out of what they learned.

Bottom Line: Steering the Boat

Skipping training to "save money" feels smart until you add up:

• Rework and scrap

• Lost contracts

• Safety risks

• Equipment abuse

• Employee turnover

Versus what trained coaters deliver:

• Higher transfer efficiency

• Correct curing

• Confident troubleshooting

• Profitable pricing

• Better retention

You can pay for knowledge once, or keep paying for the same problems forever.

For a powder coating shop, that's not just a philosophical choice, it's the difference between owning a job... and owning a business.