AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands – AkzoNobel Powder Coatings announced plans to invest £1 million in a new powder coatings pilot plant at its facility in Felling in the UK. The state-of-the-art pilot line will replicate the company’s powder coatings manufacturing process on a small scale, enhancing AkzoNobel’s development initiative capabilities and significantly easing and speeding up the scale-up process from laboratory to full-scale production.

“Formulations that work in a laboratory environment do not always transfer consistently to full scale production,” explained Process Innovation Manager Rob Barker. “The new facility will significantly improve our first-pass production capability, which in turn means increased product speed to market for our customers.”

The Felling pilot line will be used by AkzoNobel’s development teams worldwide. The new pilot line is scheduled for completion in May 2014.