USG Interiors Paint Note: It's All in the Hue

For Bill Fichtel of USG Interiors, the world's largest manufacturer of ceiling suspension grid, having paint colors not match is like having the "roof cave in". That is why Fichtel, production supervisor/paint department, relies heavily on spectrophotometer technology and computer software to ensure quality control over the department's paints. Fichtel works out of USG Interiors' Westlake, OH, facility, one of three U.S. ceiling suspension grid plants for the manufacturer. Fichtel estimates his department conducts up to 100 color tests a day, all with a CM-2002 portable spectrophotometer and SpectraMatch software from the Instrument Div. of Minolta (Ramsey, NJ). "We formulate most of our colors in-house. As the need to make numerous matches grew, we needed a system that could give us the numbers of the standard and the match we were making to help us choose from various tints we now carry," explains Fichtel. Color evaluating under different lighing conditions is important to Fichtel. Many of the ceiling grids are painted with custom colors and are installed in rooms with many different light sources.