Revista Paint & Pintura - Edição 230

CLIPPING PAINT&PINTURA | Março 2018 | 9 market.Accordingly,there’snoroomforcrisishereatMinérios Ouro Branco.” In addition, Bartholi remarks that any and all businesses will experienceboth successes and failures in the courseofmany years.“Theworkwedogoesbeyondsupplyingmineralfillers, though. We study our customers’ production processes and elect a product ideally suited for the industry on a universal basis. In other words, a product that will be used in themost varied of industries, such as plastics, paints and coatings, chemicals, cosmetics, and evenproducts formedical applica- tions. That product is cellulose, and we’re the only producer in Latin America. To get to this point, I conducted a research project that lasted about 10 years. This product is not easy to make. We import cellulose in fiber sizes ideally suited for fric- tion brakes as well as medical products, so you can imagine howwide a rangeof applications this product covers.We are currently supplying approximately 600 to 800metric tons of cellulose per month,” Bartholi enthuses. CHEMICAL DISTRIBUTION - FOCUS ON TITANIUM DIOXIDE DISTRIBUTION Located in one of Brazil’s furniture powerhouses, the town of São Bento do Sul, Santa Catarina, Interbrasil has 23 years’ experienceexportingwoodenfurnitureandcomponentsand otherwoodproducts,andsince2011ithasalsobeendistribut- ingchemicals.“Withourforeigntradeknow-howandseveral offices abroad, we’ve struck solid partnerships with world- leading manufacturers, and now we import and distribute a variety of chemicals,” says director Marcelo Barbosa Lima. Currently structured into three business units - Chemicals, Exports, and Services - Interbrasil has six foreign offices, two of which in the US, one in China, where they run a laboratory aswell, one inMexico, one inArgentina, andone inPeru. The companyalsohaspartnersinseveralothercountries,totaling 13associatesoutofBrazil.“TheChemicalsBusinessUnitserves customers in the paint and coatings, foam, plastic, cosmetic, food, rubber and ceramic industries, among several others. The Exports group, for its part, is focused on furniture and sawn timber for pallets, textiles, ceramics, etc. In addition to our six international offices, our current facilities comprise a warehouseand two regional offices, one inSãoBentodoSul, Santa Catarina, and one in Curitiba, Paraná,” says Lima. According to Lima, the company has a good penetration in the coatings market, with customers in all Brazilian states, and has seen its market share grow each year. “Our flagship product is titanium dioxide, and it was for that product that we have been recognized by the Paint & Pintura Awards as one of Brazil’s top-five suppliers for 2016 and 2017. Not only are we the only Brazilian company in this business, we are also the only distributor to be considered one of the best for titanium dioxide. This allows us to claim we are the best titanium dioxide distributor in the country.” INVESTMENTS - ALCOLINA UNVEILS NEW PLANS FOR 2018 Alcolina has announced its plans for this year, which include hav- ing a presence in every possible market segment, and further developing as a company that provides innovative solutions for themarketplace. Theyear 2017wasa rather challengingone toall industries inBrazil. “We’d have great trouble telling what company was not affected in any way by the economic instability, if only slightly. But we’ve made it! With the optimism, courage and all of the ability to adapt thataretypicaloftheBrazilianpeople,we’vegottenpastlastyear’s whirl of events wishing 2018 will be a better year for every person and every business. We at Alcolina know that times of crises are painful,butwedobelievetheyaretheonesthatbringaboutbetter opportunitiesforgrowthanddevelopment.Accordingly,innoway couldourcompany’splansfor2018failtoreflectthisattitude,”says sales director Rogério Barros. The biggest challenge facing the company is to hit the ground run- ning very early in 2018 in terms of putting all of its strategies into action,accordingtoBarros.“Wewanttobepresentineverymarket segmentwecanserve,whiledevelopingourcompanyevenfurther as a provider of innovative solutions in themarketplace. While we do know that the economy directly interferes in this process, we can rely on the hard work that all of our team puts in, and we’re confident that Alcolinawill be able to achieve all of its goals.” ADDITIVES - ADDITIVE PROMISES LOWER VOC EMISSIONS DiatomixCEOAdrianPolliackhasrecentlybeeninBraziltointroduce the DPA1001 additive, which can improve VOC (volatile organic compounds) emissions into the environment. The additive is al- ready inuse in theUnitedStates,while inBrazil it is in the launching process. Produced fromtitaniumdioxide-treated diatomite, when this product is added to the coating formulation, it starts acting when the dry coating film is exposed to light, whether natural or artificial.“Theadditivekicksoffaprocesswhereanyvolatileorganic compounds present in the environment are photochemicallymin- eralized,therebyreducingbyupto90percenttheconcentrationof varioussuchcompounds,amongthemformaldehydeandavariety of alcohols. It does all thatwithin24hours, andwill continueacting for as long as any luminosity is present,” Polliack points out. Ricardo Kairalla is a technical consultant for Diatomix and tells us while the additive has been well received and drawn interest in Brazil, the cost of importing is a complicating factor. “We intro- duced this product at ABRAFATI 2017, and we saw a very positive repercussion. Toexpedite theprocess of introducing this novel ad- ditive, we’re planning to produce it in Brazil. Althoughwe have no scheduled date to start up production, we do intend to have that planmaterialized by the end of the year.”