NASHVILLE, TN – AkzoNobel has announced a strategic investment in a new powder coating manufacturing plant in Apodaca, Mexico, a suburb of Monterrey, Mexico. Located five miles from the Monterrey airport, the new 85,000-square-foot facility will include manufacturing, warehousing, research and development labs, administrative offices, and a quality control laboratory. The project was formally approved within the AkzoNobel Board of Management in mid-September, and construction began early December with completion expected to take up to eight months. The site will allow the company to more than double its powder coatings business in Mexico and Central America over the next several years.

The new facility was deemed necessary, as AkzoNobel rapidly approaches the capacity limits of the current manufacturing facility in Monterrey. The company will continue to produce its products in the existing manufacturing facility during the construction phase of the new manufacturing plant, which is expected to be fully operational in the third quarter of 2011.