Akzo Nobel
coatings has commissioned a state-of-the-art production plant at its Marine & Protective business unit site in Houston, Texas,
USA.
The USD 17 million project, executed in phases while production continued, has created one of the most up-to-date manufacturing sites in the world for the production of heavy-duty marine and
structural steel coatings.
“This investment underscores Akzo Nobel Coatings’ strategy to lower our cost base by adopting more innovative approaches,” said Rudy van der Meer, member of Akzo Nobel’s Board of Management responsible for
Coatings. “We have definitely succeeded in doing just that at this plant.”
The facility incorporates six new manufacturing lines for thin film products and seven for high build epoxies, all computer monitored. Four new packaging lines use the latest fill-by-weight technology and a new small
batch area has been created. Throughout the plant, the latest techniques for reducing solvent
emissions and hazardous waste have been adopted. Improved efficiency throughout the process means that product
manufacturing losses in the new unit have been reduced substantially over the previous operation.
“The improved batch size flexibility of the Houston plant will allow Marine & Protective to respond more quickly to changing demands by matching batch sizes more directly to customer orders, something which will greatly
improve our customer service levels in North America,” explained Vice President of Operations-Americas, Guy Sullaway. “This state-of-the-art facility was designed with input from all our process operators, production
and planning staff, as well as our technical group. The result is a highly responsive facility that achieves superior product quality, not only at a lower cost, but also with considerably improved environmental
performance.”