Global paints and coatings manufacturer Jotun, one of the major providers of intumescent fire protection coatings for the infrastructure and energy industries, announces the completion of major expansion of its Global Intumescent R&D Laboratory to advance new product innovation and technologies.
The ambitious expansion more than doubles the size of the Flixborough Global Intumescent R&D facility, aiming to increase Jotun’s product development and fire testing capacity and capabilities. The new facilities will accelerate the development of new innovations and more advanced products, whilst providing additional certification support to Jotun’s existing product range.
Aims to Develop Regulatory Compliant & Customized Product
Jotun is determined to gain market share in this industry by accelerating development of new and advanced technologies. Its aim is to enter new markets through wider certification and regional product customization in line with rapidly changing market requirements.
This ensures its customers’ assets are fire protected to latest regulatory requirements and materials deliver high performance for their specific location.
It has now expanded to 2,900m
2. The enhanced facility increases capacity and capability for Jotun’s ongoing development of intumescent fire protection coatings, SteelMaster for steel structures within the infrastructure market and Jotachar for vital assets in the energy industries.
Supported by Jotun’s R&D headquarters in Sandefjord, Norway, the enhanced global hub in Flixborough will continue to focus on leading edge R&D projects, driving intumescent coatings technology.
Strategic Investment in Regional Intumescent R&D Facilities
In addition to the Global Intumescent Laboratory in Flixborough, Jotun has cemented its commitment to localized innovation ensuring differing certification and environmental requirements are met within each market. Strategic investment in regional intumescent research, development and testing facilities span Norway, United Arab Emirates, China, Korea, USA, and Malaysia.
Jotun’s enhanced capabilities across its network of intumescent R&D facilities represents a significant milestone in its drive to advancing fire safety through research and development. It is capable of engaging with fire protection authorities, global regulators and certification bodies providing guidance on testing, certification and material performance.
A testament to this commitment was illustrated earlier this year when Jotun unveiled its latest advance in intumescent coatings, Jotachar JF570 XT, a patent pending all-climate capable intumescent coating, designed to protect oil, gas and energy installations from fire and cryogenic spills, in even the most extreme environments.
Facility to Support Structural Fire Protection Requirements
James Irving, R&D manager Intumescent Coatings said, “
When we opened the Global Intumescent R&D Centre in 2016, our vision was for a facility that could evolve to support our customers across the globe as their structural fire protection requirements become more complex and regionalized.”
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We are delighted with this major extension, more than doubling the size of our facility, we are now ready to further enable the development of fire protection coatings and technologies to meet these requirements,” continued Irving.
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Our Intumescent R&D team is expanding rapidly. These new facilities will allow our scientists, technicians, and industry specialists to reinforce our position as a global innovator in this safety-critical area of the coatings industry,” stated Irving.
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This expansion is a key part of Jotun's ambitious strategy to increase market share and grow sales of intumescent coatings by developing a global network of intumescent R&D facilities with Flixborough as the hub,” added Irving.
Source: Jotun