LINPAC Viscount, the division of LINPAC Group serving the Asia Pacific region, has received the ‘Dulux Australia Supplier Excellence Award’ in the much sought-after DuluxGroup Supplier of the Year Awards 2009. The win follows the division’s introduction of its tinplate-replacement plastic Nupail paint container – incorporating innovative Paint Skinning Adhesion Technology. Dulux Australia is part of the newly named DuluxGroup.
Every year since 1991 DuluxGroup has presented awards to preferred suppliers that demonstrate the highest levels of performance across a variety of areas. ‘Supplier Excellence’ and ‘Special Commendation’ certificates are awarded in each category, along with an overall Supplier of the Year accolade covering all divisions.
Altogether more than 3,000 companies provide products and services to the DuluxGroup, and 120 suppliers to Dulux Paints, Powder and Industrial Coatings, Selleys and Yates in Australia and New Zealand participated in the rating process in 2009. Over the course of the year these suppliers were evaluated twice against a range of demanding criteria, with LINPAC Viscount achieving the highest rank as a supplier to Dulux Australia.
Paint Skinning Adhesion Technology
LINPAC Viscount first became involved in the search for a solution to traditional paint skinning problems in the late 1990s. As every householder who has wielded a paintbrush knows, paint develops a skin on its surface during storage that can break up and contaminate the rest of the product. These gelatinous deposits cause particular difficulties with spray painting systems.
LINPAC Viscount began its search for an answer to the problem in 1998, but it took the division most of a decade to develop and trial an effective commercial solution – a unique coating applied to the inside of a plastic container that causes any deposits to adhere to the lining and not become mixed with the paint. LINPAC patented its new system and dubbed it ‘Paint Skinning Adhesion Technology’.
Linings that perform a similar function on metal cans and pails have existed for many years, but LINPAC Viscount is one of the first companies in the world to both develop such a coating for plastic containers and turn it into a commercial product.
The company conducted extensive trials, and Dulux Australia subsequently approved the coating for use with plastic pails and interior household water-based paints. The development led to the introduction of LINPAC Viscount’s ‘Nupail’ container, and facilitated Dulux Australia’s change to cost-effective, lightweight and ultimately more environmentally friendly plastic packaging, in place of metal.
Announcing the Dulux Australia Supplier Excellence Award, Dulux Australia’s General Manager Andrew Ingleton, declared: “LINPAC Viscount has been a stand-out supplier in terms of support and delivery performance to the Dulux Decorative business. During the year the company has run a co-ordinated project team which has supported the roll-out of 15-litre plastic packaging in the trade market, and has risen to the many challenges encountered. The move to plastic packaging has enabled the Decorative business to realise savings in the trade market and to improve our overall sustainability footprint.”
Shane Moloughney, Managing Director of LINPAC Viscount, commented: “To be awarded the Supplier Excellence Award by Dulux Australia is a fantastic achievement and a great compliment to our team. I would like to thank them, and our customer Dulux Australia, for their continued commitment and support. There have been many twists in the road to developing the Nupail, but we now have a market-leading product to be proud of, and one that offers real competitive advantage for our customers.”
Mike Arrowsmith, LINPAC Group CEO, added: “This award demonstrates our commitment to innovation and customer service. Our goal is to create real value for our customers – helping them to improve their performance, competitiveness and profitability. We work to achieve this by being more innovative than our competitors, offering better quality products and services, and providing higher levels of customer support.”
LINPAC Viscount supplies plastic paint packaging to all Dulux Decorative manufacturing sites in Australia and New Zealand in a range of sizes from 1 to 15-litres.
A selection of Dulux Australia’s paint products in the 15-litre version of LINPAC Viscount’s Nupail packaging – featuring LINPAC’s innovative ‘Paint Skinning Adhesion Technology’
Notes for Editors
LINPAC Group
LINPAC Viscount, also known as Viscount Plastics, is one of the four main divisions of the United Kingdom-based LINPAC Group.
LINPAC Viscount serves customers across the Asia Pacific region – providing packaging, materials handling, water harvesting and industrial product solutions and applications to various end-user and consumer markets. It is a market leader within Australasia for rigid plastic containers, food packaging and plastic materials handling products, plus lubricant packaging in Asia.
With a flexible manufacturing footprint spread across Australia, New Zealand and Asia Pacific, as well as global partnerships in Europe and America through the LINPAC Group, LINPAC Viscount is well equipped to provide customers with global manufacturing, service and technical support. By delivering world best practice in plastics manufacturing and product solutions, customers are assured of the highest standards of quality and performance. The company’s Australian and New Zealand plants are ISO9001 and/or 9002, QS9000, ISO 14001 and HACCP compliant where appropriate.
LINPAC Group is an international market leader in tailored packaging and supply chain products and services, with annual revenues of GBP 1.1 billion. The Group’s 7,500 employees are based at 83 locations across four continents.
Formed in the United Kingdom as Lincolnshire Packaging in 1959, LINPAC Group has driven developments in plastic packaging, container and film technologies worldwide since 1969 and has released a stream of innovations. The business continues to enhance the performance of its products, reduce the volume of raw materials used per article, promote reuse and returnable transit systems, develop new applications, improve machinability and deliver more attractive packaging solutions for customers.
LINPAC Group serves a wide variety of market sectors – from retailing and food production to the public sector, and from automotive manufacturing to fishing. Its integrated solutions include primary food packaging, returnable crates/containers for distribution and on-shelf display, asset management, RFID, and the recycling of post-consumer plastic packaging waste and end-of-life products.
DuluxGroup
DuluxGroup is part of Orica, one of Australia’s leading publicly owned companies and among only a few truly global Australian companies. DuluxGroup is a marketer and manufacturer of premium branded products that enhance, protect and maintain the places and spaces in which people live and work. The division was previously known as Orica Consumer Products and was created after Orica acquired ICI Australia Pty Ltd in the 1990s.
Among the business units of DuluxGroup are Dulux Australia (paints, powder and industrial coatings), Selleys (adhesives) and Yates (garden products, seeds, etc.). The division operates across Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Fiji.