Merck Commissions Fully Automated Unit for the Digital Color Measurement of its Pigment Products

Automation and digitalization of production processes

29-Sep-2022 - Germany

Merck commissioned its first fully automated unit for the digital color measurement of its pigment products. The unit was commissioned in Gernsheim, Germany, the company’s largest pigments production site. Approximately 560 people work at the site.

“We have invested tremendously in recent years to expand our pigment production capacities,” said Jeff White, Head of the Surface Solutions business unit within the Electronics business sector of Merck. “In September 2021, a second production line for effect pigments based on silicon dioxide was launched in Gernsheim – an investment of nearly € 28 million. We are now increasingly investing in automating and digitalizing our production processes. The investment of nearly € 10 million in a unit for the automated and digital color measurement is only one example of how we are further advancing the digitalization of our production processes within Surface Solutions.”

By commissioning this unit, Merck is improving the color reliability of its pigment products. To date, quality control of color pigments has mainly been manual and was highly dependent on the perception of the human eye. With the new, fully automated process, Merck will measure the color values digitally and thus generate extremely reliable color measurement values that can be validated by customers. Improved reproducibility of the pigments will provide customers consistently high product quality worldwide. In the future, color will be a transparent quality criterion.

The new unit is one of numerous projects at Merck designed to advance the quality of products and processes through automation and digitalization. Following Gernsheim, color measurement units are to be introduced in the coming months at additional Merck pigment production sites in Onahama (Japan) and Savannah, Georgia (USA).

https://www.chemeurope.com/en/news/1177897/merck-commissions-fully-automated-unit-for-the-digital-color-measurement-of-its-pigment-products.html