AkzoNobel is investing more than $30 million in its North America Power Coatings manufacturing sites, including its facility in Warsaw. SHown from left at the celebration and announcement on Thursday are Nate Norris, director, North America supply chain; Dominic Gradozzi, regional sales manager; and Hector Loyola, Warsaw site manager. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union.

By David Slone
Times-Union

WARSAW — AkzoNobel is investing more than $30 million in its North America Power Coatings manufacturing sites, including the Warsaw facility.

Thursday, April 4, representatives of the global company spoke about the investment at a celebration at the plant at 1102 Leiter Drive, Warsaw.

In his welcoming remarks, Hector Loyola, Warsaw site manager, said, “We invite you here today to help us celebrate our $30 million investment in North America, including significant upgrade here in Warsaw. Additional investment will be made at our site in Nashville, Tenn.; Reading, Pa.; and Monterrey, Mexico.”

AkzoNobel is based in the Netherlands and is recognized as one of the world-leading producers of paint and coatings with 35,000 employees in 150 countries, he said. Annual revenue is over $10 billion.

The Warsaw factory goes back to 1960, Loyola stated, under the name of Armstrong Products. There were several owners since then, coming under the AkzoNobel umbrella in 2010 when AkzoNobel purchased it from Dow Chemical.

“What we do here in Warsaw, we manufacture 10,000 metric ton of powder coating each year,” he said, which beautifies and protects wheels, lighting fixtures, hospital beds, HVAC and more. “Our success is made possible by a dedicated and talented group of 100 employees, who have received an award from our company for their innovation and communication and producing improved product.”

He talked about the different ways the employees support the local community through numerous service activities.

Regional Sales Manager Dominic Gradozzi explained the “powder coating revolution.”

He said AkzoNobel stands as an industry leader. “We provide cutting-edge coatings that safeguard, preserves surfaces across various segments. Locally, just to give you an idea of the size of our market, our power coatings business exceeds about $1.4 billion. Globally, we’re in about 70 different countries that we manufacture.”

Within the business, he said they “play” in about five key segments – architectural coatings, automotive, industrial and consumer, general trade coaters and functional coatings.

Gradozzi explained that powder coatings are “highly durable. They’re for both decorative and protective environments. And one of the key advantages of powder coatings is that they’re more sustainable than liquid coatings.”

Powder coatings often can be applied in a single coating, allowing users of powder coatings to get parts through their processes faster, he said. “They don’t have to wait for it to dry.”

Gradozzi stated, “So, it (increases) processing times, improves production volumes and also reduces energy and cost.”

Another key aspect of the low-energy coatings is that they open up a different market for AkzoNobel.

“These advantages that I’ve been talking about kind of is what leads us to the powder coating revolution,” he said. “So, the growth in powder coatings is really anticipated to outgrow the overall coatings market, kind of in timeframe over the next three to five years.”

He said that’s created tremendous demand from AkzonNobel’s customers, as well as created a need for some additional capacity and productivity demands from their manufacturing side.

“We are seeing customers convert to powder at unprecedented rates, and that’s why we’re here today,” Gradozzi said. “So we have simultaneous events going on at all three of our U.S. manufacturing plants and one in Monterrey, Mexico, to showcase our commitment to the sustainable future of powder coatings. These investments exceeding $30 million is a strong statement and this is a celebration.”

He said their focus on their customers drives them to understand their customers’ unique needs and challenges. “It allows us to provide tailored solutions that add real value to our businesses.”

Gradozzi said he’s “extremely excited” about the future of power coatings at AkzoNobel and they’re very excited to celebrate the growth and investment that the company has made.

Nate Norris, director, North America supply chain, said, “We are truly a global player that has, I would say, a local flair. So we’ve got plants all over the world … it’s just a good time for us right now.”

As to why AkzoNobel is making the investments, Norris said, “Some of it is to get better quality, some of it’s to get more productivity, some of it’s because we’ve got new technology coming. We’ve spending a lot on bonding and metallics. We’re trying to get more small (batch) capability because most of our customers are looking to have smaller inventory so we’re trying to understand and focus on that.”

He said they see a huge growth for powder because of the sustainability factor and the regulatory concerns that go away with it.
AkzoNobel is committed to North America and the sites it has on this continent, he said. In the last couple years, the company spent over $70 million in investments.

Warsaw Common Council President Jack Wilhite spoke on behalf of Mayor Jeff Grose and the council. He congratulated AkzoNobel for their 79 years of business in North America, with global roots going back to 1792.

“AkzoNobel’s U.S. footprint is quite large, and they’ve had a presence in Warsaw for 64 years. As a company based in the Netherlands, AkzoNobel is recognized as one of the world’s leading producers of paint and powder coatings for the automotive and agricultural industries. Employing 35,000 globally, they are no small operation,” Wilhite said.

“We appreciate the 100 jobs they bring to our community. AkzoNobel has proven themselves to be very active community partners, and we appreciate that.”

He said AkzoNobel also adds some diversity to the local business community.

Asked for further details about the investment that will be made at the Warsaw facility, Loyola said they’re starting with $3.7 million. New machinery will increase capacity, productivity and quality. It’s also new technology.

Norris said AkzoNobel wants to make sure “we have multiple lines or multiple locations that make products, especially as we roll out new products. Warsaw is important to us. It might be our largest actual facility that we have in powder coating, and there’s a lot of land here to still develop it, so phase one for us is to put in a couple new lines, make some replacements of some end-of-life equipment, bring some new technology in and as this business grows, we have a pretty big plan to grow this business. We see a lot of future investment happening here.”

Gradozzi said Warsaw traditionally has been one of AkzoNobel’s higher-volume manufacturing facilities so it has some of their larger customers that are taking large volume of product. “The new equipment is going to help us be more efficient, be able to produce more tons, kilos, pounds in the same amount of time, but even at better quality.”

It’s a good assumption that with the growth and investment there could be more job openings, Norris said. Loyola said they are hiring people right now. In the last six months, they’ve hired 12 additional employees.

The investment announcement and celebration ended with a tour of the facility.