Axalta Opens Its
Third Cromax Color
Center in Thailand
Axalta Coating Systems, a
leading global supplier of liquid and
powder coatings, has opened its third
Cromax Color Center in Chiang Rai
together with Northern Car Paint Co.,
Ltd., its key distributor of Cromax in
Chiang Rai province in the far north region of Thailand.
The Cromax Color Center includes
a Color Technology Center, a full range
of Cromax product lines and a mixing machine for Cromax. At the Color
Technology Center, Axalta offers the
latest automated color-matching technology, the Acquire II spectrophotometer designed to help improve body
shop productivity and reduce costs.
The Acquire II spectrophotometer
does this by rapidly finding the best
available formula from the more than
500,000 choices stored in its database,
and then customizing the formula to
best match the exact color of each vehicle to be repaired, for both domestically produced and imported vehicles.
The Center provides body shops with
easy access to Axalta’s comprehensive
range of Cromax high quality automotive refinish products, including putty,
primers and clearcoats, so that customers can be assured of the quality of the
repair work.
“As a leading automotive coatings
provider in the market, Axalta is proud
to be able to provide quality coatings
such as the Cromax family of refinish
products and excellent color technolo-
gy to enable body shops to better serve
our customers,” explained Axalta’s
Passorn Iriyapichart. “The opening of
the Cromax Color Center in Chiang
Rai shows our continuous investment
in helping our body shop and collision
repair customers achieve their produc-
tivity goals from the front of the body
shop to the back.”
The Cromax family of refinish
products is one of Axalta’s premium
flagship automotive coating brands.
This is the third Cromax Center in
Thailand. The other two are locat-
ed in Udonthani, in the northeast
region, and Nakhonsawan, in the
lower north region.
AkzoNobel Using New
Technology to Recreate Old
Masterpiece
AkzoNobel’s contribution to fusing
modern technology with classic painting
techniques was celebrated in Amsterdam
during a special viewing of Vincent Van
Gogh’s newly-restored Field with Irises
near Arles.
As part of the company’s partnership with the Van Gogh Museum,
AkzoNobel’s color experts are carrying
out a digital restoration of the famous
work of art which will reveal what it
would have looked like when Van Gogh
first painted it.
Adopting technology and techniques regularly used by the company’s Vehicle Refinishes business,
the AkzoNobel researchers are carrying out the color measurements using
digital data supplied by the National
Gallery in Washington.
“As a company with a proud history,
we’re delighted to be working with the
Van Gogh Museum on a project which
embraces both color and heritage,” said
AkzoNobel CFO Maëlys Castella, who
attended the event.
“Color and heritage are two of the key
pillars of our global Human Cities initia-
tive. So combining them in this way to of-
fer our knowledge is hugely rewarding and
we’re proud to be making a contribution to
preserving an important part of our heri-
tage by balancing the old with the new.”
By analyzing digital images of the
painting, the AkzoNobel team was
able to study the data and deter-
mine the pigment composition of Van
Gogh’s original artwork. When the
museum’s head of conservation, Ella
Hendriks, then began removing the
yellowed varnish layer (which was
applied after Van Gogh’s death) it be-
came clear that the color predictions
were accurate.
“Now that the varnish has been re-
moved we can see that we are on the
right path to digitally restoring the
original colors,” explained AkzoNobel
scientist, Eric Kirchner. “In the near
future, and in close collaboration with
experts from the Van Gogh Museum
and the Cultural Heritage Agency, we
will work on the full digital color resto-
ration of the painting.”
Although the varnish layer has been
removed, several of the pigments used by
Van Gogh have faded or darkened over
time. And because modern conservation
ethics won’t allow new color to be added,
a digital restoration is the only way to
faithfully recreate the original painting.
Staged at the Van Gogh Museum, the
viewing also included a panel discussion
featuring Maëlys, Ella, Kirchner and museum director Axel Rüger.
AkzoNobel has been a partner of
the Van Gogh Museum’s restoration
studio since 2013. Last year, a new
color palette known as the AkzoNobel
Van Gogh Collection was launched,
featuring colors inspired by ten of the
great master’s works.
PPG Completes Acquisition
of Specialty Coatings and
Materials Manufacturer
Cuming Microwave
PPG Industries has completed its
previously announced acquisition
of Cuming Microwave Corporation
based in Avon, Massachusetts, and
its wholly-owned subsidiary Cuming-Lehman Chambers, Inc., based
in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
The acquisition enhances PPG’s
portfolio of aerospace coatings with
specialty coatings and materials that
absorb microwaves and radio waves
such as radar, the company stated. The
products are used for military aircraft
and also have applications in electronics, telecommunications, medical and
automotive end-uses. PPG Aerospace
is the aerospace products and services business of PPG Industries. PPG
Aerospace – Transparencies is the
world’s largest supplier of aircraft
windshields, windows and canopies.
PPG Aerospace – PRC-DeSoto is the
leading global producer and distributor of aerospace coatings, sealants,
and packaging and application systems. CW
