In an interview, Michael Cash, President, Industrial Coatings, Axalta Coating Systems with Chemical Today Magazine talks at length about the global industrial coatings market scenario discussing the ways in which the market will change in the future. He also talks about how Axalta is working towards preserving and enhancing the environment for the next generation through its sustainable processes.
By Shivani Mody
Market drivers and consumer demands supporting a growth of industrial coatings.
In industrial coatings, we see the transportation markets experiencing steady growth in the foreseeable future as the middle class in emerging markets continues to develop. We anticipate coatings for infrastructure and construction, along with coatings for equipment and pipelines used to access natural resources, to be strong markets for growth as the population nears 8 billion people by 2020. Axalta is also excited about catering to the future technological expectations of our customers, which we expect to include more environmentally sustainable coatings, coatings that enable lower energy usage and coatings that are able to withstand higher temperatures and more corrosive environments like our Nap-Gard® coatings for oil and gas pipelines.
Trends and technology development in industrial coatings.
Liquid coatings: The latest trend in technology development for liquid coatings are products that are designed to ensure the longer life of substrates, such as building and equipment. Customers are seeking technologies that provide excellent corrosion resistance and withstand high-temperature environments.
Powder coatings: Powder coatings are an environmentally sustainable alternative that will continue to grow faster than GDP as we see more liquid applications converting to powder coatings. In addition to a low environmental footprint, powder coatings are moving towards lower cure technologies, enabling their usability on a greater variety of substrates like plastics and wood composites. Customers are also seeking brighter metallic options. Axalta is currently offering that with our Alesta® bonded metallic products, specifically our Iconica collection which was designed by architects and industrial designers in mind.
Fastest growing segments in the industrial coatings market.
Among the fastest growing segments in the industrial coatings market are coatings used to insulate and enhance functionality in electrical motors and protective coatings supplied to the architectural and building construction markets. Axalta’s Energy Solutions products like Voltatex® are thriving in the electrical insulation industry. A third, critical emerging market for industrial coatings is coatings that can be applied to plastic substrates. Axalta is fortunate to be at the cutting edge of technology in applied to plastic composites with the recent launch of our FlexBase product line earlier this year.
Advancement in the global automotive (OEMs and refinish) coatings market.
Advancements in the global automotive market include water-borne products and Harmonized Coating Technologies™, which eliminate steps in the coatings process and also can reduce curing time while conserving energy through low or ambient temperature curing. Axalta is excited to see the leading automotive OEM manufacturers beginning to use powder coatings on the body of their vehicles as a primer coat. We are also fortunate to supply our VacuPrime® product to the trailblazers of replacing chrome-plating with vacuum metallization. This practice is gaining acceptance exponentially with automotive OEMs.
End user demands in the industrial coatings market.
End users in the Industrial coatings market gravitate towards the latest technologies, increased sustainability and higher quality and product consistency. We have been fortunate to gain more than 2,000 customers over the past four years who were looking for a global paint company that offers the latest in technology, a genuine interest in helping customers succeed and meet environmental goals and a reliable technical support team.
Market potential of industrial coatings in developed vs emerging markets.
Industrial coatings needs in developed versus emerging markets are actually very similar. All customers desire coatings that are easy to use, have a wide application window, are environmentally sustainable and that can aid in more efficient and faster application processes.
Overview of the industrial coatings business for the company.
The Axalta industrial coatings segment is focused on supplying innovative coatings and serving customers in the agricultural, construction, and earth-moving equipment market, oil and gas market, architectural extrusion market, coil coatings market, electrical motor market and a wide range of general applications. Over the past four years, our industrial business has operated as a united, global team and is currently the second largest worldwide supplier of powder coatings and E-coat to industrial markets, as well as the second largest supplier of high technology coatings to the electrical motor market globally.
Growth plans for industrial coatings business in Asia Pacific.
Asia Pacific has experienced significant infrastructure growth, tracking GDP growth, which we see continuing in the foreseeable future. Considering the population growth in the coming decade, most of it will take place in emerging markets like Asia Pacific. As a company, we have begun investing in Asia Pacific through the opening of our new state-of-the-art Asia-Pacific Technology Centre for R&D in Shanghai, our largest centre globally to-date, a new waterborne production facility in Shanghai and a new manufacturing facility in Savli, India to further supply OEM coatings in the region. Axalta is prepared and looking forward to supporting Asia Pacific with cutting-edge products and technical support that will make a difference in our customer’s businesses.
Focus on R&D and innovation in industrial coatings.
R&D and, more broadly, technology and innovation are at the core of our success at Axalta. It’s our main priority to provide our customers with the most cutting-edge solutions and technology that will make a difference in their businesses. In the past year, we have delivered over 100 new industrial products globally. A few of our recent products include our Alesta® Lync dry-on-dry powder coatings technology, AquaEC® 6100 tin-free, high-productivity electrocoat products, Nap-Gard® high-temp internal pipe coatings designed to replace liquid coatings for the interior coating of pipelines and the Voltahyd™ product line, which is the first waterborne impregnating resin coating for the interior protection of electrical motors.
Challenges faced in the industrial coatings market.
The industrial coatings market sees a lot of diversity in serving many customer end user segments, from global customers to regional OEM manufacturers and local job coaters who handle a wide variety of out-sourced coating needs. Every customer is important to Axalta, and the challenge is making sure that our customer solutions and products are tailored to each specific end-user need, as well as tailoring those solutions and services to the largest, most productive paint lines to the job coater who is challenged with delivering the highest quality and speed in coating products for an OEM customer of theirs.
Developing eco-friendly strategies for industrial coatings solutions.
At Axalta, we don’t wait for regulators to drive environmentally sustainable coating developments – we’re inspired by our wide range of customers who want to help preserve and enhance the environment for the next generation. We are fortunate to have customers that help guide us towards innovations like the Alesta® Iconica powder coatings collection for aluminium extrusions, Hydropon® waterborne coatings for coil and extrusion applications and Nap-Gard® high temp exterior pipeline coatings, which replace solvent borne liquid products. We usually find that our industrial customers are ahead of the curve and it’s important that we listen to our customers and match our product development strategy with their business needs.
© Chemical Today Magazine
Read More: Catering to the future technological expectations
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