Basel, Switzerland – 3 July 2018:  Dr Michael Koerner, Research Fellow at Axalta (NYSE: AXTA), won the SURCAR Technology Achievement Award in recognition for his presentation entitled Exterior Colorcoats for Digital Printing. The presentation explained research combining coating technology with digital paint application. The Award was received at SURCAR’s inaugural North America conference in Detroit, Michigan, USA.

As the demand for multi-toned and customised vehicles increases, automotive OEMs continue to show interest in digital printing for exterior colourcoat applications. Dr Koerner and his colleagues at Axalta are working on applications that could provide the automotive coatings industry with the ability to print various coatings and colours directly onto a vehicle body, which would increase OEMs’ accuracy, styling capabilities and effectively help to eliminate the waste that happens with current atomised spray application techniques. 

“Digital printing technology has the potential to impact multiple facets of the automotive industry from reducing OEMs’ energy and material consumption, to precision paint application for the autonomous vehicle market, to customer-driven customisation during the car buying process,” said Dr Koerner. “We have made good progress in understanding how to control jetting for precise drop targeting, however, paint is not ink and vehicles are not made of paper, so the coordinated development of advances in both new paint formulations and applicator design are essential to making this technology a reality.”

Axalta first highlighted key learnings from the print industry that may be applicable for the automotive industry at the annual Future Of Coatings Under Study (FOCUS) conference earlier this year in the US.

For more information and to visit Axalta’s newsroom, visit www.axalta.co.uk. 

About Axalta 

Axalta is a leading global company focused solely on coatings and providing customers with innovative, colourful, beautiful and sustainable solutions. From light OEM vehicles, commercial vehicles and refinish applications to electric motors, buildings and pipelines, our coatings are designed to prevent corrosion, increase productivity and enable the materials we coat to last longer. With more than 150 years of experience in the coatings industry, the 13,300 people of Axalta continue to find ways to serve our more than 100,000 customers in 130 countries better every day with the finest coatings, application systems and technology. For more information visit axalta.co.uk and follow us @Axalta on Twitter and on LinkedIn.