Axalta Coating Systems will build a new automotive coatings manufacturing facility in China with investments of over $50m.
The new facility is scheduled to break ground in the second half of 2013 following the approval from the government, while production is expeceted to commence in the first quarter of 2015.
Located close to the Shanghai area, the facility is expected to support the manufacturing capacity of Axalta's OEM coatings manufacturing plant in Changchun that is increasing production to meet growth of the automotive production in China.
Following completion, the plant is expected to produce and supply about 25,000 metric tons of paint and waterborne coatings to automobile manufacturers, which are expanding into south and central China.
Axalta Operations vice president Peter Hurd said, "The waterborne coatings that will be produced at the new facility will be used in two of the consolidated manufacturing processes that Axalta has developed for automobile manufacturers to improve productivity and save energy."
The company claims that its 3-Wet water-based system would replace the need for a full oven bake step required after the application of traditional primers, allowing manufacturers to replace larger ovens that are expensive to build and costly to operate.
Products manufactured at the new facility will be used with Axalta's EcoConcept production system that combines the primer and basecoat.
