PAINT MANUFACTURE

Paint manufacture is a relatively simple batch process. Basically, this is a physical process where raw material such as pigment, a pigment vehicle, binder, solvents and additives are mixed in quantities ranging from 1,000 litres to 20,000 litres. This process is not capital intensive, which accounts for the low cost of entry into low technology paint manufacture.

Further, plant is multi-purpose rather than specialised, which means small producers can manufacture a range of paints. One small paint company manufacturers under approximately 100 different trade names and yet accounts for less than 1% of the total Australian paint sales. Capacity can be increased by the addition of discrete plant units.

Production in Australia is constrained by market size and range of products (over 3,500), which has resulted in batch production rather than 24 hour continuous shift.
However, the major manufacturers are able to conduct continuous production of specific paint types. This is believed by management to improve paint quality and efficiency