AkzoNobel has completed a major investment project at its production plant in Bac Ninh province near Hanoi in Vietnam, This will help AkzoNobel to strengthen its position in Asia and sharpen its focus on more sustainable manufacturing.

Five new powder coating lines have been added at the multi-site, along with a line for producing water-based products for the consumer electronics market (IT, wireless and home appliances). The total investment amounts to €18.5 million.

“The cutting-edge powder coating lines we’ve installed will help us to grow with our customers, serve them faster and pave the way for a more sustainable future,” says Jeff Jirak, Managing Director of AkzoNobel’s Powder Coatings business.

“Increasing capacity at the site will enable us to focus on supporting volume growth in the northern part of the country, while our Dong Nai facility covers the southern part of Vietnam. It means we can now focus on streamlining our manufacturing processes to meet the diverse needs of the Vietnam market.”

The work included building a fully automated warehouse for the company’s consumer electronics activities, along with installing advanced equipment and technology to deliver higher productivity rates and efficiency gains. This will contribute to AkzoNobel’s ambition to halve its own carbon emissions by 2030. The installation of a new line for water-based consumer electronics products will also help to lower emissions across the value chain.

“We can now offer the latest water-based technology to our Vietnam-based multinational customers, including key Asian consumer electronic brands,” explains Maximilien Schréder, Global Director of AkzoNobel’s Consumer Electronics business. “This represents another important step forward in terms of helping to reduce the overall carbon footprint of our customers.”

Adding the new lines in Bac Ninh is the latest in a series of investments in the South Asia region, following recent capacity expansions in Pakistan, Thailand and Australia.