Building a solid MRO program

By Anna Lockhart.  

Tune in as the coatings experts share their tips to providing commercial customers with the best MRO programs and initiatives.  

In the latest CoatingsTalk webinar, “Maintenance, Restoration and Operations Excellence,” host Heidi J. Ellsworth sat down with Dylan Wheeler of SOPREMA to discuss the best methods to maintaining and restoring commercial roofs for building and facility owners. Making sure customers are getting the most out of their investments is a top priority for many contractors, and this conversation covered the various steps roofers can take to ensure that they’re providing the best possible care for their customers.  

Dylan and Heidi opened their conversation with the question of what is MRO and why is it important? Defining the words, maintenance is the preservation of something through responsible care and restoration means returning something back to its original state or purpose. “From our side, in the SOPREMA world and in the MRO world, we define it by products. So, there are certain products that do exactly what I just defined, they maintain, they restore and then operations is something that works on a day-to-day basis,” Dylan explained. When it comes to making sure customers are getting the most out of their investments, determining the most fitting and high-performing product is key.  

Dylan shared, “All building owners are looking for longevity, durability and sustainability right now and a return on investment. Most importantly, they want to feel comfortable about their investment.” Building owners want assurance that the coating systems they are investing in will last for as long as possible, and with the maintenance programs offered by coatings manufacturers, like SOPREMA, contractors can provide customers with the reassurance that their investment is protected.  

As technology advances and new breakthroughs happen in the creation of durable materials, customers with a desire to prioritize sustainability can find a product that will be easy to maintain and will last for many years before needing to be re-roofed, limiting the waste placed in landfills. Dylan shared, “We even have products now that are NSF P151 approved, which is for rainwater catchments. We're just making sure that we limit our carbon footprint for the generations to come behind us, and most importantly, that there are return on investments. If you go with a maintenance program and you take care of your roofs, on a coating system you're looking at 50% less than a re-roof.” 

Staying on top of a building's roof maintenance is incredibly important to satisfying a customer’s desire to see a return on their investment, as well as minimizing the need for repairs in the long run. Dylan explained, “If you have an existing roof system that's working, we repair that system if need be and then we put that roof system to sleep almost. So, you think about the coating system that we're putting over the top of it as a blanket and then that roof can finally rest, and the coating does the work for it.” 

Read the transcript, Listen to the conversation or Watch the webinar to learn more about SOPREMA and MRO!