2019 Metal Construction Hall of Fame
Harold Schroth has probably inspected more metal roofs and buildings than anyone you know. Over the course of his 40-plus year career, he was involved in approximately 2,000 field metal building inspections. These inspections ranged from checking on the performance of metallic coatings, to corrosion issues and coating performance. The result of these field inspections was turned into a two-hour seminar on the topic of corrosion issues with metal buildings.
A Long Career
Schroth’s career started back in 1962, when he began working in the industrial coatings laboratory of the American-Marietta Paint Co., which was later acquired by Mobil Chemical Co., a division of Mobil Oil. In 1972, Harold entered the technical services and sales of coil coatings for Mobil, which became a significant factor in providing high-performance coatings for the metal building industry. Shortly thereafter, he became the market manager for building products at Mobil, before moving to Hanna Coatings in 1985, where he became the market manager of building products, North America. Hanna eventually became AkzoNobel, where Harold continued on as Market Manager.
As market manager, Schroth managed the overall market for Mobil and then AkzoNobel from the technical issues through sales to the coil coaters and end customer. “In this position, I coordinated sales needs, issues and industry needs to the technical departments, and coordinated technical issues and developments back to the sales department for metal building manufacturers and component manufacturer customers.”
Rob Haddock, president and CEO of S-5!, calls Schroth his personal mentor and go-to guy for anything related to paints and coil coating for many years. “He has also unselfishly shared his time, and technical and field experience with myself and many others in the metal claddings industry,” he says.
“Schroth knows paints and chemical pre-treatments better than most, and in particular, made hundreds upon hundreds of on-the-roof studies, observations and analyses of paint and corrosion performance in the real world, sharing that experience with anyone who would listen,” Haddock adds.
Over the course of his career, Schroth has seen a number of changes in the coil coating industry. One of the biggest, he says, is the expansion of larger and faster coil coating lines, which provided an efficient supply of coated material for the metal construction industry and the evolution of higher performance paint coatings, all designed to meet the expectations of the industry.
Ed Karper, global product manager at Dura Coat Products, part of Axalta Coating Systems, says Schroth always had the big picture in mind. “You could be discussing a problem or issue with a customer or product, and he was always very quick to link that topic to what was going on in the industry.”
One of the biggest changes in the metal construction industry is the expansion of larger and faster coil coating lines, which provide an efficient supply of coated material, and the evolution of higher performance paint coatings, all designed to meet the expectations of the industry.
Harold Schroth, AkzoNobel
Association Beginnings
Since 1972, Schroth became involved with the National Coil Coating Association (NCCA), the Metal Construction Association (MCA), and Metal Roofing Alliance (MRA), and the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), serving on the boards of the first three.
While chairing the National Coil Coatings’ building products committee, Schroth says they recognized that while the metal building manufacturers and component manufacturers had become mature industries well in control of their marketing programs, the use of pre-painted metal products for residential applications had not. As Haddock explains, “At a point in time when metal had a less than 2 percent market share in residential markets, Harold was the hinge-pin and advocate that helped to convince the industry to broaden its market within that space. He led the way opening doors for opportunities to educate this market group to the benefits of metal roofing.”
“This began with the NCCA, and then homeowners and contractors through roofing contractor associations and on-the-road training programs, led by myself and Tom Black, for small groups of contractors to the eventual formation of the [Metal Roofing Alliance (MRA)],” Haddock says.
Eventually, the group began operating a demo area during METALCON, which provided manufacturers a platform to illustrate applications. “During this time, we were awarded increased funding from the three associations, which made it obvious that more structure was needed to properly manage the then-success of the program,” Schroth says. “A special thanks to the numerous faithful volunteers of the committee who provided the horsepower to help make everything happen.”
Today, metal roofing has an almost 15 percent market share in the residential marketplace. “I don’t think you could put together an effort again by industry people that all worked together and funded together, to make something like this work,” Schroth adds. “It was just an incredible ride.”
Enjoying Retirement
After retiring from AkzoNobel in 2005, Schroth stayed on as a consultant for 10 years. As Scott Hanna, northern region sales manager for coil coatings at AkzoNobel says, “We just couldn’t get enough of his knowledge, experience and passion for the growing use of a pre-painted product in the construction industry.”
Since retiring, Schroth spends as much time as possible with his family and at his lake house in northwest Wisconsin, which has a new metal roof.
