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E-Weekly
June 30, 2005
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Color-matching service enters
commercialization
By Robert Colvin
Cabarry sees the need for such systems to be most
pressing for small- and medium-sized processors and formulators that
may not be able to afford existing color-matching systems, nor the
expense of maintaining or updating such colorants databases.
Processors wanting to avail themselves of MatchMyColor pay a
time-use fee ranging from 50 to 300/month, depending on the level
of service. Contract lengths range from one to six months or longer,
he says.
"Designers and OEMs often realize too late that the
new product and the colors they designed cannot be made," Cabarry
said at a recent press conference. In doing this they lose time and
efficiency, but he says MatchMyColor could change all that.
Unlike the original beta system demonstrated during K
2004, the commercial version has a wider range of colorants from
producers outside the original partners. Cabarry says these
additional companies pay an inclusion fee to have their materials
listed. They send bags of these materials to SpecialChem for testing
with specific resins.
The number of resins has also been upped since
October. The system now includes high-density polyethylene grades,
high-impact polystyrene, and further down the line this year it
hopes to provide information on thermoplastic elastomers, he says.
Together with the previously listed resins (polypropylene, vinyl,
and ABS grades), the color-matching system covers 80% of all resins
used on today's market, he says.
Besides color feasibility, http://www.matchmycolor.com/ offers recipe
correction possibilities to fine-tune color after an initial color
match; rapid color sampling with color chips delivered within 48
hours; online technical support; and Nelly Rodi's input of color
trends to help make pigmenting decisions. The service does not sell
any colorants, he says. Next step is to offer similar services for
the paints and coatings sector as well as the graphic arts industry,
Cabarry says. - Robert Colvin bcolvin@modplas.com
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