ArcelorMittal’s Paint Supplier Innovation Awards broadens its horizons with North American visit

For the first time ever, ArcelorMittal’s Paint Supplier Innovation Awards (PSIA) has gone on tour to broaden the scope of the ideas it assembles, with the group’s Dofasco site in Hamilton, Canada hosting this year’s event.

The new location this year has had the desired effect, with new suppliers jumping at the opportunity to take up the challenge for the first time. More familiar entrants with global capacity were also keen on the shake-up, which gave their North American operations an opportunity to shine.

During the ceremony, Elena Uta, in charge of Organic Coatings product development at Global R&D, said: 

“ArcelorMittal is well known for its leadership in the coil-coated steel market and its constant renewal of its product offer. This annual event is an important way to capture emerging ideas from our suppliers and incorporate the best of them into our open innovation process. We can then follow them up through our “Organic Coating Renewal” initiative, with the help of our suppliers. This year we chose to hold the fifth annual Paint Supplier Innovation Awards in North America to increase the involvement and recognition of our suppliers here.” 

The selection committee poured over 23 submissions from AkzoNobel, Allcolour Paint Limited, Beckers, Henkel, Novacel, Polifilm, PPG, Quaker Chemicals, Salchi Metalcoat, Sherwin Williams and ProCoat/TecCoat. They chose the five projects with the most potential to address major market trends in building construction. These trends show a growing demand for durable, sustainable and aesthetic steel finishes that offer customers excellent value for money and bespoke products and services.

By combining advanced coating technology with cutting-edge digital tools, ArcelorMittal believes it will better meet demand for more sustainable buildings and mass customization. So, this year’s award categories and their winners are: 

• Smart Coating Beyond Incremental Innovation Award – AllColour Paint Limited winning for its new functional and active coating technologies which offer outstanding performance. 
• Process Innovation Award rewarding disruptive processes and cost breakthroughs: This went to Sherwin Williams for their continuous effort to support cutting-edge process improvements.
• Sustainability & Circular Economy Award honoring optimal use of scarce resources (raw materials, energy) and by-products: Novacel
• New Aesthetics for Architectural Building Award: Sherwin Williams for innovating for outstanding durability and aesthetic preservation, well beyond architects’ expectations.
• Industry 4.0 Award celebrating differentiated products & services thanks to digitalisation in coil-coating: AkzoNobel

Angela Pappin, VP Technology, ArcelorMittal Dofasco added: "Our metallurgists will tell you that 25% of the grades of steel we make today were not available just 10 years ago. It’s obvious that product innovation is a must and in the case of steel it is driven from both within as well as from our customers and the demands they place on us. We work with both our customers, and our suppliers, to continuously improve and innovate, pushing the limits of steel as a material of choice for new and different applications and solutions. This collaboration is key to our mutual success and the submissions we received for this year’s Paint Supplier Innovation Awards are fantastic examples of stretching our capabilities through collaboration.”

Innovation dedicated to increasingly sophisticated coatings 
ArcelorMittal’s early collaborations with its suppliers, combined with its technology transfer strategy, allows it to develop groundbreaking coil-coated steel products which provide customers consistent steel solutions across the globe, such as: 

• Granite® Deep Matt: low gloss textured coil-coated steels for residential roofing and commercial and institutional cladding
• TagTough™: Graffiti resistant coating for architectural buildings
• Granite® Farm: our newest interior prepaint in North America, is designed to help agricultural buildings withstand the corrosive effects of ammonia and fertilizers.

More about the Paint Supplier Innovation Awards (PSIA)
The Paint Supplier Innovation Awards (PSIA) is a unique ArcelorMittal initiative which fosters innovative partnership working with its suppliers to spur new product developments that will enable it to truly stand out from its competition. Since 2014, it has been commending the creativity and innovation of those suppliers and recognising their contributions to ArcelorMittal’s leadership in the coil coating industry worldwide. In 2018, the ArcelorMittal PSIA Selection Committee consisted of Purchasing, Marketing and R&D members from both Europe and North America.