By Liz White, UT staffPalo Alto, California-In a recent analysis of the US Paint Additives Market, Frost & Sullivan selected BYK-Chemie USA Inc. for its 2005 Product Line Strategy Leadership Award-as the group "offering the most comprehensive product portfolio to the US paint additives market."The annual award is for a company with, "the most insight into customer needs and product demands." The recipient "should have optimised its product line by leveraging products with the various price, performance, and feature points required by the market," said an F&S statement. BYK-Chemie is successfully meeting the changing requirements of diverse application segments in the US paints and coatings industry. With constant development of new silicones and novel wetting agents, the company is moving into group transfer polymerisation, which is the next generation of wetting and dispersing agents. The supplier has also developed new products to cater to the changing needs of the US coatings market. The trend towards lower volatile organic compounds, especially in architectural coatings, means resins low in solvent or glycol are in greater use. More efficient defoamers are needed, which BYK-Chemie has tackled by developing BYK-012-a highly efficient mineral-oil and silicone-free defoamer for aqueous systems. "BYK-Chemie continuously strives to stay in the competitive edge by introducing new products," said F&S senior research analyst Deepak Tulsian, in the company's announcement. "
