volatile organic compound (low-VOC)
coatings and low-emissivity glass.
Valspar recently expanded its global automotive color operations by
opening a color technology center in
Shunde, China. Establishing a color
technology center in this location
enables Valspar to offer more service
options to its automotive customers
in Asia Pacific and Australia. The center is designed to increase the quantity of available colors for automotive
customers while at the same time
ensuring that common technology,
methods and procedures are being
practiced. The center plans to develop
6,000 colors the first year with plans
to grow to a capacity of 9,000 colors
per year. The center includes employees skilled as colorists, sprayers and
color information experts. The new
color technology center will also support global color development projects
for Valspar’s automotive refinish
brands including De Beer and
Valspar Refinish.
A new DuPont laboratory and manufacturing facilities in China are
accelerating the adoption of coatings
with improved environmental performance by Chinese automakers.
DuPont’s technical center, located in
Shanghai, and the manufacturing
operations in Changchun allow nearby DuPont scientists to respond to
local customers’ needs quickly and
efficiently. Shanghai General Motors
uses advanced DuPont finishes, made
in China, on its Cruze model.
As an example, the new Shanghai
General Motors plant at Shenyang is
located just west of the DuPont
Changchun plant, and will use the
DuPont water-based coatings produced at that facility. Shanghai
General Motors is a joint venture
between General Motors and the
Shanghai Automotive Industry
Corporation. The site has an annual
capacity of 150,000 cars, and was not
affected by the General Motors bankruptcy, which included only North
American operations.
AkzoNobel inaugurated a new
Powder Coatings Technology Centre
in Ningbo, Zhejiang province. This
R&D center has a state-of-the-art
laboratory and will have an initial
team of 20 scientists and technicians
organized in centers of expertise for
the strategic market sectors. The new
facility is located at the existing
AkzoNobel powder coatings manufac-
turing site in Ningbo. All the centers
of expertise—automotive, architec-
tural, furniture, domestic appliance,
IT and general industrial—and their
corresponding marketing teams will
be located at the center.
