Scandinavian Paint and Printing Ink Manufacturers, Past, Present and Future

Anders Kjellin, Editor, Färg och Lack Scandinavia, SLF’s member journal

The oldest Scandinavian paint manufacturer was Laurits Holmblad. He made oil paints in 1819. His father Jacob was born in Sweden 1736 and became a colour-master and made dyes in Copenhagen since 1777. Flügger manufactured paint in Hamburg already 1783 and opened a branch in Copenhagen 1890. Arendt D. Burcharth founded a paint company in Denmark 1861 and Lykke Thomsen Esbjerg Paint in 1889. Sadolin was founded in 1906. In Finland Schildt & Hallberg produced linseed oil in1886, which later was used to cook linseed-varnish, The paint production started 1919. The Norden paint company in Norway made anti-fouling paints in 1886.

Wilh. Becker started in 1865, Klint Bernhard in 1874, Dorch. Bäcksin and Gustaf Sjöstedt in 1889. In 1906 J.M. Alfort and C.W. Cronholm established their paint company.

I will present some of the pioneers alive on video for you; J.C. Hempel, Odd Gleditsch Sr and Axel Alfort.

After the First World War the number of companies increased. I will show you the development from 1920 until today. After the Second World War many companies "joined forces". Several companies got new owners.

Beckers, Dyrup, Hempel, Jotun and Tikkurila became more international. The number of their employees in non-European countries increased substantially.

Oil paints, marine coatings, anti-corrosive paints, paints for professionals, paints for do-it-yourself, industrial coatings, artist paints, printing inks were natural market segments in the early days. Later on the market segment became more specialized e.g. plastic coatings, coil coatings, wood coatings, automotive coatings, yacht coatings and you will see how the Scandinavian companies are segmented today.

Product development must cope with customer demands. We need improved and new resins to develop new products. Environmental regulations must be met. Today there are fewer resin supplier then before. Some companies develop their own resins, others rely upon their suppliers. Customers also ask for service and training. There are several organisations and institutions in Scandinavia supporting us, i.e. research institutions, universities. These will be listed.

My own views about our future will be presented together with some of the Scandinavian paint companies CEO´s views. Since Akzo Nobel Coatings became number one in size and PPG became second it seems to be a race that will continue. We have also seen other companies, often family-owned, who by concentrating their market segments and expanding in new countries have continued to grow.