BURNABY, Canada - MPI, the Institute that establishes architectural paint standards and quality assurance programs in North America, will partner with the Korea Institute of Construction Materials (KICM) to test paint and coatings to MPI standards. Carboline Korea and KCC already have products approved by MPI, and more Korean paint suppliers are expected to follow. This will enable facility owners and specifiers with assets in Korea and throughout Asia to access locally sourced paint and coatings approved via a well-proven mechanism for verifying their performance.

 

MPI already has a similar testing agreement with the Paint Research Association in the UK for European paint suppliers. With this new agreement, MPI will have global coverage.

 

Seoul-based KICM is the designated agency for testing, inspection and standards for 41 Korean and international organizations, including the Korean Ministry of Land Transport and Maritime Affairs, the Ministry of Knowledge and Economy, and the Ministry of the Environment. Founded in 1994, KICM performs construction-materials testing and research to assure the safety of architectural structures. KICM's practices have earned it international certification as a leading materials-testing organization. KICM runs the Reliability Assessment Center, which does performance evaluation and reliability certification of paint and coatings.

 

Headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, MPI publishes standards and quality assurance programs, training and publications for the architectural paint and coatings sector in the United States and Canada.