The Dow Chemical Company has formed a new business unit focused on the coatings market following Dow’s acquisition of Rohm and Haas in April. Dow Coating Materials combines the resources and technologies of Dow Coating Solutions and the recently-acquired Rohm and Haas Paint and Coating Materials to create the leading supplier of raw materials for architectural and industrial coatings in the world.

“As the world’s largest and most technologically-advanced developer of raw materials for the coatings industry, our primary focus is to enable the coatings innovations of both today and tomorrow,” said Luis Fernandez, the new vice president of Dow Coatings Materials. “At the same time, we understand that Dow is not the primary driving force behind innovation in this industry. Our customers--who include the premier formulators of architectural and industrial coatings in the world--understand the current and growing demands of the industry. We are here to make sure they have the raw materials and technology support they need to stay ahead of those demands.”

Dow Coatings Materials provides a wide range of chemistries and support across many different product lines, including core binder technologies such as latex emulsions (acrylics, vinyl acrylics, styrene acrylics, etc.), epoxies, solution vinyl resins, and other polymer technologies. Additionally, the business offers a strong portfolio of rheology modifiers, including HASE, HEUR, and cellulosic-based products.

The company will also leverage many other product lines within Dow to provide the best possible solution to coating formulators. These include biocides, acrylic monomers, surfactants, polyurethanes, and many others.

This access to diverse products, technologies, and expertise across diverse coatings applications will enable Dow Coatings Materials to aggressively research new solutions and work with customers to identify the technologies they need to meet specific industry needs, such as reducing environmental impact, improving environmental durability (e.g. UV stability, corrosion resistance, dirt pickup resistance), reducing application and life cycle costs, enabling “smart” coating functionality, and many others.

“With global R&D centers around the world and access to powerful tools such as High-Throughput Experimentation (HTE) methods, Dow Coatings Materials offers the industry a unique resource unlike any it has ever seen,” Fernandez said. “I am honored to be leading this newly formed global coatings organization.”

In addition, the newly-combined business assets of Dow Coatings Materials provides customers access to a significantly enhanced business support network, including supply capabilities in every major geography around the globe.

For more information, visit www.dow.com.