PHILADELPHIA — Axalta has strengthened its position in the global powder market by investing in bonding capabilities for metallic effect powder coatings. The investment will enhance Axalta's new bonding production line in Landshut, Germany, and the upgrade of bonding equipment and capabilities in Houston, Texas, and Shanghai, China, to enable customers to purchase best-in-class metallic effect powder coatings more easily from Axalta's locations worldwide.

Metallic effect powder coatings are widely used in the architectural, automotive, home appliance and furniture markets. They grow at about 10% annually. Bonded metallic products offer many benefits such as higher first-pass transfer efficiency, consistent color, effect and gloss, increased batch-to-batch consistency, recyclable capabilities, lack of powder spits, better transfer on coating line, and no free-floating pigment in the application booth.

"We are excited to use the new state-of-art equipment to produce bonded metallic products with better efficiency, faster turnaround and more consistent quality," said Michael Bollan, Axalta's Business Director for Powder Coatings in the Americas.

"Our know-how in producing bonded products has improved significantly by adding more technical resources in this field," added Julian Zhou, Business Director for Powder Coatings for China. "Axalta is not only investing in technology, but our workforce as well, to effectively support our customers."