Asian Paints - Capabilities

Asian Paints Research & Technology Centre is a state of art facility, that every scientist can dreams of. With most modern equipment, instruments and machinery, scientists can conceptualise, develop and characterise innovative products. The facility has customized laboratory for every domain like resin, emulsion, paints etc. The pilot scale up includes modern high tech instruments to seamlessly scale up designs for efficient standardization, for manufacturing. The facility also includes industrial coating and powder coating extrusion machines. The High Through Put equipment’s available at Emulsion and colorant labs enable faster run time through micro experiments. High pressure reactors aids in development of new resins and emulsions. We have in-house expertise that enables research in and through microbiology, analytical instrumentation and colour chemistry. Application lab and experiential zone provides hands on understanding before launching a product. Capability building of employees at Asian Paints Research and Technology is a strategic priority to ensure holistic development by integrating classroom and on-the-job learning via focused behavioural and technical programs. These programs are personalized to individual needs and in alignment with overall organization strategy. Relevant learning interventions are delivered through classrooms sessions and leading-edge learning platform which can be accessed 24*7.

Experiential zone embodies our commitment for creating experiences through power of science. It exhibits different wall finishes, wall papers, waterproofing products, adhesives and hygiene coatings... and also captures how we study interactions of these products with substrates, plasters and application tools, which vary across regions and hence, need to be addressed appropriately to ensure uniform outcome. A section for Mechanized tools, highlights our emphasis on offering faster and smoother finishes to customers, and the light booth allows us to understand the effect of light. It generates 16 Million color effects…an upcoming era of wall fashion. And finally, the visualizer section, which offers a virtual experience of how a home would finally look like….  A perfect visualization for Interior designs & wallpapers. The facility is utilized to give our new joiners and customers a glimpse of products & services.

Asian Paints has always been in forefront when it comes to learning and development of employees. Research and Technology has a dedicated training academy by the name ‘SIKSHALAYA’ with a focus of upgrading the technical skills of employees and expanding the in house expertise to many more individuals. The academy has state of the art infrastructure that provides latest learning technology tools and aims to enhance participants’ learning experience. Academy hosts workshops of one-to-three days duration and covers diverse technical domains in the area of polymers, paints and coatings, paint testing, characterization and material science. The workshops are conducted by subject matter experts within the organization as well as renowned academic experts from India and abroad. The training calendar is published at the beginning of the year so that every employee gets clear visibility of the upcoming programs and can select a program of utmost relevance.

Asian paints have been pioneer in bringing range of exceptional exterior products in Indian market offering different properties and warranties ensuring that we stand tall on our customers stated and unstated needs. While these products are developed they have been tested thoroughly in lab along with outdoor panel exposures ensuring the durability of product is well established.

Further to this, to ensure our confidence in assuring customer for the service life of products, we took up an initiative somewhere around 2009 to not only test the product in lab but also in natural outdoor conditions which will be the real test for its performance. 

With this in mind in 2011 Asian paints created our very own dedicated Exterior Test Facility in Cochin which had all elements of harshness i.e. Climate, extreme temperature, humidity, wind driven rains and harsh sunlight. This proved to be a game changer in arena of Paint Testing for Asian Paints. Till date most of our products be it Apex, Ultima, Protek, Duralife and so on have been tested and validated here making it pivotal stage before launching a product in market. 

Moving further as we know, India is a geographically diverse country having places with extreme climatic conditions, one such area with extreme climatic conditions is Mahabaleshwar.  It is a hill station which is approx. 4721 ft above sea level. It is a vast plateau measuring 150 sq. km bound by dense lush green valleys on all sides. Climate in Mahabaleshwar is considered in extreme heavy rainfall zone measuring annually more than 6500 mm rainfall which is nothing but 3 times that of Mumbai today. The extreme rainfall coupled with dense greenery around making it susceptible to heavy algae growth and severe leaching. This coupled with extreme cold temperatures in winter makes it one of the ideal location to test our product performance.  

With this in mind this year in 2019 we identified a 0.5-acre land amidst the complete green belt of Mahabaleshwar and developed an akin testing facility like Cochin.  Both the facilities are well divided in three parts, the first part being the tile exposure area which is solid platform with around 8-10 racks for holding test panels. Second and the largest part is the area comprising of approx. 5 to 8 ft high walls with unique “A” shape at the top and “L” shape at the bottom to test paints on surfaces with varied angles. The site is well carved to fit in as many walls as possible ensuring we get maximum wind driven rains. The total testing area is approx. 6889 sq. Ft. The third part is the gate house cum utility area which we will be used to house our samples, application tools equipment’s and other required things. The first set of paint testing started in May 2019 this year making it effectively functioned. 

Today, Mahabaleshwar site coupled with Cochin, have been very unique and one of its kind testing sites by any paint company in Asia. A testing facility that is capable of generating wealth of real life data for our products.