When people board a commercial airliner most anywhere in the world, it is more likely than not that the paint covering the exterior and interior of the airplane was made in the Waukegan factory of AkzoNobel.
A Netherlands-based business founded in 1792 with ties to Nobel Peace Prize founder Alfred Nobel, AkzoNobel began making coatings for airplanes in Waukegan in 1999 when it purchased its current factory from Dexter Midland.
Already making coatings for the world’s three major commercial airplane manufacturers — Boeing, Airbus and Chinese-based Comac — Martijn Arkesteijn, the company’s global operations director of aerospace, said more capacity is necessary to meet growing demand.
“We expect growth of 10% from year to year,” Arkesteijn said. “We are bringing in new equipment to make our production more agile.”
Akzo Nobel is investing more than $58 million in what Arkesteijn describes as a “site overhaul,” significantly increasing capacity at its Waukegan plant, one of the few remaining factories on the city’s lakefront.
“We will reduce our lead time for producing an order from 12 days to five days,” he said. “Our capacity will increase from 1.19 million gallons per year to 1.8 million gallons.”
With five factories worldwide making its aerospace coatings, Arkesteijn said 60% of its goods are produced in Waukegan. The other plants are in Sassenheim, the Netherlands; Pamiers, France; Limoges, France and Dongguan, China.
While some people may refer to the product made by AkzoNobel as paint, Lauren Luebker, the health, safety and environmental manager at the Waukegan plant, said there is a distinct difference between paint and coatings.
“Coatings have a job to do,” Luebker said. “Paint is to look pretty.”
Mai Hathuc, the operations manager of the Waukegan plant and a chemist, said the plant was used to manufacture aerospace coatings as early as 1943 when Midland Coatings operated there. It became Dexter Midlands in 1993.
Arkesteijn said an airplane manufacturer like Boeing qualifies a facility to make its coatings. It is a lengthy process, which is why the Waukegan facility is getting a site overhaul rather than a new plant. It will remain on the city’s lakefront for a very long time, he said.
“Everything inside will change, everything,” Arkesteijn said. “All the current equipment will be replaced. Some is already here and in use.”
Waukegan Mayor Sam Cunningham had no idea his city had such a distinguished place in the aviation world until he toured the AkzoNobel plant a few months ago. He is pleased to have the company as a corporate citizen.
“When we took a tour with the Dutch consul general, I learned AkzoNobel paints colors on 60% of the world from here,” Cunningham said. “This is something to celebrate. AkzoNobel is part of the process of rebuilding the community and rebuilding our image.”
Planning for a 2029 completion date, Arkesteijn said the company has opened a warehouse for finished goods in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin. What was once warehouse space in Waukegan will become part of the manufacturing area, making it a 99,600-square-foot factory.
Hathuc said chemists determine the chemical makeup of the coating to make it durable, flying 500 to 600 miles per hour at an altitude of 35,000 feet. It has to withstand heat from the sun, temperature changes and atmospheric differences.
We make it in the lab,” Hathuc said. “We do all kinds of testing. It has to withstand hydraulic fluid, salt spray and adhesive. It has to work inside the wings, which aren’t going to be opened up.”
Along with manufacturing coatings for commercial airlines, Arkesteijn said AkzoNobel does the same for military aircraft and commercial jets like some of the planes that fly in and out of Waukegan National Airport.
Passengers boarding a commercial airliner do not get a good look at the outside of the plane as they walk from the terminal through a jetway and onto the plane. Arkesteijn said it is different from private planes, where the owner and passengers ascend a staircase.
“They stop and touch the plane before they walk in,” Arkesteijn said. They’re interested in all the characteristics of an airplane.”
