Bringing Compatibility to the Next Level for Pigment Dispersions in Point-of-Sale Coating Applications
Hey there, I’m Justin Seay, Key Account Manager at Penn Color. I have the privilege of working directly with customers to understand their challenges and help bring the right solutions to life. At Penn Color, we’re all about delivering a best-in-class experience – through quick response, creative problem-solving, and solutions that are tailored to each customer’s needs.
In this case, a customer was looking for a single line of pigment dispersions, to color both their solvent-based and water-based systems, for their point-of-sales business. Their incumbent supplier had gotten close – several of the dispersions worked well for both bases – but the solution was incomplete, and performance fell short of the customer’s expectations.
At that time, the customer was single-sourced and under pressure, which opened the door for Penn Color to step in. We introduced our off-the-shelf ASTRAD™ Water-Based (WB) and ASTRAD™ Solvent-Based (IS) lines, which immediately showed strong potential. We also identified that for this point-of-sales application, we would have to do further custom-work: to make some inorganic pigment dispersions compatible with organic pigment dispersion within the ASTRAD™ WB product line ; to optimize compatibility of specific colors between ASTRAD™ WB and ASTRAD™ IS.
To close this gap, our lab developed a rigorous test protocol and Design of Experiments (DOE). Over the next six months, our team evaluated a wide range of resins, dispersants, and additives – working hand in hand with the customer to make fast, informed decisions. The result was a breakthrough: not only did we achieve compatibility, but in side-by-side testing, our dispersions outperformed the incumbent solution. Eight colorants have now been developed and approved by the customer.
For us at Penn Color, the story doesn’t end there… by delivering options that had never been available to this customer before, we strengthened a long-term partnership and built meaningful momentum for the next generation of ASTRAD™ products in the point-of-sale coatings market – offering greater flexibility, reliability, and opportunity for both Penn Color and our customer.
