Coatings World - April 2012

will modernize Jotun’s production structure in Scandinavia and demonstrates our strong and long-term commitment to the local community, the region and the market.”

Sherwin-Williams forms supply agreement with Riverstone Residential Group for multifamily properties Sherwin-Williams and Riverstone Residential Group, a national, privately-owned, third-party multifamily management provider, have formed a multi-year supply partnership. Under the agreement, Riverstone’s extensive portfolio of properties will directly source and consolidate orders for paints and flooring from Sherwin-Williams. The new agreement lists Sherwin-Williams as Riverstone’s exclusive marketing partner for paint and one of Riverstone’s preferred marketing partners for flooring between 2012 and 2014.

AkzoNobel Powder Coatings launch InterponBuildings.com

AkzoNobel, the world’s leading powder paint supplier, launched InterponBuild-ings, a new website which showcases the company’s track record in architectural powder coatings.

The new site— www.interponbuild-ings.com—features over 300 architectural projects, all of which have been protected by Interpon powder coatings. Each project detailed on the site contains background information, product details and a collection of photographs.

“The launch of this website is the latest
milestone in our online strategy,” said Barry
Tomlinson, global marketing director, Ak-
zoNobel Powder Coatings. “We are de-
lighted to be the first coatings company to
feature our projects on Google Maps and
our customers now have an even greater
platform to research their projects, without
having to leave their desks.”
Where available, the site also
includes a link to Google Maps
Street View, allowing architects
and visitors to access street-level imagery by
zooming into the lowest level on Google
Maps, and view the building in situ.

BASF launches M-ROB application robot in Würzburg

BASF has launched M-ROB, its application robot, at its Würzburg, Germany site. The multifunction application robot allows application that simulates conditions at the paintline and as such, meets the requirements of the automotive industry. Starting in 2012,BASFwill be launching M-ROB in other countries as well.

M-ROB permits BASF to develop new colors for automotive customers and to design solutions for OEM products and new developments even more specifically. The M-ROB application unit consists of control software developed by BASF itself, as well as a large state-of-the-art booth and oven room.

“We adjust the application at the customer’s paintline precisely and individually. M-ROB
simulates nearly any situation at paintlines all over the world, which means we can optimize
our processes and products,” said Dr. Walter Jouck, head of coatings technology manage-
ment at BASF. “The M-ROB stands for our research and development strength. In addition,
it permits us to raise our service and quality standards for our customers. It helps us reinforce
our position as a reliable partner of automotive manufacturers.”
BASF will also introduce the robot at other sites in order to meet the globally uniform
standards for high quality in the application process and fulfill customer requirements in all
regions. At BASF Coatings’ headquarters in Münster, Germany, it will be introduced this
spring. Plans for start-ups at the sites in Totsuka, Japan, in 2012 and Guadalajara, Spain, in
2013 are in place. Other robots are to follow in the coming years at sites including Shang-
hai, China, Clermont, France, and Sao Bernardo, Brazil.

M-ROB can simulate and apply the primer, basecoat and clearcoat layers, as well as all of the integrated processes. It is able to apply the coating not only vertically and horizontally, but also three-dimensionally, for instance, for mirror housings. The robot offers users the possibility to change between various types of atomizers quickly and easily. The software specially developed for the robot also offers particularly efficient paint application. Its visualization technology is user friendly and straightforward. Since the M-ROB robot operates independent of production, complex processing windows can be established efficiently. As a result, the limits and influences of the application process are visualized in an easy-to-understand manner.

The multifunction application robot allows application that simulates conditions at the paintline and as such, meets the requirements of the automotive industry.