Blog
28th September 2020
AkzoNobel is a Dutch company that is headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Currently, it is a market leader in two main business areas, namely, decorative paints which are mostly geographically organized, and performance coatings with various business units such as marine coatings, protective coatings, vehicle refinishes, specialty coatings, metal coatings, wood coatings, and powder coatings. The company is active in the markets of at least 80 countries around the world. The company is investing EUR 20 million to increase powder coatings capacity at its Como, Italy site. The decision has come out as an expression of the intent, to move towards greener manufacturing, without compromising on their market position at the same time.
This major capacity expansion in the company’s biggest plant in Europe for powder coatings production is all set to accommodate automotive coatings production as well as to provide a strategic back-up for the company’s Arnsberg site in Germany which has been added with an extra line to help secure customer supply. The extra capacity would run based on recycled energy and is being installed in a renovated building that housed powder coatings production originally, ensuring sustainable reuse of a historic part of the Como site. Advanced equipment and technology would be add-ons to deliver higher productivity and efficiency gains. This decision comes off as a result of a couple of other sustainable production boosting techniques and investments made in China and Vietnam, including solar power generation, rainwater harvesting, and solvent recovery systems.
“We’re implementing a structured expansion plan to boost capacity at both our Como and Arnsberg sites,” explained Daniela Vlad, Business Director of AkzoNobel Powder Coatings. “It will help to strengthen our market position and provide us with back up should we encounter supply issues.”
The state-of-the-art new building in Como and the fresh line in Arnsberg will help the company continue to grow with its customers, particularly in the automotive coatings sector. And, as with any new building, the focus is on meeting the highest standards while producing coatings in a sustainable fashion, which, is indeed the need of the hour as far as any chemicals manufacturing is concerned let alone paints and coatings manufacturing.
“Although powder coatings are already inherently sustainable, we’re also committed to making our own buildings and facilities as sustainable as possible,” continued Vlad. “The company has set a clear ambition to reduce its carbon emissions by 50% in 2030 and become carbon neutral by 2050, so we’re accelerating our efforts to embrace renewable energy and introduce more smart manufacturing technology.”
As mentioned earlier, the investment follows August’s announcement about a major plant expansion at the company’s Amata Industrial Park facility in Vietnam. The capacity boost was for marine, protective coatings, and wood coatings. The up-gradation in AkzoNobel’s Guangzhou, China site involved complete switching over to water-based products resuing about 70% of water and thus fore reducing wastewater by 50%. The company aims at meeting 100% water reusability by 2030. Moreover, about 33% of AkzoNobel’s sites located around the globe already use renewable electricity. It goes without saying that these continuing efforts are all part of AkzoNobel’s “People. Planet. Paint.” approach to sustainability and indicate the determination towards a greener, sustainable, and better future.