Merck Receives Frost & Sullivan Award for Meoxal and Xirallic NXT Lines

Merck was recognised by Frost & Sullivan with the 2016 European Frost & Sullivan Award for Product Leadership, based on its recent analysis of the automotive original equipment manufacturer (OEM) pigments market. Merck’s Meoxal and Xirallic NXT lines are redefining trends in the automotive pigments market by creating new colours and textures for automotive OEMs. Its strict adherence to regulatory standards and global manufacturing guidelines has resulted in the best-performing automotive pigments in the market.

"Most automotive pigment manufacturers only offer effect pigments based on two major groups – pure pearlescent pigments or aluminium-based metal flakes. Merck, on the other hand, combines these two distinctive technologies to achieve unparalleled effects,” said Vinay Venkatesan, Senior Research Analyst at Frost & Sullivan. "Its Meoxal range of luminous metal effect pigments is the latest innovation in effect pigments, merging the advantages of both pigment groups: pearlescent and metallic effect. This has expanded Merck’s colour palette to offer distinctive colours and textures to the market.”

Within the Meoxal product range, Merck has introduced three exceptional colours: Wahiba Orange, Taklamakan Gold and Atacama Red. These colours have outstanding colour saturation and strong flop behaviour, which makes them ideal for all automotive applications, especially waterborne coating systems. Meoxal Wahiba Orange possesses a striking orange metallic look and, therefore, occupies a unique colour position in comparison with other aluminium-based effect pigments. Meoxal Taklamakan Gold allows formulators to produce a wide range of colours, from yellow to green hues. It can further be combined with other pigments to access a broader colour space. Meoxal Atacama Red, the third aluminium-based effect pigment in the series, stands out for its colour intensity, high saturation and brilliance. It is, thus, predestined for use in both deep rich red and warm brown stylings. With the Meoxal product range is it possible to cover a broad range of stylings from golden, vibrant red and deep rich red up to green hues.

Merck has closely analysed market needs by surveying its customer base and conducting internal research. The Xirallic NXT line was ultimately developed and launched in 2014. One of its main products, Xirallic NXT Panthera Silver, is an advanced pigment with strong flop behaviour, clarity and depth in coatings with the distinct Living-Sparkle effect of the Xirallic family. Merck followed it with Xirallic NXT Leonis Gold. This pigment stands out for its colour saturation and the strongest Living-Sparkle effect within the Xirallic product family. Its youngest member is Xirallic NXT Tigris Blue, which captures light in an incomparable way, adding animpressive depth to dark blue and elegant black stylings.

"We are delighted with this prize,” said Michael Heckmeier, Head of Pigments & Functional Materials at Merck, after the award ceremony. "It recognises our market leadership in automotive coating with our Meoxal and Xirallic NXT lines and at the same time acknowledges our constant efforts to always serve our customers and the market best with advanced pigments.” Looking ahead, he remarked, "We see this award as a further incentive to keep on pursuing new approaches. There is more to come: The market can expect more innovative pigments for a wide variety of applications and segments.”

In its analysis, Frost & Sullivan underscores Merck’s efforts to consistently introduce innovative products in line with the significant demand for new colours and texture. This has led to proactive coordination between the company’s global and regional marketing teams, as well as its R&D and technical service team.

Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has developed a product with innovative features and functionality, gaining rapid acceptance in the market.The award recognises the quality of the solution and the customer value enhancements it enables.