Revista Paint & Pintura - Edição 241

CLIPPING ALKYD RESINS - MULTI-FUNCTIONALITY THE TECHNOLOGICAL POINT OF DIFFERENCE Alkyd resins are one of themost important materials in the co- atings industry, representing a significant volume of its output. This is because they deliver superior performance at lower costs. However, because many rawmaterials that go into the production of alkyd resins are commodities, the industry gets some exposure to currency fluctuations, according to Coim Brazil coating resins salesperson Fernanda Santos. “What we try to do to go around this issue is diversify the applications for alkyd resins to improve competitiveness.” Cristine Rodrigues de Almeida, Allnex Brazil’s application co- ordinator for Latin America, says that for more conventional alkyd resins, such as low-solids, conventional fatty acid or oil-basedproducts, the economic scenario is putting great pres- sure on prices, all despite of a recovery that has been perceived in terms of volume. “It’s exactly in the technological point of difference that lies the way to add more value to this segment. Changes in chemistry, using specialty oils, faster, more integra- ted production processes and an increase in solids contents are development and innovation points that not only add to performance, but also reduce logistics and process costs. Also, when you look at the highprice of solvents relative toother raw materials for resins, they are causing high-solids polymers to become a key requirement for customers in the local market.” According to Samir Quintiliano, PhD, sales and technology manager at Reichhold, the market in alkyd resins has its own a quality, repeatability and performance requirements that get stricter with each passing year. “On the other hand, the demand for increasingly competitive costs leaves no room for substantial improvements in the polymers that are used. The challenge facing us is to keep low costs while improving performance in products intended for end consumers, as well as, if possible, reducing the amount of VOCs.” DISTRIBUTION - COMMITTED TO INNOVATION With long experience importing chemicals, Interbrasil conti- nues to invest massively in all markets it serves, especially the paint and coatings industry. Interbrasil has made great strides through investments, built on some of its lines of business, opened newmarkets, gained new customers, and struck partnerships to supply the coatings industry. “On a national level, we plan to extend our business to new industries and to launch new products before this year is out. In addition, we are expanding more and more our inter- national sales, and right now we have regular customers in six LatinAmerican countries, inaddition toBrazil.We expandedour team in early 2019 to ‘tackle’ three more countries. As we keep rolling out that expansion plan, we’ll be extending our business to Central America andNorthAmerica by as early as 2014,” says FernandoAndrukiu,Marketing&Business Intelligencemanager. Last year saw the company make a massive investment in technology, purchasing a BI (Business Intelligence) system and a new CRM for Sales, aiming to always be at least a step ahead in information technology, according to executiveMar- celo Barbosa Lima. “We also invest a lot in our team, bringing experts into various departments to further improve them. One other relevant investment went into our flexible foam business, for implementing a filling system for raw materials purchased in bulk.”