Significant growth in water-based paints

Nolato’s China-based units have long offered end customers water-based paints for consumer electronics, a more environmentally sustainable alternative to traditional solvent-based paints. Most customers have opted for traditional paints, however, as these still provide better physical and cosmetic function than water-based options. 

But over the past two years interest in water-based paints has increased, due to the greater focus on environmentally sustainable products and tougher restrictions during manufacturing. Water-based paints have grown from accounting for around 5 to 10 percent to more than 60 percent of total paint usage at Nolato Beijing.

“Water-based paints have improved significantly in purely physical terms in recent years, and a number of our customers are consequently considering using them,” says Thomas Hofflander, MD of Nolato Beijing.