International. Co-developed by AkzoNobel's powder coatings business and CoatingAI, Foftware uses artificial intelligence to help customers improve the application process and reduce their carbon footprint.
Industry-first technology, called Flightpath, optimizes equipment setup to reduce defects and overspray and improve dust consumption, helping to reduce costs, avoid rework, and save time and energy.
The AI-based software has been in development for two years and both parties have just signed an exclusivity agreement, which they joined forces after first crossing paths during AkzoNobel's initial Paint the Future challenge in 2021.
"We are delighted to partner with CoatingAI and strengthen our technical service capabilities," said Remco Maassen van den Brink, Marketing Director of AkzoNobel's Powder Coatings business.
"We are proactively looking for ways to help customers become more sustainable in their operations and this will significantly improve our ability to help them achieve better outcomes, while contributing to our own ambition to halve carbon emissions across the value chain by 2030," he added.
Marlon Boldrini, CEO of CoatingAI, added: "The collaboration with AkzoNobel has helped accelerate our vision from day one. Our solution, based on the power of artificial intelligence and AkzoNobel's technical expertise, will not only increase efficiency for its customers, but also drive greater sustainability within the powder coatings industry."
The software allows customers to optimize equipment settings, such as gun movement, and achieve more uniform and consistent coverage with fewer failures, all thanks to AI-based recommendations. The software does not require complex integration, and as conditions change, it continuously adapts its recommended parameters.
"Collaborating with a startup like CoatingAI, which is pushing boundaries to transform the coatings industry, means we can accelerate our own powder revolution and deliver services like no other," added Maassen van den Brink.
"It's the latest example of how we're constantly innovating and looking for new ways to provide customers with the most progressive and sustainable solutions," he said.
Earlier this year, the company's powder coatings business was the first in the industry to launch an open-access online energy savings calculator for all powder coating users. According to the company, it helps customers better understand how even making small changes to the coating process can have a big impact in terms of being more energy efficient.
