05. Nippon Paint Co., Ltd.
Osaka, Japan
www.nipponpaint.com
PUBLIC COMPANY; YEAR ESTABLISHED: 1881
REVENUE: $4.3 billion t (2015: $4.45 billion)
MARKETS SERVED
Automotive coatings; Industrial coatings; Decorative coatings; Marine and protective coatings
KEY EXECUTIVES
Kenji Sakai, chairman of the board; Tetsushi Tado, president, representative director of the
board; Manabu Minami, vice president, representative director of the board; Hup Jin Goh and
Kanji, directors of the board; and Nishijima, Mitsuo Yamada, VP, Nippon Paint Holdings.
Nippon Paint manufactures a wide variety of paints and coatings including those for automobiles, construction, architecture,wood, steel structures, ships, metal, electrical
equipment, machinery, roadways and household appliances among
others. Nippon Paint is one of the largest paint manufacturers in
Asia and has 33 manufacturing plants and produces more than one
million tons of paint and coatings annually.
Nippon has recently announced plans to quadruple production
capacity for automotive paint in India this year, adding a plant to
complement a recent factory upgrade.
The company will spend a total of approximately $34.7 million
on the expansion, raising capacity in the South Asian nation to an
annual 25,000 tons of auto paint.
The goal is to have a new plant in the southern city of Hindupur
up and running by the end of the year. The factory will produce
mostly water-based paint designed to prevent rust. This location will
supply paint to such Indian automakers as Tata Motors and is close
to a Toyota Motor plant as well.
Nippon Paint has also added capacity at a plant in the northern
city of Delhi.
East Asia accounts for approximately 60 percent of Nippon
Paint’s sales. According to news reports, in India, where new-auto
sales are expected to hit 5. 5 million units in 2020, the company has
less than 10 percent of the paint market even after last year’s merger
of automotive coatings operations with Berger Paints India.
Nippon Paint also made inroads into the U.S. with its recent
merger with Dunn-Edwards Corporation, one of the U.S.’s largest independent manufacturers of architectural, industrial and high
performance paints. Nippon Paint will maintain the Dunn-Edwards
brand and its range of quality paints. The merger with Dunn-Edwards provides Nippon Paint with a platform for growth throughout the U.S.
“We’ve wanted to expand our architectural paints in the U.S.
and have been searching for the right partner,” Nippon Paint’s
president and CEO Tetsushi Tado said. “It is important to us that
Dunn-Edwards is the most environmentally responsible paint manu-
facturer, which fits with our mission. They are respected by both
painting contractors and designers as a top choice. We enjoy the
same reputation throughout Asia, so it’s an ideal fit.”
New Products
Nippon Paint has launched a range of wood coatings to India. The
company has forged an alliance with Italy’s IVM Chemicals and
set up a new Wood Art division. Under this division, this partnership will promote and market Nippon Paint’s existing wood coating
products based on Japanese technology, as well as IVM Chemicals’
leading international brands Milesi, Ilva and Croma Lacke.
While speaking at the New Delhi launch of this division and the
strategic alliance, Wee Siew Kim, CEO of NIPSEA Group – the pro-
moter of Nippon Paint (India) – said, “Our aim has always been to
delight our customers with a wide variety of quality products. Wood
Art by Nippon Paint is a unique offering of wood coating solutions
that is both art and science. Together with our renowned Italian
partner IVM, the two stakeholders aspire to transform the wood
coating industry in India with their unique program.”
The company has plans for setting up two experience centers for
wood coatings, in Mumbai and Delhi.
Nippon Launches Anti-Viral Paint
Nippon Paint has launched VirusGuard, the first anti-viral paint in
Malaysia. The formula works by using silver ion technology (which is
activated when oxidized and is deadly to bacteria) as well as control
release technology.
“The slow release technology is important because silver ion
decomposes quickly,” said Nippon senior manager, Kel Low. “The
paint shortens the lifespan of the virus very rapidly”
“Air fresheners and air purifiers also use silver ion technology.
You either have to spray or switch it on to make use of the silver
ion benefits – when you switch it off, the silver ion is just not there.
For our purpose, if there was no slow release, there would be no
anti-bacterial properties.”
Siew Kim (left) NIPSEA Group CEO and Sharod Malhotra, Nippon Indian president at the launch of the wood coatings range.
