X-Rite: Automotive Industry Color Control Market Share Over 80%

Xixian expert Fei Shilin

Gasgoo.com: At present, energy conservation and environmental protection are the main melody of the entire automotive industry. Automotive coatings are increasingly focusing on improving their environmental performance while improving their performance. Is there a difference between the color control of traditional coatings and environmentally friendly coatings? What are the biggest difficulties and challenges in color control of eco-friendly coatings?

X-Rite: The development trend of coatings is from traditional solvent-based coatings, top-coating coatings to water-based coatings, powder coatings, and the gradual transformation of environmentally friendly green coatings, and gradually replacing traditional coatings as the mainstream of modern environmental-friendly automotive coatings. There are high requirements from all aspects of the paint and even technical aspects, which is a change in the performance of the paint itself. The color is a layer of the paint, a layer of the appearance, the color is given to the material itself. Although the material and technology of the coating are changing, whether it is harmful or harmless, environmental protection or pollution, the color will not change with the material. What kind of material is mainly used, and the use of materials is different. For different material color controls, X-Rite's equipment can adapt to all materials and detect all colors. On the technical side, the technical update of the non-contact spectrophotometer is a recent breakthrough. Previous exposure luminometers required contact with paint film during color testing. Whether it is drying or self-drying, paint must be dry before color testing can be performed. The advantages of the new type of spectrophotometer are: it is non-contact type, it can measure the liquid, can also measure the wet film. When performing a color test, there is no need to wait for the color to be baked, and then tested after molding, which can greatly advance the time of color control, saving time and cost. At the same time, energy consumption during baking is also saved, and the development cycle is also shortened. However, when performing color control, the requirements for the control personnel are very high. Good equipment and materials do not mean successful color control.

Gasgoo.com: What is the key to successful color management? How to unify and standardize color management?

X-Rite: Color is actually a part of the details for the automotive industry or coatings industry. Color itself is a relatively macro thing, but controlling color is a more detailed aspect. We can use the term "microscopic" to define colors, including colors, textures, and luster. So when it comes to managing microscopic details, you need finer control. We must consider from personnel, tools, materials and other aspects, including management methods, hardware and software controls, and so on. X-Rite, as the leader in the industry, provides our customers with the best technology and products, and constantly updates and upgrades their products. However, to control the color and do a good job of color control, I think the most important factor is the quality of the color management personnel. It does not mean that we should buy good equipment. With good materials, everything is better. The most important thing is people, because it is people who want to use this thing. For the unification and standardization of color control, we have some online products and tools that do not require human intervention in automated control systems to help our customers perform color control. However, my understanding of unity and standardization may be somewhat different. I still emphasize that one thing to be automated must be controlled by people. The difference may be that we originally needed a lot of people, and now fewer and fewer people, but we have higher and higher requirements for personnel. One-stop solution, it sounds very simple, but also very attractive to customers, but for the automotive monopoly industry, the color control, but also requires people to color, color management control, program setting and maintenance has a deep Understand that only in this way can we carry out quality color management.

Gasgoo.com: Automotive exterior systems and interior systems are two different systems. Faced with the current situation in which a large number of new materials are continuously used, how to implement effective color management to increase production efficiency and avoid waste?

X-Rite: You are right. For car color control, we are divided into exteriors and interiors. The exterior is a little more of paint, the interior is plastic, textiles, etc. However, with the development of the automotive industry, customers have different needs for the senses. The addition of more colorful colors in the exterior makes the control of the colors more and more complicated. The automaker also needs your product upgrade to complete the color control of effect pigments or special effect pigments. We adapt to the needs of our customers, develop our own technology, and constantly introduce new products. Our company's MI series and MI98 series can guarantee the color analysis from stereoscopic spatial orientation from ten angles. The interior parts are not just the control of the color, but the control of the texture and the gloss. X-Rite's products are not only limited to the control of color, but also the perspective of color products. We have found that for similar interface colors, testing with multiple angles can also reflect its texture changes. This is a new breakthrough. In fact, when color detection is performed, the difference in material does not have any effect on color. Our technology is very easy to operate, as long as the key is good, from this perspective, it is less and less dependent on people, it is important how you analyze and solve this problem. The reduction of the operation flow will have higher requirements on the operator's color control. He needs to understand colors, understand materials, and understand the process of injection molding and painting. In this way, the quality of the product can be controlled and the problem can be solved in the event of a problem. Only by fulfilling this requirement can we truly increase production efficiency from the source, avoid waste, and conduct effective color management.

Gasgoo.com: For color control, are local companies and foreign companies having different needs for color?

X-Rite: X-Rite currently has more than 80% market share in the color control market in the automotive industry. Among the foreign-funded enterprises, GM, Ford, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, European and South Korean mainstream OEMs are our customers. Among the local companies, SAIC, FAW, Dongfeng, Geely, Chery, CNHTC, and GAC are our customers.

The difference in the demand for color between foreign-invested companies and independent brands is mainly reflected in their relatively mature technologies in color control, processes, and processes, and they are the dominant color control. Relatively in the local color control of self-owned brand companies, our role will be more inclined to introduce some of their peer experience to him. At the same time, through their own new technologies to help local self-owned brand companies establish a complete and perfect color management system.

Gasgoo.com: How to position the Chinese market in X-Rite's global strategy? What are the future development plans and strategies in China?

X-Rite: Currently, sales in Greater China account for about 15% of our global sales. The Chinese market, including the entire Asia-Pacific market, is growing in the proportion of X-Rite's global market. In 2010, the company increased investment in this region. Now the president of the Asia Pacific region has established a relatively complete staffing system in the Asia Pacific region, including the technical department, human resources department, and marketing department.

On the other hand, although the company did not establish factories and R&D centers in China, our factories in Zhejiang and Guangdong have many procurement plans. At present, from the point of view of sales strategy, the headquarters value the Chinese market. During the financial crisis, only the Asia-Pacific market has grown in a contrarian direction. We believe that China is a market with great potential. Our goal is to double sales in Asia by 2013, with annual sales guaranteed at a 20% growth rate.