American Colors successfully navigates globalization challenges

American Colors specializes in both standard product lines and tailored solutions: liquid pigments and intermediates that are often complex and produced with specific requirements, such as limits on metamerism index, unique light sources for the color difference tolerances, and custom instrument setup. American Colors has been serving the automotive, plastics and coatings industry around the world since 1975. Many things have changed since they opened their doors, but the quality of their products has remained topnotch, establishing them as a go-to partner for custom color needs.

Streamlined communications and color development

Excellent inter-instrument agreement among Datacolor instruments enables consistent color readings across all of American Colors’ global facilities.

Shortened time to market without sacrificing quality

Datacolor’s Match Pigment and Tools software accurately match and control color, eliminating the time- consuming manual process.

Customer-focused operation

Continuous Datacolor support, from in-depth training to a global team of experts committed to their success, allows American Colors to focus on their customers’ specific needs.

Riding the globalization wave

Globalization may have opened markets and expanded opportunities, but it also brought several color management challenges.

For American Colors, operating as a global pigment and dispersion company, looks something like this:

Colors targets can originate from anywhere around the world
American Colors’ labs develop color formulations and specifications for our manufacturing plants
Color data is transferred easily to manufacturing locations, that allows continuity and unified quality control regardless of region

Datacolor brings confidence and allows to streamline the described process. Being able to use a unified platform for all locations to communicate with each other brings confidence and trust that all readings are consistent, thanks to Datacolor’s industry-leading inter-instrument agreement.

“We are able to focus on more technical aspects of color matching and development without having to worry if our instruments give us consistent readings. Datacolor is a globally recognized platform that allows us to easily communicate with our offices across the world.”

Steve Foos

Assistant Vice President of Research & Development | American Colors, Inc.

Digital color control at every step of the process

Education equals success

American Colors has been working with Datacolor for more than two decades. Technology has changed a lot since that partnership began, but Datacolor’s team of experts has adapted with the industry and has always been there for support and advice.

This support is essential for a company like American Colors, which often acts as a consultant and educator for their customers. Attending Datacolor training has helped the American Colors team navigate the color development landscape according to each customers’ specific requirements and workflows. It is not only about using the instruments and software properly. Training goes deeper into the “why” and “how” of color management, so the American Colors team is well equipped to answer any color-related questions in the most helpful way possible.

Shortening time to market

Twenty years ago, developing custom colors would mean receiving physical color targets in the mail, then matching, developing and sending samples back for approval. With production time shrinking and markets expanding outside of a company’s home country, this process is no longer efficient.

Thanks to Datacolor, the American Colors team can share data digitally between offices in China and the United States. This digital communication speeds up the development process and eliminates the risks of physical samples getting lost during shipping.

Datacolor Match Pigment is used in all American Colors facilities to help accurately and efficiently match colors. It is a critical piece in the color development cycle and enables the company to meet and exceed the expectations of its customers, delivering results in a timely manner without sacrificing quality and precision.

Faster learning = zero downtime

Success depends on many factors and being able to operate the equipment properly is one of them. Datacolor’s software interface is user-friendly and simplifies the process of color development for American Colors. New team members get on board with software quickly to enable an uninterrupted color development process. Speed is critical for American Colors, and yet another reason the company has relied on Datacolor for decades.

Globalization brings even more challenges with more and more products being manufactured in different locations under different conditions. Regardless of industry, no matter how simple or sophisticated the opportunity, American Colors always meet their customers’ expectations. Datacolor software and systems are at the heart of their business, enabling success for all applications—from the simplest the most sophisticated.

“Datacolor is able to provide the answers to our questions in a timely manner. We use their helpline a couple of times a year and support truly understanding all our cases. It’s above and beyond.”

Steve Foos

Assistant Vice President of Research & Development | American Colors, Inc.

Learn more about other Datacolor color management solutions for the paint and coatings industry

Datacolor Spectro 1000 benchtop spectrophotometer.

Spectro 1000 Family

Spectro 1000 delivers the highest precision in Datacolor’s fleet of benchtop Spectrophotometers and is designed for high efficiency and confidence in color formulation and quality control.