Integrated tinting solutions

From manual tinting to an Integrated Tinting Solution for in-plant and POS, Nanjing Alwayslucky relies on Integrated Tinting Solution from CPS Color

Staying ahead of the game in an increasingly competitive market can be quite a challenge for paint manufacturers. Nanjing Alwayslucky Paints Co Ltd continuously faces fierce competition from international corporations.
In 2001, the company decided to increase both its capacities and its production efficiency. The Chinese paint manufacturer turned to CPS Color for advice and opted for an Integrated Tinting Solution with new dispensers and colourants. Today Nanjing Alwayslucky is able to simultaneously dispense higher volumes and has dramatically decreased production time, leading to the effective control of overall production costs.
Nanjing Alwayslucky Paints is a medium-sized manufacturer and distributor of decorative and wood paints located in Nanjing, in the province of Jiangsu, China. The company’s humble beginnings go back to 1988, when it started with the production of batch tinting in manual tanks in a classroom. The company has come a long way since then and now ranks among the top three paint manufacturing companies in the region. Since 2001, 100 people work with tinting systems for both in-plant and point-of-sale (POS) tinting in a new modern location outside the city. The paint expert delivers its products to local retailers and construction contractors.
One of Nanjing Alwayslucky’s major business goals is to maintain its position as the frontrunner of the local paint market. Growing competition from international paint manufacturers and an ever-demanding industry called for a dramatic increase in production. "Prior to working with CPS Color, the concept of integrated tinting solutions was a mystery to us,” says Tom Xu, Deputy General Manager at Nanjing Alwayslucky. Before turning to CPS Color for advice, the company used several different machines from various suppliers. "We encountered some problems with this different equipment because it was not compatible with one another. In addition, we wanted to get better service, which CPS Color was also able to provide.”

Integrated Tinting Solution
CPS Color carefully analysed Nanjing Alwayslucky’s requirements and tailored an integrated tinting solution to the company’s needs. With its integrated tinting solutions, CPS Color offers customised solutions with one single point of contact for all requirements. It includes colourants, colour formulas, dispensing and mixing equipment, software, technical support and equipment service.
Nanjing Alwayslucky opted for a Corob D600 and a Corob D800 dispenser as well as the Monicolor DW colourant range. In the early stages of production, the company used one-by-one dispensers. However, dispensing speed was far too low for the growing paint demand. Corob D600 and D800 are simultaneous dispensers that are suited for high paint volumes.
Corob D800 operates with especially economical gear pump technology. The pumps move very slowly when they are not required for the dispensing cycle, thus significantly reducing maintenance costs. Corob D800 features an active humidifier with sensors that are capable of detecting both air temperature and humidity. The humidifier nozzle system and daily maintenance programme, in turn, ensure a longer lifetime of the equipment. With its modular design, Corob D600 – the second dispenser in use at Nanjing Alwayslucky’s production facility – makes it possible to choose between multiple configurations of canisters in different shapes and sizes. The fully automatic dispenser allows users to tint paint with water-based, solvent-based and universal decorative and industrial colourants.

Chinese colour specialities
Nanjing Alwayslucky uses its Corob dispensers for Monicolor DW, a water-based colourant range from CPS Color that was especially designed for the Chinese domestic market. Unlike Europeans, Chinese customers do not use oil-based paints in the decorative environment. The Chinese market is dominated by water-based paints. Colour trends in China also differ significantly from Europe or North America: 90% of colour used for interior decoration is white. The other 10% usually come in lighter shades such as yellow and grey. Regarding colourants with higher tinting strength, red is the most popular colour, as opposed to green, which is not very common in China.
Additional reasons for changing to the new colourant range are the current regulations on VOC (volatile organic compounds) content in paints and colourants. To comply with these regulations, Nanjing Alwayslucky needed to switch to colourants with lower VOC content.
The company chose 13 colourants from the Monicolor DW range based on current Chinese trends. The paint manufacturer used to work with two differing colourant ranges for point-of-sale and in-plant tinting. The higher pigment concentration in the Monicolor DW range is an advantage for both systems – accounting for lower tinting costs and higher production efficiency compared to standard colourants.

Huge savings across the board
"After unifying both systems to run with Monicolor DW colourants, we have achieved significant savings in time and costs: Production has become much more efficient, convenient and cost-effective,” Tom Xu underlines. "Monicolor DW is cheaper than our previous colourants and higher in pigment concentration.” This means that Nanjing Alwayslucky needs less colourant to achieve the same effect. Customers also benefit from this price difference. "We are especially happy with the amount of time we save. We now only require one database for colour formulation, which makes work a lot easier,” says Tom Xu. All in all, Nanjing Alwayslucky reports decreased production costs of more than 30% in the POS tinting sector. The production rate for both POS and in-plant tinting has risen to 10,000t of paint/yr.
"The advantage of using CPS Color’s colourants and equipment is that you have one single point of contact for all issues. You receive a higher quality and ultimately achieve a better cost-performance ratio,” Tom Xu adds. "After working with CPS Color for more than 10 years, we are convinced of the top quality and service. Moreover, our staff are familiar with the technology and we are already working on further projects.”
In the long run, the company wants to expand further, ideally by purchasing a Tinting During Filling (TDF) machine. In the meantime, Nanjing Alwayslucky plans to buy another Corob D800 dispenser to fulfil even higher production demands. The company might also opt for a new low-VOC and APEO-free colourant version in the near future. This new range is currently developed at CPS Color’s Shanghai site and is designed to meet the increasing demand for environmentally friendly products from leading Chinese paint manufacturers like Nanjing Alwayslucky.