AkzoNobel Launches IONOMY™ Ecosystem to Help Coil Coaters Overcome Transition to Renewable Energy Curing
- The IONOMY initiative is the industry's first not-for-profit alliance bringing together a network of leading energy-cure specialists, developers, consultants, manufacturers and suppliers led by AkzoNobel.
- IONOMY is designed to generate industry awareness and confidence in energy curing to achieve productivity and sustainability gains* and at the same time dispel the mystique surrounding the technology sector that might prevent or delay investment.
- Leveraging decades of know-how the IONOMY ecosystem will allow coil coaters to achieve their dreams and future-proof their business.
AkzoNobel Coil & Extrusion Coatings is introducing the world's first consultancy-led not-for-profit partnership with the aim of making energy curing a scalable commercial reality for coil coaters and integrated steel manufacturers globally.
The venture, called IONOMY™, unites technology and solution experts like materials, curing, systems integration, software and hardware.
IO NOMY ecosystem partners include the following:
• AkzoNobel Coil & Extrusion Coatings – IONOMY initiator and global coil coating solutions leader
• PCT Ebeam and Integration – world-class provider of advanced and secure e-beam solutions for coil lines
• IST METZ GmbH & Co. KG – world-renowned supplier of UV and LED curing systems
• Globus srl – excellence in coating systems and machine engineering for coil
• NOVACEL SA – global leader in processing and protective films for new materials
While energy-curable materials are already on the market for coil coating AkzoNobel attributes slow adoption to complexity of change with most companies not knowing how to get production ready to capitalize on the renewable energy-curing opportunity.
“It's not a question of just fiddling with the process,” according to Sebastien Villeneuve, Transformation Manager, Coil Coatings, AkzoNobel Coil & Extrusion Coatings. “Energy-curing is a complete rethink and re-design of the way coating lines are set up, operated and optimized. We have an appreciation of the sheer scale of the challenge from our customers' perspective and that is why we have created the IONOMY ecosystem“.
IONOMY is an acronym from the terms ‘ionization' and ‘economy'. Ionization signifies the key role of energy to trigger the cold curing process, a backbone of the renewable energy curing technology.
Economy emphasizes the significant business benefits of energy curing: lowering energy cost, more throughput, improved sustainability* and profitability in the long run.
IONOMY is a cross-functional partnership that supports every stage of the energy curing process, from diagnostics and road mapping to line redesign and long-term optimisation.
It's designed to equip firms with the tools, expertise and confidence necessary to install energy curing that delivers quantifiable efficiency and performance gains while reducing their exposure to energy cost volatility and aggressive sustainability legislation.
Based on its broad experience in adjacent markets such as the automotive, wood and packaging industries (where energy curing is well established), AkzoNobel uses these lessons in the complex high-throughput coil coating business.
With the IONOMY ecosystem, there won't be pre-prescribed architecture or pre-defined solutions. If a customer is a new entrant, a steel producer or a coil coater, the IONOMY ecosystem will help define a trajectory for them from their respective needs, limitations and goals to enable access to operationally feasible and commercially savvy transformation for each business.
Chris Bradford, Market Director, Coil & Packaging Coatings, AkzoNobel says that the creation of IONOMY stems from AkzoNobel’s core values: “We’ve been guided by the values of collaboration, innovation and sustainability to step forward and help our customers unlock change.
No one company can deliver this kind of transformation alone which is why the IONOMY ecosystem is built on collaboration to guide the industry into its next chapter.
Our aim is to help coil coaters embrace the more efficient and sustainable future that’s within reach,” explains Chris. “Together we’ll make renewable energy curing not just possible but practical and profitable for all coil coaters and steel processors who will be free to adapt, innovate and compete on a new level.
“This is a challenge that needs new thinking. It needs us to have the courage to think differently and grasp the energy-curing opportunity. That is precisely what IONOMY is,” Chris declares.
Supported by AkzoNobel's international network and science-based carbon reduction goals, the introduction of the IONOMY ecosystem constitutes a courageous pledge: to enable the whole value chain to meet the challenges of decarbonisation, modernisation and sustainable growth.
For further details on how the IONOMY ecosystem can facilitate reduced energy consumption and waste through the application of renewable electricity and material efficiency compared with traditional curing, refer to “Welcome to the IONOMY ecosystem“.
