Revista Paint & Pintura - Edição 231

CLIPPING INORGANIC PIGMENTS - COLORS AND SHADES FOR EVERY KIND OF PAINT Oxidos do Nordeste, best known as Oxinor, a 100-percent Brazilian- -owned supplier of synthetic iron oxide, an inorganic pigment, completed construction on, and started up, their manufacturing facilities back in 2000. It took Oxinor all of two years to consolidate in the domestic market and start exporting to other countries in South America. “We have been around for more than 15 years with a production site located in Goiana, Pernambuco, and offices in Re- cife, the state capital. Currently, we employ 60 people and supply customers in all Brazilian regions, and in other countries as well,” marketing director Eugenia Essinger points out. Eugenia adds that the manufacturing site has its own research and development laboratory dedicated to continuously improving the company’s products. “Not only that, our staff includes a head chemist, coordinating technicians for production and quality, labo- ratory analysts, a team of industrial maintenance and electricians, a shipping area with a loading platform, a waste and water treatment plant, and Wi-Fi covering the entire factory floor for the purposes of our automation plan. Our offices, for their part, are the base for our accounting, billing, sales and logistics teams.” LONZA GROUP OPENS RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER IN SALTO February 26 saw the Swiss-based group Lonza formally open the new Salto Technology Center (STC) in municipality of Salto, upstate São Paulo (Brazil). Covering an area of 1,600 square meters, the STC has 13 research laboratories and offers technical services and product applications, which will allow the development of customized solutions for customers in its six business units: Bio Sciences, Consumer Care, Nutrition & Hygiene, Coatings & Composites, Agro Ingredients, and Water Treatment. With its laboratories, training and conference rooms, and su- pport facilities, the laboratory complex will serve as a Center of Excellence for sharing technologies, ingredients, diagnostic systems and knowledge used in those different business units. Lonza’s CEO Richard Ridinger attended the grand opening ceremony. In his speech to the attendees, he said, “The new Salto Technology Center will join our network of Centers of Excellence around theworld and enable us to share knowledge that facilitates the development of products and services alig- nedwith the specific needs of the South Americanmarket. This concept accelerates the process of developing and transferring new technologies and applications to meet an increasingly demanding and dynamic market, while still ensuring high quality standards.” The Salto Technology Center has state-of-the-art infrastructure and equipment, as well as a multidisciplinary team of highly qualified researchers, including chemists, biologists, micro- biologists, pharmacists and agronomists who are working in partnership with universities and other national and interna- tional research centers.