Bodyshops harness power of digital colour technology

The bodyshop industry is entering a bold new era of digital working following the launch of Colorvation, a unique approach developed by AkzoNobel’s Vehicle Refinishes business.

Designed to empower the use of digital technology, the initiative enables bodyshop owners, technicians and painters to maximise productivity and profitability by using the company’s Automatchic and MIXIT technologies to increase speed and accuracy in colour matching.

"As partners to our customers we want to equip them with the power of digital technology to transform the way they work,” explained Peter Tomlinson, Managing Director of AkzoNobel’s Vehicle Refinishes business. "We are reducing the cost and complexity of colour matching. Our converted partners are proof that digital is the way forward, and with the continuing innovation of Automatchic, MIXIT and other digital tools, this is just the beginning.”

Automatchic Vision is a Wi-Fi enabled digital spectrophotometer system capable of correctly matching colour up to three times faster than via traditional methods and sending measurements directly to the mixing software on the PC. The company is the first in the world to offer a spectrophotometer with this functionality.

MIXIT is a cloud-based colour retrieval system, which boasts exceptional speed, ease of use and more than two million colours and variants. It is continuously being updated with new features. Most recently, enabling direct connection between the MIXITcloud.com platform and the customers’ weighing scales.

Automatchic Vision and MIXIT form the two important foundations of Colorvation. Ben Zweers, Color Tools Manager for AkzoNobel Vehicle Refinishes business commented: "We tend to take Wi-Fi for granted in our everyday lives so it is important for us to bring its benefits into the bodyshop by adding Wi-Fi to our Automatchic Vision system. With Wi-Fi the measurements are directly transferred into the MIXIT software on your computer so you can immediately start the colour selection and mixing process. MIXIT is already the world’s easiest and fastest colour retrieval tool, and with this new facility we have added even greater efficiency and convenience.”

"Whatever the complexity of the colour challenge, we can now deliver that perfect match quickly and efficiently.”

For more information visit www.colorvation.com