ArcelorMittal’s Paint Supplier Innovation Awards energise supplier invention

For the fourth consecutive year, ArcelorMittal, the European leader in coil-coated steels, has presented the Paint Supplier Innovation Awards (PSIA), which seek to stimulate creativity among the group’s paint and surface treatment suppliers.  

This competition rewards not past achievements, but proposals for future innovations. Through this contest, ArcelorMittal encourages innovative partnership working with its suppliers to spur new product developments that will enable it to truly stand out from its competition.

Of the 17 submissions from seven international companies, including: ANIF/BASF, Beckers, PPG, Procoat, Salchi, Valspar and Novacel, three suppliers were recognised for their projects at the award ceremony.

This year’s award categories and their winners are

• Performance, functionalities and cost competitiveness: BECKERS, for their breakthrough proposal for a new coil coating concept that paves the way for many future innovations. Moreover, this proposal offers lower energy consumption and cost efficiency. 
  
• Sustainability & circular economy: AKZONOBEL, for their proposal which plans to reuse renewable raw materials. Additionally, this prize recognises Akzonobel’s sustainable development efforts.  
  
• Business development: VALSPAR, for their submission about improving pre-paint durability which will expand industrial use of coil-coated steels. This award also acknowledges their commitment to supporting ArcelorMittal in the development of new products.

During the ceremony, Olivier Brun, global R&D flat products portfolio director for the construction, metal processing and appliance markets, said: “To reinforce its European leadership in the coil-coated steel sector, ArcelorMittal must constantly enhance and renew its product offer. PSIA is an important annual event in our open innovation process because it generates new ideas to explore with the winning suppliers.”

Innovation dedicated to increasingly sophisticated coatings 

In recent years, ArcelorMittal’s strategy of co-innovating with its suppliers has enabled it to develop ground-breaking coil-coated steels that allow the group to maintain its leadership and provide its customers with novel solutions. These products are increasingly sustainable and environmentally friendly, with aesthetic qualities which customers value highly. 

In the field of open innovation, ArcelorMittal has also partnered for several years with the SOragO project, alongside other industrial and academic participants. The project’s aim is to develop paint systems whose majority constituents are bio sourced. The results of this collaborative research project brought about Estetic® BioAir steel:  

Estetic® BioAir: the first coil-coated steel whose organic coating is derived from bio-sourced resins, it enjoys the best seals of approval for interior air quality because it has curbed volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions;

Other examples of coil-coated steels recently launched by ArcelorMittal include: 

• Solano® Nature: the first coil-coated steel whose super-thick (200m) coating is free of heavy metals, particularly hexavalent chromium, while providing excellent protection against corrosion and mechanical damage;
• Granite® Quartz and Granite® Storm: new coil-coated steels for residential roofing. Their matt and textured finishes make them products of choice for the manufacture of roofing products;
• Granite® Silky Shine: these new pre-painted steels for façade systems offer a high-gloss, luxurious finish that enhances buildings’ aesthetics.