INTERVIEW WITH ANKER STUY COATINGS

Founded in 1898, Anker Stuy Coatings develops and produces more than three million litres of paint annually for the carpentry, furniture and interior design industries, and professional painters. The third generation family business operates from Terwispel, Netherlands, and is known for its innovative and sustainable paint products and a close relationship with its customers. Anker Stuy’s international operations include the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium and Switzerland.

We know the future is wood. Anker Stuy Coatings’ water-borne coatings preserve windows and doors for longer and have limited environmental impact; promoting positive circular economies. They are taking responsibility, from within the supply chain, to ensure better user experiences for the stakeholders; to reduce their carbon impact and move towards being carbon positive; to create future for the next generation, challenging new markets as a champion in the industry.

Easy Engineering: What are the main areas of activity of the company?

Anker Stuy Coatings: Anker Stuy focusses almost entirely on water-borne coatings for, carpentry, furniture and interior design industries, and professional painters. Our core focus is coatings for windows and door manufacturers. What sets us apart is being one of the few countries that has a focus on water-borne coatings for timber. 

E.E: What’s the news about new products?

Anker Stuy Coatings: Last year we were busy perfecting our Hydrolux ISO primer. This product isolates tannins in tannin rich tropical hardwoods such as Oak and Idigbo and prevents them from bleeding through into the topcoat, leaving a yellow tint to the paint. Our ISO primer prevents this and has been a game changer in the market. No product performs better. This year, we are bringing the same product to the interior industry. Our interior ISO primer uses similar technology and will enable kitchen manufacturers and interior sprayers to have trust in a product that will over coat oak easily whilst adhering and sanding perfectly.  

E.E: What are the ranges of products?

Anker Stuy Coatings: Our product range mainly focuses on industrial timber manufacturers that machine apply or spray. For the export market this is focused around our two main exterior ranges; an alkyd emulsion range (APLEX AQUA) and an acrylic range (HYDROLUX). Depending on climate and industrial processing, depends on which range is more suitable. 

E.E: At what stage is the market where you are currently active?

Anker Stuy Coatings: In the Netherlands we have been operating under our current name for three generations, but our history goes back to 1898. We are amongst the market leaders for coatings for exterior joinery and stair cases in the Netherlands have a large market share in other segments. Our market in the Netherlands is mature, this is why for the past 5 years we have been focusing more on export. Our current largest markets are Indonesia and the UK, as well as being active in Germany, Belgium and Switzerland. The UK is however our most important foreign market, and we own a distribution center there where we are working to slowly increase our market share. We also have a couple of other markets, where we are ready to launch, but it is too early to give away information about that.   

E.E: What can you tell us about market trends?

Anker Stuy Coatings: Although the manufacturing and construction industries are slowing down, after a boom during construction, we are hopeful that the industry will keep growing. The future is wood and we hope to be at the front of cultural changes that promote the use of wood in the construction industry. We promote circular economies and our coatings fit into that. 

E.E: What are the most innovative products marketed?

Anker Stuy Coatings: New technology for curing and drying coatings is driving innovation in the coatings industry. UV and LED curing and further automation of the application process is becoming more popular are the equipment necessary drops in price and results in a lower barrier to entry for manufacturers. These technologies massively reduce drying times and help to increase production speed. These technologies will continue to develop and undoubtedly spread over to other segments. 

E.E: What estimations do you have for 2023?

Anker Stuy Coatings: As a company we have high targets for our export markets and expect strong growth in the UK. We are launching a couple of new ranges to maintain our growth. We are entering into new segments in the Netherlands we our customer base is already mature. We are an old company with a young team and everyone is hungry for growth and success. You will start seeing the name Anker Stuy more across Europe. That’s for sure.