Elegance Coating: Making Buses and Motor Homes Beautiful

Emilie Morin wasn’t sure what to expect when she moved from Quebec last summer to help launch the recently opened Elegance Coating in Champlain. The 26-year-old native of Quebec City, previously employed as a financial controller at a paper company, found herself on a mission to open the newest site of a company specializing in a line of work she knew little about―painting busses and motor homes.

“I came from working in downtown Montreal, so this is a huge difference,” said Morin, a certified managerial accountant and now general manager of the Northern Tier operation. She knew of Elegance Coating’s successful track record. But she realized it would be a daunting challenge, not only getting the business off the ground, but also adjusting to working in a different industry and living in a new place. “To me, it is totally different because I had been in the paper business.”

The company moved into its West Service Road location in August with the specific intention of becoming a supplier of painting services to Nova Bus, the bus manufacturer that in early 2009 opened an assembly plant in the Town of Plattsburgh.

“We started with an empty building on September 1,” Morin said. “And about four and half months later we have 28 employees and have been full of busses since early November. For all the effort we have put in, we have seen results and we have seen them fast.” She added, “This could not have happened without the help of Yoland Cloutier, the vice president of operation for both the Florida and Champlain plants. He has put and continues to put a lot of efforts into this business.”

According to Morin, the company started in Montreal about 15 years as Chabot Carrosserie. When they expanded into the US market in 2007, the venture was named Elegance Coating.. For ten years, Elegance Coating has been painting business for Prevost, a St. Claire, Quebec-based bus manufacturer and the sister company to Nova, along with motor homes for other companies. “The company became very successful and, knowing that the U.S. is a big market for coaches and motor homes, moved to south Florida in 2007,” Morin explained.

When the company learned that Nova was opening its Plattsburgh operation, it was an obvious opportunity to become a supplier, Morin said. “We really had to set up a new relationship. But having worked with Prevost, Nova Bus was just a continuation. We knew the people from Prevost, their work style, and their requirements, too.” Now, Elegance Coating and Nova interact on a daily basis, tackling paint-related challenges. “We are in frequent contact with the people at Nova. Plus, we get busses here every day. It’s a good relationship. They are good people.”

Elegance has also done a few jobs for Peterbilt, a medium- and heavy-duty truck manufacturer located just down the road in Champlain. Currently, Nova Bus and Peterbilt are the only customers Elegance serves.

But the company has plans to grow. Morin said the company intends to start pursuing more customers through face-to-face meetings . In an effort to increase its motor home customers, the company will increase its presence at industry trade shows. “Within the next year, we want to add two customers. But our main focus will always be Nova Bus.”

The company’s North Country location is intended to capitalize on the demand for mass transit in east coast cities. “Public transit, in my opinion, can only grow,” Morin said. “I wouldn’t say it is trendy, but with the environment becoming more of an issue, public city transit is something every city will eventually look into.”

Morin said major cities worldwide are increasing public transportation, using London, England, as an example. “In some parts of downtown London, you have to pay to take your car. They want to reduce the number of cars on the road.” She said cities in North America could possibly take similar steps to limit unnecessary car travel. “It is a business we were happy to get into, as it’s surely a growth area.”

However, Morin pointed out, Elegance Coating also paints municipal busses either being sold or recently purchased. With so many busses in the northeast, Morin believes Elegance is in the right spot. “We are so close by.” The proximity to Canada is also advantageous. “We are a Canadian company, so it is useful. Someone can travel down from headquarters in Montmagny with less cost involved. And we don’t lose time traveling.”

Elegance Coating had to choose its facility carefully. The sheer size of busses and motor homes requires a large facility, tall enough for the large vehicles and wide enough to store as many as a dozen busses in various stages of the painting process at any given time. Elegance also requires space to paint articulated busses, which are essentially larger busses that can bend in the middle while making turns. “So we need space to put all those busses,” Morin said.

The company also needs physical space for an assortment of processes, including cleaning the busses before they are sanded and prepared for painting. “You need to get down to the raw panels so the paint can stick. And you have to mask all the bus parts that are not to be painted, like the mirrors, the wheels, the windows.” These processes all require ample space, which made the 25,000 square foot facility the right choice.

The painting process is not overly complex, but it is a precise science requiring great care and painstaking attention to detail. First, a coat of primer is applied, and then the bus is striped with lines of tape as a guideline for painting the first color section or design. “We always put the smallest color on first.” After the first color section is painted, it is masked from the next color to be applied. “If there are five colors, we repeat the process five times.” Finally, a layer of clear coat tops it off to ensure a shiny finish.

One of the greatest costs of starting the business was purchasing a 100-foot-long, $250,000 spray booth―a pressure controlled environment to create optimum conditions for painting and drying. The technology controls temperature, humidity, and air flow, making it a necessity. Morin explained, “Without it, it could take 24 to 30 hours to dry a bus. With a paint booth, it is more like 45 minutes.”

The booth captures all of the fumes and other by-products to ensure there is no impact on the environment. “It makes it safe for the environment because of the filters.” The booth was manufactured in California and complies with that state’s standards. “Because it’s the state with the highest requirements for environmental safety, if your booth meets the California requirements, you are good everywhere.”

In order to reach the highest quality finish, Elegance Coating must bake painted vehicles at specific temperatures, depending on the paint job. “If you don’t reach that specific degree, the paint will not harden properly and we would not be able to provide a warranty on our work.” The paint booth allows Elegance employees to simply program the required heat and time settings, ensuring accuracy and quality.

“Our people are really proud of their work because what comes out of the booth is theirs,” she said. “The quality of the busses comes from the painter.” And she points out that all steps in the painting process are conducted by actual people, as opposed to being an automated process. “There are no robots,” she said. “And the only computer we use is to mix the paint. The people working here are all artists. When the busses look good, it’s because of them.”

Morin is pleased with the skills of the employees she has found in the area and delighted that Elegance Coating can purchase most of its supplies locally. “We get 90 percent of our supplies from the area,” she said. “We found very good suppliers around here. When we came in, we didn’t know anybody. But people came to us and we really managed to get the products we wanted at a good price.”

While the paint itself comes from DuPont, Elegance purchases a large amount of masking paper, sanding paper, and other painting supplies locally. “Specifically, we work with Saratoga Auto Body and Bucks Supply.”

Morin is also grateful for the community’s support for the business. “When we started in August, I began visiting people to get help. Coming from Canada, I needed information on tax laws and human resources. I had to get my knowledge from people.”

“The Chamber of Commerce has been very, very helpful, as has been the Department of Labor and OneWorkSource, where we have been many times. Empire State Development has been great, too.” Morin expressed gratitude to the Border Industrial Park LLC for helping the company locate the building it will occupy for the remainder of a five-year lease.

Morin said the experience of starting the business has been exhilarating. “In terms of learning, it has been awesome. I feel like I have learned so much, things you cannot learn in a book.”