AkzoNobel’s Yacht coatings business has been named an EPIC Award winner at this year’s IBEX Show for setting the industry benchmark in training globally.
Jemma Lampkin and Simon Knight opening YPAC
Hundreds of marine industry leaders gathered for the ceremony in Tampa, Florida, on the 8th of October to celebrate organisations shaping the future of the industry through bold leadership, purposeful innovation and a commitment to positive impact.
The EPIC Awards (formerly the Most Innovative Company Awards) is an initiative curated by Soundings Trade Only to highlight the innovations that positively impact the industry, local communities and the broader global marketplace.
AkzoNobel was awarded for excellence in the ‘Training’ category, recognising the launch of its new Yacht Paint Application Center (YPAC) in the Asia-Pacific region last October to deliver world-class product and technical training.
The state-of-the-art facility, located in the world-renowned Gold Coast City Marina in Coomera, includes a mezzanine-level training room, paint mixing room, preparation bays and an advanced spray booth, and serves as a hub for product education and professional training.
Since its launch, the center has hosted multiple training sessions to upskill customers in the region. The YPAC joins AkzoNobel’s extensive portfolio of facilities across the globe, including centres in Southampton, California and Florida – with the latter regularly training around one hundred application professionals each year.
The EPIC Award also recognized the integration of AkzoNobel’s Virtual Reality (VR) Spray Gun technology into their tailored training programs. The technology is changing how expertise is delivered in yacht coatings by removing the need for liquid paint and saving approximately 3 litres of mixed product per trainee per square meter.
Around 30 customers were trained with the VR tool across the US this past year, in addition to several more who tried the tool during key events in the calendar.
The judging panel, consisting of industry experts, were highly complimentary of AkzoNobel Yacht coatings’ training advancements and recognized them as trailblazers for the future of paint application.
Lucy Cater, Regional Marketing Manager North America at AkzoNobel’s Yacht coatings, said: “We’re proud to have our training excellence recognized by the EPIC Awards, reaffirming our commitment to our customers and our collaborative sustainability standards.
“This year alone, we’ve seen our customers benefit from our investment in training, and this recognition inspires us to continue setting new standards of innovation and craftsmanship across the global yacht coatings industry.”
For more information visit www.akzonobel.com.
