Merck, a leading science and technology company, has successfully completed the commissioning of a pigment production facility and expects to improve the color reliability of its pigment products through digital color measurement using a fully automated process in the future.

Merck recently announced the completion of the commissioning of its first fully automated digital colorimetry system for its pigment products. The commissioning took place at Merck's largest pigment manufacturing site in Gernsheim, Germany, which employs approximately 560 people.

Jeff White, Head of the Surface Solutions business unit within Merck's Electronics business unit, said, "Merck has invested significantly in expanding its pigment production capacity in recent years. In September 2021, we brought on-stream a second production line for silicon dioxide-based effect pigments in Gernsheim, representing an investment of nearly €28 million. Merck has also been increasingly investing in the automation and digitalization of its production processes. “This investment of approximately €10 million in automated digital color measurement equipment is just one example of our efforts to further digitalize Surface Solutions’ production processes,” he explained.

Merck improves the color reliability of its pigment products through color measurement equipment commissioning. Until recently, quality control for color pigments was largely manual and relied heavily on visual perception.

A newly introduced fully automated process enables Merck to perform digital color measurement.

This produces extremely accurate and reliable measurements that customers can verify themselves.

Furthermore, improved pigment reproducibility will enable us to provide consistently high-quality products to customers worldwide. In the future, color will become a clear quality standard.

This new facility is part of a number of projects Merck is implementing to improve the quality of its products and processes through automation and digitalization.

Over the coming months, Merck plans to add this type of color measurement equipment to additional Merck pigment manufacturing sites, including Gernsheim, Onahama, Japan, and Savannah, Georgia, USA.