ColorMatrix Europe’s MD, William Ravenna, then welcomed visitors and explained the rationale behind the company’s expansion into Africa, followed by a ribbon-cutting ceremony before visitors were bussed to Durbanville Hills for a delectable lunch followed by a moreish wine and chocolate tasting.
Alan Winde is delighted with the investment ColorMatrix has made in the region. ‘There is R3,1-billion in foreign invested funds in the Western Cape, contributing to the creation of jobs and competition.’ Confirming what ColorMatrix had established in their research of this region, Alan iterated: ‘Africa is important to South Africa and the rest of the world. A base in South Africa is an excellent springboard for business on the rest of the continent.’ Interestingly, he also highlighted that six of the 10 fastest growing economies in the world are in Africa.
And so, ‘from red tape to the red carpet’ being Alan’s pet interest, ColorMatrix was welcomed with open arms to the Cape’s business community.
Thanking Alan and guests for their warm welcome, William Ravenna, ColorMatrix Europe’s MD, noted what a real pleasure it was to open this facility in Cape Town.
This launch has been on the cards for around 10 years but William believes its timing couldn’t be better. ‘We’re at the leading edge of the economic wave into Africa and our goal is to help our customers achieve a competitive advantage in this region.’
This 1 800m2 facility is overseen by Dennis |Williams, GM for ColorMatrix South Africa, who’s supported by a team of five managing sales, product development, training and customer trials, and customer service.
A full service approach
ColorMatrix is an innovator of liquid colourants and additives for plastics such as PET packaging, PVC sheets, pipes, polyester and nylon fibres and a host of injection moulded products. Its expertise in dispersion technologies plays a key role in advancing customers’ manufacturing processes, production performance and sustainability profiles.
Speed to market is vital for brands and ColorMatrix’s latest colour systems reduce colour development time from weeks to hours, streamlining design process and the time it takes to access new markets.
Globally consistent colour formulations are equally important to ensure brand consistency and integrity. To achieve this, ColorMatrix’s DosiXpress system creates the same colour standard on the same day anywhere in the world.
The company’s proprietary dosing systems are engineered to deliver colourants and additives accurately and efficiently. The latest system, FlexCart, provides maximum flexibility with interchangeable pumps and product packages. It enables quick, clean colour changes and includes new features to facilitate continuous problem-free dosing.
Full on-site technical support
On-site technical support is integral to ColorMatrix’s services, reflected by the company’s 20 experienced technical engineers. ‘We work on-site with customers to implement our technologies and ensure they get maximum value from them,’ explains Mark Seddon, a ColorMatrix technical service engineer. ‘We do this in a number of ways. In production trials we introduce new products to our customers’ equipment and ensure a smooth transition to full-scale production. We also train their staff and visit regularly to service equipment, check inventory and monitor progress.’
Process reporting
A number of evaluation tools have been created by ColorMatrix to assist customers to understand how they can best benefit from its technologies, which may be in the form of cost savings, production efficiency improvements, or – perhaps – reductions in energy usage and CO2 emissions.
ColorMatrix technicians’ deep understanding of plastics processing means they ensure equipment is set up to optimise the value customers can gain by implementing its colourants and additives.
Regulatory advice and documentation
Victoria Sayer, global regulator manager at ColorMatrix’s global regulatory department, maintains an inventory of all chemicals used at the company’s sites worldwide, offering one truly global regulatory service. ‘We also hold detailed regulatory information on each material so that we can provide informative information to our customers. We have extensive knowledge of the Reach Regulation and the Globally Harmonised System of Classification & Labelling.’
For food-contact applications, ColorMatrix can provide documentation on the four regulatory frameworks in the European Union, the US, the Mercosur regions and China.
‘We also have a deep knowledge of migration testing protocols, toxicology and calculations of human exposure. When required we can submit dossiers to authorities for new food-contact applications.’
For colourant and additive technologies for the plastics industry, ColorMatrix really is a one-stop shop offering rapid colour development, custom dosing equipment, on-site technical support, process reporting and a global regulatory advice and documentation service.
ColorMatrix
www.colormatric.com
