Qualicoat and Qualisteelcoat are international quality labels for industrial coating applicators. Architects and specifiers use them as shorthand for a finisher that controls its process properly.
Qualicoat
Qualicoat covers liquid and powder coatings on aluminium for architectural use: window frames, curtain walling, cladding and similar products. It sets requirements for materials, pretreatment, the coating process, laboratory testing and the finished product.
Qualisteelcoat
Qualisteelcoat does a similar job for coatings on steel and galvanised steel, with requirements linked to the corrosivity of the environment the product will face.
How licensing works
Applicators hold a licence, usually through a national licensee. They are inspected regularly, with visits that check:
- the pretreatment process and its daily controls
- the laboratory, test equipment and calibration
- process records and traceability
- samples of finished product tested against the specification
Failing an inspection can mean re-inspection or, ultimately, losing the licence, so preparation matters.
Getting ready
The finishers who pass comfortably are the ones whose system runs every day, not just in the week before the auditor arrives. That means:
- sensible test frequencies that people actually keep to
- calibration records that are up to date
- pretreatment checks recorded and acted on
- clear traceability from incoming material to dispatched product
How we help
We have represented a multi-process finisher through Qualicoat, Qualisteelcoat, ISO 9001 and coating-manufacturer audits. We run gap analyses and mock audits, and help you close non-conformances properly. See audit support.
This guide summarises the standard for general understanding. Always work to the current edition and the project specification.