Akzo Nobel honors car refinish clearcoat specialists with innovation award

Sassenheim, The Netherlands, July 30, 2002 – Akzo Nobel has awarded its Car Refinishes Business Unit with an innovation award for its work on the development of the new car refinish clearcoat, Sikkens Autoclear III. The award reflects the success of Autoclear III during 2001.

The awards are held annually to recognize and reward innovation within Akzo Nobel’s Coatings group. Car Refinishes has a very successful track record in this field, this year’s award being the seventh won by the Business Unit.

In developing Sikkens Autoclear III, the R&D team aimed to produce one universal refinishes clearcoat that could be used for both ultra fast drying of small repairs and top quality premium repairs. Until Autoclear III, refinish technicians had to use a number of different clearcoats for different types of repair.

The proof of success of any new technical innovation is the market’s acceptance of that technology. In this case, Autoclear III is indeed a success; within one year of its launch Autoclear III accounted for 70% of clearcoat sales by CR North America.

“Technical innovation is of prime importance in the development of new products,” commented Rudy van der Meer, member of Akzo Nobel’s Board of Management responsible for Coatings “As the world leading paint manufacturer, we are constantly striving to deliver products that enable our customers to do their job more efficiently and more profitably. In the case of Autoclear III innovation has led to the development of a special resin system and new processing solvent to create a more flexible and efficient product.”

General Manager Akzo Nobel Car Refinishes, Cor de Grauw, is convinced that his Business Unit is continuing to lead the way in product development. “The responsible R&D team has every reason to feel proud of its achievement. Once again, Car Refinishes has demonstrated that our people are at the forefront of innovation and technology.”

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