Netherlands-Based Industrial Materials Firm Looks To Expand CE Design Work

AkzoNobel, a $14 billion global paint, coating and specialty chemical producer, wants a bigger piece of the consumer electronics pie. The Amsterdam-based company held a presentation in New York’s fashionable Meatpacking District Wednesday to promote its design services. AkzoNobel's customers include Boeing, GE, General Motors and Proctor & Gamble, and its powder coatings were used in the construction of The New York Times building in New York and Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati. The company works with most major smartphone and PC makers, said Alberto Slikta, managing director, but he wouldn't say how much annual revenue the CE space accounts for. Now, AkzoNobel wants to offer its in-house design team as a third-party service to small- and mid-sized CE companies. The CE business is most similar to the yacht industry among the varied categories in the AkzoNobel portfolio because of the pride and emotional connection consumers have with personal possessions they view as extensions of themselves, said Slikta. Kiki Tang, color and material finishes designer-specialty coatings, showed a swath of smartphone case designs the company has drawn up for the 2015-2016 product season that the AkzoNobel team developed through its research of major market trends. Each year, the company’s design team goes to various trade shows and gathers information about the color, material and texture of the latest industrial designs, analyzes how they will influence the consumer market and then translates the findings into four color themes, eight color palettes and 72 color effects and textures to be used for the latest look in CE finishes. AkzoNobel works with companies on the final design to tweak colors, add accents or develop a specific design for limited-edition product runs, said Tang. Most CE products fall into the black, white and silver color spaces, said Ted Rhee, sales director-CE Americas, but a lot of companies also want special edition products using custom colors and textures. “End users want a unique finish for themselves,” he said. Tactile finishes have become increasingly important for consumers looking for a particular feel, such as the popular soft-touch rubber finish. In the past, soft rubberized coatings could be done only in dark colors because the finish would stain with lighter colors. AkzoNobel developed a way to give bright colors a silky feel without staining, said Rhee.