Company News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
01/27/2009

New Water-Based Solutions from ICA


The Italian group – a leading specialist in the manufacture, marketing and distribution of special coatings for wood – has developed water-based cycles that have what it takes to meet the wide-ranging
coating requirements of furniture manufacturers.
 
Civitanova Marche, January 27, 2009 – ICA Group, based in the city of Civitanova Marche, in the central Italian province of Macerata, has always been committed to conducting cutting-edge research with a view to developing innovative products that provide value-added responses to the specific requirements of each sector in which coatings are used. In particular, ICA Group has focused on perfecting its advanced solutions for manufacturers of wooden chairs. The company’s consolidated experience in the formulation of coatings that have low levels of environmental impact has enabled it to put itself forward as the ideal partner for manufacturers of wooden chairs, at a time when the market is demanding that quality be combined with measures to safeguard not only the environment but also the health of the user. ICA Group has created a range of highest-quality water-based products targeted squarely at meeting the special coating needs of wooden chairs: thanks to their versatility, these coatings can be used within mixed cycles (i.e. in combination with solvent-based products), thus allowing users to replace solvent-based coatings gradually, having seen first-hand the advantages afforded by water-based technology. At its branch in Manzano, in the province of Udine (one of the main hubs in the so-called “Friuli Chair-Manufacturing Triangle”), the company set up a meeting to showcase its products to those in the industry and to carry out demonstrations of the special coating cycles it has developed for use on chairs.
 
ICA Group has put together three fully water-based coating cycles – one transparent and two lacquered cycles (which differ in terms of the type of base coat used: white or transparent) – that are intended for use in the wooden chair-manufacturing industry. The transparent cycle starts with water-based immersion base coat “TAPU”, which is followed by a coat of transparent monocomponent water-based base coat FA543, sprayed electrostatically (100-120 g/m2). This highly transparent solution delivers tangible advantages such as high wettability of the wood fiber, and it is also easy to sand. Once dry, a coat of transparent monocomponent water-based top coat AO558G25 is applied electrostatically (80-100 g/m2), producing a final result that is exceptionally soft to the touch. The two lacquered cycles are similar though not identical. The first starts with two coats of white water-based base coat FA47BEC, applied electrostatically (100-130 g/m2), which provides excellent coverage and reduces removal of the wood fiber. After drying, pigmented water-based matt top coat AOB510G25/N is applied electrostatically (100-120 g/m2). This top coat is also used in the second lacquered cycle, which differs only in that it is based on two coats of transparent water-based base coat FA543 (the same base coat used for the transparent cycle).
 
The three coating cycles developed by ICA Group represent concrete examples of how the company has the capacity to customize its products in response to the specific manufacturing requirements of its clients, combining excellent appearance with reduced environmental impact. The technology of the company’s water-based solutions has now matured to such an extent that the performance of these coatings is equal, and sometimes even superior, to that of solvent-based coatings, both in chemical/physical terms and from an aesthetic perspective. As such, the high performance now delivered by these coatings in strictly operational terms (drying times, ease of sanding, etc.) means that industrial processes need no longer be compromised by the use of water-based coatings. In addition to all of this, there is ICA Group’s longstanding commitment to environmental protection – a tradition of eco-awareness that fits in perfectly with the ever-increasing demand from a plethora of different manufacturing sectors (not just chairs but furnishings and decoration as a whole) for coatings that have low levels of environmental impact and that are geared towards protecting the health both of those who actually apply the coatings and of those who use the rooms in which the coatings have been applied.
 
To be successful in today’s marketplace, ICA Group is convinced that it is now essential to ensure that products such as wooden chairs are fully natural and eco-sustainable. To this end, the substitution of solvent-based coatings with water-based equivalents is a factor that can be competitively leveraged, since the properties of water-based coatings translate into values that are now perceived as vitally important by producers and end users. This factor is even more significant at present, when the chairs manufacturers operating within the “Friuli Chair-Manufacturing Triangle”, for example, are undergoing the delicate process of redefining the basis of their competitive approach. Thanks to its 20+ years of experience in the field of water-based coatings, ICA Group is blazing a trail for all of those companies that, like the wooden chair makers, are ready to face the challenges posed by market demand for a combination of high quality and eco-friendliness.
 
ICA Group’s mission to combine innovation and highest quality with low levels of environmental impact is an objective that it has been actively pursuing since 1983, the year in which it released its first water-based coating products. The decision to concentrate more and more closely on water-based coatings, which was the result of a rejection of the widespread and deep-rooted conviction that solvents were indispensable for excellent coating performance, has proved to be a challenge that is very much in synch with the increasing awareness of the public vis-à-vis environmental issues. Moreover, limiting solvent emissions is not just a sign of ICA Group’s respect for nature, but also of the company’s respect for people – i.e. those who live and work in contact with products onto which ICA-brand coatings have been applied. As a consequence of ICA Group’s dedication to reducing environmental impact, their range of bicomponent water-based coatings was awarded the LIFE mark by the European Union in recognition of the “sustainable long-term development” demonstrated by the company in its endeavors to lower atmospheric pollution. ICA Group’s research in this field was presented to the European Commission within the context of LIFE (L’Instrument Financier pour l’Environnement), a program launched for the purpose of giving financial incentives to organizations involved in “sustainable long-term development”. The central objectives of the LIFE program are the control and reduction of pollution in its various forms through “clean” technologies. ICA Group’s project was the only initiative in the coating-products sector to receive an award: the products developed by ICA Group were shown to work effectively towards a reduction in atmospheric emissions of Volatile Organic Solvents (VOSs).
 
ICA Group’s products, which are intended for use by professional users, are sold all over the world. ICA Group’s highly specialized distributors cater to the requirements of the various industry sectors in which wood coatings are used (such as interior design, carpentry, boatbuilding, exterior fixtures, door and window frames, garden furniture, parquet flooring and musical instruments).