A new chapter is being written for AkzoNobel’s High Point, NC, industrial coatings manufacturing site with a capital infusion of $55 million. The milestone reinvestment aims to transform the site by adding innovative technologies, new infrastructure and other projects to modernize the manufacturing site.
AkzoNobel celebrated the historic investment at a groundbreaking event today with a big crowd, which included the company’s global CEO Thierry Vanlancker, other company executives, state and local dignitaries, more than 200 site employees, and customers.
“Through this reinvestment in our High Point site, we are driving a historic stake into the ground to push forward our wood coatings business in North America and reinforce our leadership and our commitment to customers in this crucial market,” says Vanlancker. “This year, we are marking the 100-year anniversary of our North America wood coatings business, and this $55-million project ensures our market leadership for the next 100 years and beyond. The U.S. is a strategically important market for AkzoNobel, and we are committed to maintaining, building and expanding our market positions across our portfolio of coatings segments.”
Known as the “Home Furnishings Capital of the World,” High Point has been home to AkzoNobel as a valued employer and manufacturer of wood coatings in the community since 1955. The company’s High Point facility currently covers 37 acres and employs more than 250 people. It produces wood coatings to serve the furniture, building products and flooring market segments as well as Chemcraft distributors. The reinvestment will further strengthen the company’s market position and ability to serve its customers in North America via three main elements:
1. Additional automatic dosing unit technology to produce coatings more efficiently and flexibly with higher color accuracy
2. Improved filling lines to better serve Chemcraft distributors
3. New R&D Laboratory and Technical Application Center – allowing faster and more effective product development for OEM customers
“Global companies that do business in North Carolina time and again choose to expand their footprint here,” said Governor Roy Cooper. “High Point has long been a manufacturing hub, and area workers are ready to ramp up production to support AkzoNobel’s reinvestment plan.”
The reinvestment project reinforces AkzoNobel’s High Point team’s leadership within wood coatings trends that resonate across the globe.
“Our color experts in High Point have their finger on the pulse of what’s trending,” says Simon Parker, AkzoNobel Industrial Coatings Business Director. “We look to fashion, architecture and design to determine key trends for the upcoming year. This reinvestment will make it possible to act quicker on trends in the wood coatings market and enable us to better serve our customers in the furniture segment, our Chemcraft distribution partners, and other customers currently served from High Point.”
Construction at the High Point site is scheduled for completion in 2021, with rolling projects already underway.