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Success stories
Hempel A/S Resilience and ingenuity: Hempel A/S pioneers epoxy intumescent solutions for a competitive edge
Rameer Tharola, Segment Development Manager – Global H-PFP
How is Hempel Paints thriving? Recognising a gap in its portfolio of protective coatings a decade ago, Hempel Paints has invested a huge amount of energy in developing a product for clients in the hydrocarbon passive fire protection segment. Now, after many years of testing and refinement, the company is already making inroads with customers who have responded well to the new solution. With new contract wins secured and a growing pipeline of awards emerging, the decision to target this sector appears to be an extremely wise one, not least because the company can now position itself as a one-stop coatings shop for many of its customers. The challenge Any business that has been operating for a century has the right to say it has stood the test of time. Since 1915, Denmark’s Hempel Paints has been developing, producing, and distributing paints, coatings and coating systems predominantly for the protective, marine, container, yacht and decorative industries. Its ethos is simple – to provide high-quality, sustainable coatings solutions that protect and enhance surfaces and structures around the world. And it is a truly global enterprise, its footprint comprising 30 factories, 130 distribution points and 14 research and development
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EIC Survive and Thrive
centres that are operated by a workforce of 6,500 employees who oversee more than €2bn worth of business each year. Despite the company’s huge legacy and standing with clients in multiple industries, one relatively underexplored segment is hydrocarbon passive fire protection. A key challenge, therefore, lay in developing fire protection coatings that could fill this prime gap in its extensive portfolio. The solution Hempel has invested significant time and resources into R&D in the hydrocarbon segment. It has a dedicated department based in one of its centres in Spain which is charged with developing a product to cater to energy industry standards and offer something superior to what is currently available on the market. In July 2022, the company launched Hempafire XTR 100. A lightweight product with easy application compared to its competitors, it has been successfully trialled against industry test standards and in highly corrosive environments. It is already proving popular with several large industry operators, including NOCs/IOC’s and EPC’s working in the downstream segment – key to its popularity, among other things, has been the ability to find the optimal balance between low weight and the quality of protection offered. Getting to this point has been a decade in the making, with the testing cycle alone lasting several years to ensure it can perform against numerous tests and standards.
2023