
A new world of technical excellence with Interpon
Radii Planet Group, one of the foremost global manufacturers of aluminum partitions, knows that small, incremental improvements to its powder coating line can add up to a significant competitive advantage.
It’s why for the last four years it has sought the technical knowledge, service support and product knowhow of the Interpon team at AkzoNobel Powder Coatings to make the ‘best’ even better, further improving the quality of its products while reducing reject rates, minimizing waste, and contributing to a more sustainable operation.
It’s also why Radii Planet Group became an early adopter of Flightpath Pro, a software developed by coatingAI in close partnership with AkzoNobel Powder Coatings, that enables a more uniform, consistent coating to be achieved during powder application, accommodating variabilities in spray pattern caused by distance, reciprocator speed and powder type.
Alex Vlase, Production Manager at Radii Planet Group says that Flightpath Pro was especially useful in validating the coating line performance: “Whilst we knew our process was good, we are always looking at ways of making it better through continuous improvement. Having Interpon team use this software as part of our periodic health checks was part of this activity.”
It was an exercise well worth undertaking; in trials, Radii Planet Group was able to improve uniformity by a further 9.3%, and cut powder waste by more than 6.0%, reducing the likelihood of products needing to be reworked or rejected with the inherent benefits of improved sustainability and cost efficiency.
Guns movement chart comparison
Applied powder pattern comparison
Expected uniformity comparison

Bringing coating in house
The decision by the firm to build its own powder coating line in 2021 and bring the process in-house was a major step forward. With a fully automatic, continuous coating line, the firm can coat around 6,000 pieces every week. Providing the benchmark ‘standard’ powder coating in the volumes required is AkzoNobel.
Fraser Green, Division Director, had previous insight of AkzoNobel’s technical knowledge: “I had worked with the Interpon team before in validating the technical performance of a particular coating in a corrosive environment,” he explains, “and found them very easy to deal with.
“Their technical service, combined with the accessibility and availability of their products, and in the more popular colors and finishes that our customers are looking for, made them an obvious choice. The strength of the Interpon brand, which is very well recognized among architects, was also important to us in delivering customer confidence.”
AkzoNobel provides Radii Planet Group with a broad range of powder coatings from its architectural portfolio: this includes but is not restricted to its durable Interpon D1036 and superdurable Interpon D2525. It also includes the Interpon Futura collection and Precis Ultra Matt, and many other colors and finishes to ensure designers and architects are always on trend. It similarly takes advantage of Interpon’s color matching service, if there is a particular color or finish that its customers are seeking.
“We have our more popular colors such as RAL 9005 jet black,” Fraser continues, “and that probably accounts for up to 30% of what we manufacture. Knowing that we can provide virtually any color, and in almost any texture or finish, however, is a major advantage.”
Introducing a new colour or finish onto the line is made easier by the close attention paid by the Interpon team: “They provide us with a good level of information so we can understand the product, and then support us with recommending machine parameters to ensure a consistent, uniform finish or finding a fix to any problem we might face,” Alex adds.
Fraser says that when it comes to product performance, durability and consistency is also key: “Our partitions are installed internally and can come under a high level of scrutiny by the end user so having a consistent and quality finish is important”
Another advantage to using Interpon D is that they are backed by an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD). This means the raw materials, manufacture and transportation associated with creating the powder coatings have been assessed by an independent third-party for transparent sustainability credentials.
“This is critical,” Fraser concludes. “Sustainability has become increasingly important in recent years and was another reason for choosing Interpon. It has made it easier to integrate its products into our own sustainability program.”