AkzoNobel has opened a €2.5M technical application centre for its Wood Coatings business in Malmö, Sweden. The new facility is one of four global centres that work closely with customers to develop application systems to suit their specific manufacturing needs.
As well as housing experimental application equipment, the centre is also equipped with several state- of-the-art application lines and temperature and humidity controlled spray booths. They give the company the unparalleled ability to mimic customer conditions in all segments of the industrial wood market.
"The facility enables us to replicate our customers’ own manufacturing processes, making it easier to develop products and technologies that can be tailored to their specific application environments,” explained Anthony Woods, RD&I Director for AkzoNobel’s Wood Coatings business.
Several breakthrough innovations are showcased at the Malmö centre, such as AkzoNobel’s proprietary technique for applying edge coatings with millimeter precision, as well as the company’s automated system that scans wood for holes and cracks and automatically applies filler.
It also includes a facility to demonstrate UV-LED curing, a sustainable wood finishing technique, which uses up to 30% less electricity than competing curing methods.
Customer feedback has been very positive, with Per Dahlen, Technical Manager at IKEA Industry, being particularly impressed with the LED curing facility: "It was very interesting, showing just how far AkzoNobel has come with this technology,” he said.
