Today’s article follows on from the previous one. We will continue to explain the advantages of computerised coatings dispensing system compared to manual colour matching.
Traditional manual colour matching relies heavily on the individual experience of the colourist; the methods are crude and outdated, and colour matching is not standardised. Not only is colour paste used haphazardly, but it also features irrational formulations and frequent use of complementary colours. Furthermore, when selecting base paints, it is common to use base paints with a high titanium dioxide content to achieve darker shades, resulting in severely excessive hiding power. Whilst this significantly increases the costs of base paints and colour pastes, it may also lead to reduced weather resistance and water resistance due to large fluctuations in the paint’s pigment volume concentration (PVC).
Here is a real‑life example: a paint manufacturer supplied grey exterior wall paint for an external wall coating project. The sales representative complained that the paint’s hiding power was too high—it provided complete coverage in a single coat. This not only severely affected paint sales but, as the paint film was too thin, it also compromised the product’s service life, potentially damaging the company’s reputation in the long run. Technical staff investigated and discovered that the colour mixer had used white paint for the colour formulation. The laboratory replicated the same grey shade using white paint, a base paint containing half the titanium dioxide content of the white paint, and a base paint containing 30% of the titanium dioxide content of the white paint. They found that even when using a base paint with only 30% of the titanium dioxide content of the white paint, the opacity ratio reached 0.98, indicating excellent coverage. In this way, both the titanium dioxide in the base coat and the colour paste used for tinting amounted to less than one‑third of the original white paint. This resulted in a cost saving of approximately 3 yuan per kilogram, amounting to savings of over 100,000 yuan in raw material costs for a project of moderate scale. This case may sound far‑fetched, but in reality it happens every day in our coatings industry. For companies that rely on traditional manual colour matching, as long as the colourist can produce the correct shade, the owner is satisfied—they are not at all concerned with how it was achieved. Furthermore, the vast majority of owners are only concerned with the price per tube of colour paste; they neither care about nor realise that there are many other factors to consider when it comes to colour matching costs!
As traditional manual colour matching lacks fixed formulations, both colour accuracy and reproducibility are inevitably limited. Even if the final colour matches that of the previous batch, differences in the pigment paste formulation can easily lead to “metamerism”—resulting in “conditional colour matching”, where the colour appears identical only under specific lighting conditions or environments. When the light source or environment changes (such as between morning, midday and evening, or on sunny versus overcast days), colour discrepancies may arise.
Colours affected by “metamerism” will inevitably exhibit differences in weather resistance, making them more prone to discolouration and mottling when used outdoors. There was a previous case where, following the completion of external wall painting, a re‑formulated paint was used for localised touch‑ups. Upon completion of the project, the colours matched perfectly and the work passed the final inspection without issue; however, after two years of use, it was discovered that the colour difference between the touch‑up areas and the main surface was becoming increasingly pronounced, leading to a complaint from the client. Upon investigation, it was discovered that the paint used for the repairs had not been mixed by the same colourist as the original paint. Although the colours matched, the pigment formulations used differed, resulting in variations in weather resistance between the two batches. These differing trends in colour change led to the appearance of mottling after a period of use.
In summary, traditional manual colour matching is prone to quality issues such as excessive or insufficient hiding power, poor accuracy and reproducibility, colour variations under different conditions, and unstable product quality. In severe cases, this can lead to product returns and customer claims, resulting in financial and reputational losses for the company.
In contrast, computerised coatings dispensing system is a modern, cost‑efficient, technically sophisticated and data‑driven production method. It comprises a comprehensive computerised management platform—integrating colour matching technology, production management, cost control and quality control—consisting of coating dispenser, spectrophotometer, colour matching software, colour management software, and technical and quality management systems. This system utilises a big data platform—built upon empirical data accumulated from the paint manufacturers themselves as well as from suppliers of colour pastes, equipment and software, and continuously updated—to support colour‑matching services. It is used to guide and standardise colour‑matching production activities, selecting the most suitable base coat and the most appropriate colour paste formulation (whilst taking into account factors such as hiding power, weather resistance and cost), thereby ensuring that the finished colour‑matched products achieve consistent quality and cost optimisation.
In traditional manual colour‑matching, the quality of the colour‑matching and production progress are heavily dependent on the individual skills and experience of the colour‑matching technicians. Staff turnover among these technicians can sometimes severely disrupt a company’s normal production and operations; in particular, the rapid rise in labour costs for colour‑matching technicians in recent years has become a major headache for many paint manufacturers. Training technicians in traditional manual colour‑matching takes a long time—generally three to five years—which is one of the reasons for the shortage of skilled colour‑matching personnel. Nowadays, young people born in the 1990s and 2000s are gradually becoming the backbone of various sectors of society; however, the working environment in traditional paint colour‑matching—which is often dirty and untidy, with a cumbersome process and irregular working hours—means that very few young people are entering the profession. These factors combined have resulted in colour‑matching technicians, rather than engineers, being the most in‑demand talent in the paint industry, with many companies facing production difficulties due to staff turnover. The shortage of skilled colour‑matching technicians has driven up their wages. In many regions, the monthly salary of experienced colour‑matching technicians has risen to over 10,000, exceeding that of engineers, which has significantly increased labour costs for many paint manufacturers.
The key to computerised coatings dispensing system lies in establishing a technical platform that integrates colour‑matching software and hardware with technical specifications; this forms the core of the process, reducing the reliance on and requirements for the individual skills of colour‑matching technicians. Training colourists to use the computerised coatings dispensing system is relatively straightforward; they can generally operate independently within one to three months. Furthermore, colourists find it difficult to perform effectively outside this technical platform; consequently, staff turnover is relatively low, and even when it does occur, the impact on the company’s production and operations is minimal.
