WESTPORT, CT — BASF awarded its internal Customer Innovation Award (CInA) to the BASF-EDN Traffic Paint Team. Along with the EDN Traffic Paint Team, BASF recognized Azelis for its technical and commercial collaboration that resulted in a new, superior resin for traffic paint in North America.

The BASF CInA award was inspired by its “We Create Chemistry Strategies” campaign and emphasizes technical significance and depth of creativity demonstrated by one or more individuals or a team in support of EDN’s innovation activities. The award places particular emphasis on entrepreneurial drive, innovation and change orientation, customer and market focus, leadership, teamwork, and collaboration.

Following its nomination and peer review, the BASF N-EDN Leadership Team awarded the Traffic Paint team the CInA for 2020 for the development and launch of ACRONAL Xpress 4347. Azelis was recognized by BASF due to its cooperation and technical collaboration with the project. Azelis’ technical capabilities and market expertise helped to identify the product features, receive early performance feedback, and accelerate the product to market. The award recognizes the partnership with Azelis Americas CASE and Azelis Canada as critical to the success of the launch. The project created new business opportunities for BASF, Azelis Americas CASE and Azelis Canada, and demonstrated the value Azelis brings to strategic principals through technical collaboration in the development of innovative solutions.

Frank Bergonzi, CEO and President, Azelis Americas, said, “We are humbled with BASF’s recognition. This traffic paint project is a prime example of Azelis Americas collaborating with a key principal in creating innovative solutions. It exemplifies our tagline of: Innovation through formulation.”

Rocky Prior, Sr Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Azelis Americas CASE, commented, “Being recognized as part of the BASF CInA Award is a distinct honor for Azelis. We pride ourselves on going above and beyond in the service of our principals and customers. The recognition of our efforts on the Traffic Paint project highlights the results of this dedication. Congratulations to the team members of both BASF N-EDN and Azelis on their success.”

The traffic paint market in the United States is a substantial category within the coatings industry. BASF turned to Azelis to tap into its laboratory and testing expertise, and its market and customer intelligence. The traffic paint market in the U.S. is challenging, in part because a successful resin requires a unique combination of characteristics. The paint must be water-based, dry and cure rapidly, and pass numerous tests to meet federal, state and customer approvals for use. The tests measure durability, drying speed, stability, and among others. A product is not salable without meeting these strict performance guidelines. BASF had the resin formulating team create potential products and turned to Azelis to tap into its expertise on the customer-focused testing and market requirements.

Azelis provided background analysis and competitive resin information, detailed understanding of customer testing requirements and advised BASF on the application of proper testing protocols to ensure compliance. Azelis screened early BASF prototypes and worked directly with target customers for feedback to optimize the product characteristics and performance. The final result was ACRONAL^® Xpress 4347 for water-based pavement marking paints.

Following a beta test period with key customers to validate the product in the real world, the product has launched and gained a solid foothold in the market in its first year.

Learn more about Azelis at www.azelis.com.