AkzoNobel invests €21M in Italian powder coating plant to secure EMEA supply chain

20 Feb 2024 --- AkzoNobel is expanding its Powder Coatings site in Como, Italy, facilitating customer supply across Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). 

Four new manufacturing lines are now operational following the €21 million (US$22.6 million) project — two dedicated to automotive primers and two to architectural coatings. AkzoNobel also added bonding equipment lines, ensuring the products meet and exceed industry standards. 

“Increasing our capabilities in Como is a significant milestone which supports our ambition to create safety of supply for our customers,” explains Sanal Limoncuoglu, commercial director of AkzoNobel’s Powder Coatings business in South and East Europe and Middle East Africa. 

“We’re now well equipped to serve all our customers in the EMEA region with highly efficient lines that are state-of-the-art in consistency and quality.” 

The extra capacity in Como has been installed in a renovated building where powder coatings were originally made. The new lines also use recycled energy and are focused on meeting the highest standards in sustainable production, supporting the company’s ambition to reduce carbon emissions by 50% by 2030. 

Cross-market segments 
AkzoNobel’s Como site is the company’s largest plant for producing powder coatings. It supplies products for seven main market segments — home appliances, architecture, automotive, agriculture and construction machinery, trade coaters, furniture and general industry. 

At the beginning of the year, AkzoNobel invested €32 million (US$35 million) in a new plant at its Vilafranca site in Spain, producing bisphenol-free coatings for the EMEA’s metal packaging industry.

The company said the facility will use advanced automation and is designed according to high eco-efficiency standards — enabling a “step-change in energy and material efficiency.”

Christopher Bradford, marketing director of AkzoNobel’s Industrial Coatings business, spoke with Packaging Insights about the necessities and challenges of creating metal coatings void of bisphenol-A, a chemical compound traditionally used to protect metal packaging and its contents.

Edited by Natalie Schwertheim