For Northstar Aerospace, Painters USA Tackles Coating Work Swiftly, Safely
GLENDALE HEIGHTS, Ill., May 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Painters USA Inc. has completed the latest in a series of seven painting and safety projects for aerospace components maker Northstar Aerospace® to help the company's suburban Chicago facility protect its workers, improve the workspace and boost morale.
"We're a world leader in supplying aerospace gears, and we have a passion for what we do," said Bruno Kolb, manager of Maintenance & Facilities for Northstar Aerospace in Bedford Park, Illinois. "That attitude is something we want carrying over into the industrial environment we work in, too. We've undertaken a series of painting and flooring projects to ensure our facility functions as well and looks every bit as good as the products we make."
Bruno says Northstar Aerospace typically operates six to seven days per week, throughout the year. The Chicago facility includes approximately 200,000 square feet of manufacturing and 10,000 square feet of office space. Bruno coordinated Painters USA's work to coincide with two, one-week scheduled shutdowns to coat floors, paint equipment and walls throughout the production facility, and carry out safety line striping for areas including loading docks.
"Painters USA coordinated with our schedule and was careful not to inconvenience our team; they quickly brought in scaffolding, articulating arms for cleaning and painting, but also just as quickly disassembled things for us to resume production," added Bruno. "Their work required moving in and around our overhead cranes with electrical rails, ducting, and they painted all of this safely around our locked-out equipment."
According to Bruno, Painters USA's crews showed the same passion for safety that Northstar Aerospace has. The components maker empowers its employees, regardless of job function, to call out any safety issue, and this is enough to pause work. Bruno says he saw the same commitment to that practice with Painters USA's crews.
A young supervisor running our job raised a safety concern, and the project manager took that feedback and the next day brought in Painters USA's national safety rep to go over the areas of concern," recalled Bruno. "I was involved in that; and as a customer, it gives you confidence that you're working with someone who shares your values and desire to do things safely and well."
