Midwest Solutions is the consulting practice of Kory Mortezaee — two decades running paint, coatings, and finishing operations. I help manufacturers pull more throughput and better quality out of the finishing systems they already have — and design the ones they need next.
I've spent my career where coatings actually succeed or fail — on production lines, in cure ovens, and under the microscope. I started as a painter, moved up through paint shop supervision and collision refinish management, then through manufacturing engineering to Director of Manufacturing. I've run the gun, run the line, and owned the processes that put quality finishes on metal at scale.
Along the way I owned coating standards across seven facilities, deployed more than $10M in capital to modernize paint systems and build capacity, and drove a quality initiative that designed $5M in field-failure costs out of the product — preventing far more downstream. I'm Lean Green Belt certified, and I apply it the way it was meant to be used: on the floor, with the operators, until the process holds on its own.
I also work at the front edge of where finishing is going, helping manufacturers evaluate robotic application, automation, and AI-driven process data — separating what genuinely improves a finish line from what just looks impressive in a demo.
Midwest Solutions is how I put that experience to work for other manufacturers — as a focused, senior resource you can bring in to diagnose a problem, design a process, or stand up a quality system that lasts.
Whether you're chasing a defect, planning a new line, or trying to make quality repeatable, these are the areas manufacturers bring me in for.
Adhesion loss, gloss variation, orange peel, corrosion breakthrough — I trace finish defects to root cause using field analysis, microscopic evaluation, and film-build data, then define the fix.
Repeatable coating processes documented for the floor — pretreatment, application, cure profiles, and operator work instructions that hold quality steady across shifts.
Written quality specifications, inspection criteria, and test methods — gloss, film build, adhesion, and more — built into a standard your team and customers can rely on.
Line design, equipment selection and testing, oven and pretreatment systems — planned, justified, and commissioned to build real coating capacity.
Workflow analysis and line-density optimization to move more parts through the finish system without sacrificing coating quality or first-pass yield.
Paint supplier negotiation, chemistry selection across liquid, polyaspartic, and powder, and abrasive/blast media selection — matched to your parts and your economics.
Evaluating robotic application, automation, and AI-driven inspection and process data — where it pays back on a finish line, where it doesn't, and how to implement it without disrupting production.
Green Belt–certified Lean applied on the floor: waste removal, standard work, and process discipline that makes gains stick after the project ends.
If it involves coatings, finishing, or getting more out of a manufacturing process, it's worth a conversation.
On-site or remote review of the parts, the process, and the failures. I look at the data and the line, not just the symptom.
Root-cause analysis using the right tools — film build, adhesion, gloss, microscopy — to isolate exactly what's driving the issue.
A concrete plan: revised process, work instructions, spec changes, or capital — scoped to your plant and your budget.
Support through rollout and validation so the fix holds on the floor, across shifts, and out in the field.
Bring in a senior coatings and process engineer without adding headcount. Tell me what you're running and I'll tell you how I'd approach it.
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