At Booth 1741, Nubiola is celebrating 100 years of providing innovative color solutions to the plastics, coatings, construction and cosmetics markets, as well as to a wide range of other global industries. It began in 1914, when the company built a small factory in Barcelona to produce laundry-grade ultramarine blues to make white cotton clothes look whiter. One hundred years later, Nubiola has become the world’s largest ultramarine producer, with four plants dedicated to the production of this pigment.
Nubiola also manufactures other specialty inorganic pigments, with particular focus on the high-end grades of each range: iron oxides, zinc ferrites, chrome oxide greens, chrome yellows and molybdate oranges, corrosion inhibitors, and bismuth vanadates.
As the world market became global, the company, headquartered in Barcelona, has expanded globally, too. In 1944 Nubiola opened a factory in Llodio, Spain, which is now dedicated to the production of high-added-value ultramarine blue, violet and pink pigments. In 1969 the company set up a production plant in Colombia to produce specialty iron oxides and zinc ferrites, as well as ultramarine blues, chrome oxide greens, chrome yellows and molybdate oranges, and corrosion inhibitors. In 1992 Nubiola acquired a plant in Romania that now manufactures label-free corrosion inhibitors and a wide variety of ultramarine blues. Two years later, the company acquired a plant in India for the production of ultramarine blues for the Asian market. Nubiola entered the United States in 1999, and in 2003 invested in the current North America headquarters in Norcross, GA, where offices, a technical center, a warehouse and specific manufacturing facilities that make pigment preparations are located.
Since the early 2000s, Nubiola has been expanding its sales office network in Japan, China, the UK and Germany. In total, the company has five production plants and nine commercial sites in key strategic markets, with regional warehousing and customer service to over 85 countries.
Since the company was founded, it has focused its growth on developing high added-value solutions by continuously investing in R&D. The head R&D and applications laboratory was set up in Barcelona in 1970. At present, Nubiola also has applications laboratories in the United States, Colombia, India and Romania, where a global team of more than 50 highly skilled technicians is constantly innovating to develop new products. This strong investment has permitted Nubiola to successfully navigate the challenges in the pigments industry throughout the years.
The company has always endeavored to achieve sustainable growth that minimizes the environmental impact of its activity. Thus, it continues creating environmentally friendly production processes and developing pigments that are more respectful to the environment.
Teamwork has been, and continues to be, a key factor to reaching achievements. Cooperation with distributors, customers and suppliers has made it possible to form long-term trustworthy partnerships, resulting in better solutions to meet growing market needs.