At present, wholesalers, retailers, construction companies and building teams working with China’s paint manufacturers typically do not take time off during public holidays and may place colour‑matching orders with the company on a daily basis. To ensure timely delivery, paint manufacturers relying on traditional manual colour‑matching usually require their entire workforce to work overtime; being able to take one day off per week is considered a good outcome, whilst many companies only allow one or two days off per month, as anything less would severely impact business operations. Overtime not only causes labour costs to multiply but also diminishes staff well‑being.
The adoption of computerised coatings dispensing system offers a stark contrast: base coats can be produced in advance during normal working days and stored in the warehouse for future use. The company need only arrange for a certain number of colour‑matching technicians to be on duty during public holidays (taking time off instead of working days), whilst other production, quality control and related staff can take their normal rest. This significantly reduces labour costs and allows employees to organise their working hours freely, greatly enhancing their sense of well‑being, whilst ensuring that colour‑matched paint orders are fulfilled without delay. Consequently, it enhances the company’s competitive advantage over similar paint manufacturers.
The overall cost of coatings encompasses many aspects, including raw material costs, labour costs (including overtime costs), production costs, capital costs, costs associated with scrap and wastage, pollution control costs, and costs related to safety and environmental risks.
Raw materials account for the largest proportion of the total cost of coatings. Particularly in recent years, against a backdrop of sharp rises in raw material costs and increasingly fierce competition in the coatings market, raw material costs generally account for over 50% of the total cost, and may be even higher for small and medium‑sized enterprises. Paint manufacturers using traditional manual colour‑matching often focus solely on the absolute price of colour pastes, generally disregarding or remaining unaware of the specific price of any individual colour. Colour pastes used in computerised coatings dispensing system (hereinafter referred to as “machine‑grade colour pastes”) are subject to stricter controls over colour intensity, hue, rheological properties and moisture retention, and may therefore be 10–20% more expensive than standard colour pastes; if one compares only the unit price of the colour pastes, they certainly do not appear to offer any advantage. Some even believe that the adoption of computerised coatings dispensing system is a ploy by colour paste suppliers: once paint manufacturers are lured onto this “sinking ship” of computerised coatings dispensing system, they will be forced to purchase the machine‑grade colour pastes on an ongoing basis. In reality, the raw material costs of coloured paint are primarily determined by the base coat, colour paste and the colour‑matching formula. As manual colour‑matching lacks the support of dedicated hardware and software, relying solely on unreliable experience makes it difficult to achieve a scientific and rational formula. As illustrated in the case study in Section 2.4, due to the inappropriate selection of the base coat, not only was the price of the base coat significantly higher, but the amount of colour paste required also increased several‑fold, thereby substantially raising the total raw material costs. Furthermore, the frequent use of complementary colours in manual colour matching constitutes a waste of expensive, vivid colour pastes; when combined with factors such as wastage from over‑mixing, higher scrap rates and increased risk of quality complaints, the total raw material cost of traditional manual colour matching is higher. It also suffers from poor controllability, significant fluctuations and makes it difficult to calculate the final price per colour, making it a project where cost calculation is particularly challenging. Computerised coatings dispensing system, on the other hand, utilises big data and the powerful computational capabilities of colour‑matching software to rapidly provide optimal colour formulas and select the most suitable base coat, resulting in lower overall costs.
Furthermore, computerised coatings dispensing system can reduce labour costs by improving colour‑matching efficiency, reducing reliance on colour technicians and minimising overtime; it can lower production costs through more rational, flexible and orderly production scheduling; it can reduce capital costs by minimising paint inventory; and by minimising the generation of coloured wastewater from tank cleaning, it reduces pollution control costs and safety and environmental risk costs. In summary, computerised coatings dispensing system offers greater cost advantages over traditional manual colour matching.
The material costs of coloured paints consist primarily of base coats and colour pastes; the cost of colour pastes for light colours may be relatively low; however, for medium and dark colours—particularly vivid shades such as red, yellow and orange used externally, which require high weather resistance—the cost of colour pastes is very high and may even exceed that of the base coat; the cost of some light colours using organic colour pastes for external applications is also considerable. Consequently, material costs vary significantly between different paint colours, and project tenders should be quoted on a colour‑by‑colour basis; otherwise, profits are likely to be reduced or losses incurred.
With traditional manual colour matching, as neither the type of base coat nor the colour paste formulation is clearly defined, it is very difficult to calculate the final material costs. It is virtually impossible to determine the raw material costs of the coloured paint before the actual colour matching has taken place; quotations can only be based on empirical estimates of material costs. However, such estimates are very rough, with potentially significant margins of error, which is detrimental to business management. In contrast, cost calculation for colour‑matched paints using a computerised coatings dispensing system is extremely quick and straightforward. Simply by entering a colour chart code or measuring the colour with a spectrophotometer, the system can immediately determine the type of base paint and the colour‑matching formula, whilst automatically calculating the total quantity of materials required. This is highly beneficial for project quotations, minimising the risk of over‑quoting—which would be detrimental to tendering—or under‑quoting—which would result in reduced profits.
Furthermore, the adoption of a computerised coatings dispensing system enables paint manufacturers to enhance management standards across all stages, including raw material control, process control and production workflow management. The system can also be integrated with the company’s ERP system, ensuring that the colour‑matching department’s digital management is synchronised with the rest of the organisation. This elevates the overall level of digitalisation in production management and facilitates the company’s genuine advancement to the next level.
