David Flatten

Mr. Flatten has been the President of Inland Powder Coating, (IPC), for nearly 40 years. He is actively involved in the powder coating industry as a member of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, (SME), The Association For Finishing Processes of SME, (AFP/SME), The National Association of Metal Finishers, (NAMF), The Chemical Coaters Association International, (CCAI), and The Powder Coating Institute, (PCI). David is currently serving as the PCI Custom Coater Chairman, representing over 150 PCI Custom Coater members from all over North America, serves as a PCI Board Member, and has been an executive member of the Custom Coater’s Committee of PCI for over 30 years. David has contributed the ideas for many of PCI’s key programs for the custom coaters. Through his activities and involvement with these organizations, IPC is well known throughout the North American powder coating industry as an innovative finishing organization. IPC is also the only PCI 3000 Certified Custom Powder Coater in the Southwest United States.

Growing up in Yorba Linda, California, David started his first company at 14 years old while attending Troy High School in Fullerton, California. Safeguard Security was formed to take advantage of the opportunities to provide overnight and weekend security to the early tract housing developers in North Orange County. He also recruited and supervised security teams, as a group leader, for concert and event venues throughout Southern California. This early exposure to entrepreneurship encouraged David’s interest in pursuing a future in Business.

After graduating in 1980 from Claremont McKenna College, Claremont, California, with a degree in Biology, (Pre-Med), and a second degree in Economics, his first position was with the State of Colorado, Northwest Council of Governments, as an Economic Development Planner. He was quickly promoted to Circuit Rider Town Manager for several small towns around Steamboat Springs, Colorado, to mitigate the impacts to infrastructure and growth issues they faced from the expanding coal mining development in the area. He gained tremendous knowledge and experience building sewer and water plants, expanding electrical distribution systems, developing economic improvement plans, and implementing early computer systems for billing, budgeting, and recordkeeping.

David moved back to California in 1983 and assisted a new, struggling powder coating company, Inland Electrostatic Powder Coating. His research showed that new laws for air quality taking effect the following few years in Southern California would create tremendous opportunity for this new finishing technology.  David took control and incorporated Inland Powder Coating Corporation in May of 1984 as President and majority stockholder. The company experienced double digit growth in that first decade and is now the largest powder coating company in the Southwest US with nearly 100 employees and a 5-acre facility located in Ontario, California.

Early in the beginning years of his involvement with powder coating, he also founded and operated several other related companies that provided innovative new processing and application equipment products to the Powder Coating Industry. In the 1990’s, the company created innovative processes for the natural gas industry and powder coated flexible brass and stainless corrugated gas tubes. In the early 2000’s aluminum bat coating was perfected for the recreation sports industry after two years of research and development. All of the Louisville Slugger aluminum bats were powder coated by IPC. In 2013 the company went live with a third-generation custom production software program and acquired PRS Industries. In 2017, the company perfected new processes for coating raw and plated pipe fittings for the natural gas industry and is now one of the few approved powder coaters for the natural gas industry in the country.

IPC is known throughout the powder coating industry as an innovator and quality production powder coating company. Following the 2020 – 2022 pandemic pause, IPC is again pursuing it’s long-term strategy of consolidating the Southwest US finishing industry. In April 2023, IPC added it’s second acquisition, Tortoise Industries, Los Angeles, California, and is targeting further acquisitions of successful finishing companies.