Akzo Nobel makes major investment in High Point location
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From left: Doug Barbe, AkzoNobel operations director Americas, Industrial Coatings; Ard van der Vorst, consul general of the Netherlands (Atlanta); Jay Wagner, High Point mayor; Thierry Vanlancker, AkzoNobel CEO; Anthony Copeland, North Carolina Secretary of Commerce; Simon Parker, AkzoNobel Industrial Coatings business director.

HIGH POINT, N.C. -- AkzoNobel is making a $55 million investment in its High Point, industrial coatings manufacturing location. The reinvestment aims to transform the site by adding innovative technologies, new infrastructure, and other projects to modernize the manufacturing site.

AkzoNobel celebrated the investment at a groundbreaking event that included the company’s global CEO Thierry Vanlancker, other company executives, state and local dignitaries, more than 200 site employees, and customers.

“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,” said Thierry Vanlancker, AkzoNobel CEO.

High Point has been home to AkzoNobel as an 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:

--Additional automatic dosing unit technology to produce coatings more efficiently and flexibly with higher color accuracy

--Improved filling lines to better serve our Chemcraft distributors

--New R&D Laboratory and Technical Application Center, allowing faster and more effective product development for manufacturer 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.”

Construction at the High Point site is scheduled for completion in 2021, with rolling projects already underway. See http://www.akzonobel.com

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Karl Forth

Karl D. Forth is online editor for CCI Media. He also writes news and feature stories in FDMC Magazine, in addition to newsletters and custom publishing projects. He is also involved in event organization, and compiles the annual FDM 300 list of industry leaders. He can be reached at [email protected].