Our Business Development Executive in Western Australia, Michael Filmer takes the lead on coatings solutions for large infrastructure and commercial projects including hospitals, government housing developments, hotels and schools. His entire career has been dedicated to the coatings and paint industry.
Michael is a NACE 2 certified coatings inspector.
What makes Dulux Protective Coatings stand out in the coatings industry?
Collaboration with other DuluxGroup businesses helps us get the best result for our customers. The Protective Coatings team often work with Fosroc and the Dulux Construction Solutions team to deliver a whole project solution. Together, we can answer a lot of questions and save architects and design engineers a lot of legwork.
What do you love about your job?
The diversity is great. Every day looks different because my role leans into communication with architects, consultants, applicators, fabricators, and engineers.
I am always learning, and I enjoy sharing knowledge with our customers in presentations and meetings. Customers bring us some very specific challenges so we're often learning from each other as we work out how to solve them.
Tell us about the WA team.
The WA team play to our strengths and lean on each other well. Having Joel Bock as State Sales Manager has really invigorated the team. Nathan Hines is our mining and heavy industry specialist while Kyle Nesbitt provides technical service to our industrial accounts and flooring projects. Based in Port Hedland, Kevin Johnston looks after our customers in the Pilbara. All our team members have excellent knowledge and make a great contribution to customer projects.
What are you excited about in your role right now?
I enjoy new product development and taking the product to market so I am excited about the Dulux® FIRETEX® intumescent coatings. It's early days yet but the range has been well received by architects and designers in the commercial and infrastructure space. The fact that our development team has done extensive testing makes our job easier in the marketplace. FIRETEX coatings can withstand handling, so the steel can be sprayed in the workshop then moved on site. It's a fast system to apply and dry.
I am always excited to see progress with new projects. Our involvement might start with developing a custom tint colours for an architect or testing product samples with the engineer. We are also on-site during application. We see projects through to the end and take real pride in the results.
What is the top trend right now in protective coatings?
In commercial infrastructure, the green tick of approval is increasingly required by governments and sought after by developers.
Green Star Ratings are sometimes not required if steel is being coated off site. But we have coatings that meet low VOC requirements when they are needed, including the Dulux® Duration® range.
What is a favourite project you’ve worked on with Dulux Protective Coatings?
The WACA light towers upgrade was a special job. The WACA is obviously an iconic asset in WA and it was the first big project where we used Dulux® Quantum® V92. It's a standout topcoat in the Australian market in terms of UV protection. At 70 metres high, the light headframes need to withstand significant weather exposure, so this coating was the ideal choice to extend the maintenance cycle.
