Industrial Paint Booths: Latest Technology Trends

Keith Zralka
July 10, 2022

As with all businesses, the COVID-19 pandemic caused stunted growth in the international industrial paint booth market that is projected to gradually improve in the foreseeable future. Thanks to the lockdowns that were imposed globally, many spray booth manufacturing facilities were and still are shut down. Also, the complications of the pandemic gave rise to a global supply chain crunch which is mainly attributable to the restrictions on movement that were established when the pandemic struck. In turn, this has caused a shortage of raw materials which has curbed industrial paint booth production at a substantial rate.

Yet, there is a silver lining in all this. COVID-19 has also fast-tracked so many developments in the industry that were already in the works including weaning the west from the overdependence on China-made raw materials. Also, to effectively deal with the stiff competition and fragmented aspects that characterize the international industrial spray paint booth sector, many players are beginning to adopt newer strategies. This includes forming partnerships, mergers, and even collaborating with each other on projects. These strategies have enabled most of them to reach out to untapped markets and access the resources, which will boost their sustainability and overall success. The international industrial paint booth sector is now expected to register a compound annual growth rate of 2.6% from 2019 to 2027 and will be worth $789 million by 2030.

The automotive industry is still recovering

The automobile manufacturing sector has proved to be the most impacted segment of industrial paint booth end-users. Demand for automobiles which was already on the decline was further exacerbated by the pandemic. If data from the National Automobile Dealers Association is to be believed, new car sales plunged 38% just in March 2020. This decline in revenue affecting the automotive sector has, in its turn, greatly impacted the revenue generation activities of the industrial spray booth sector. It is important to note that the automotive sector accounts for almost half the market share among the leading end-users of industrial spray paint booth products. Still, this segment is recovering and is projected to grow and retain its market share in the years to come.

The downdraft segment’s steady growth

Downdraft paint booth solutions have a variety of applications in the automotive and industrial goods manufacturing sectors. This segment represents the lion’s share of the global industrial spray booth market. As it has already been noted, COVID-19 disrupted both these industries and in particular the automotive sector, and in turn, this has adversely impacted the downdraft spray paint booth market. Also, tier 2 and 3 suppliers in this segment have been especially hard-hit by the ongoing global supply crunch. The downdraft segment is now poised to register a compound annual growth rate of 2.5% up to 2030 and will account for 36.4% of the global market share of the industrial spray paint booth sector.

The Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ) will continue to dominate the global industrial paint booth industry

Since the pandemic struck in 2019, the APEJ bloc has continued year after year to dominate the international industrial paint booth market in revenue generation. The region now represents a market share of 41.3% of the global industry. However, the bloc’s powerhouse China, has been experiencing an economic slowdown caused by the severe disruption of the business ecosystem. Additionally, there has been a shortage of workers along with raw materials that in turn, has triggered a reduction in exports from the APEJ bloc.

Yet, as more and more efforts are made to contain the pandemic, companies in the region are resurging particularly since the authorities are providing incentives to boost exports. For instance, in 2020, at the height of the pandemic, China unveiled a port fee reduction of as much as 20%. This has encouraged industrial spray paint booth manufacturers to boost both production and exports. Consequently, the APEJ bloc is projected to keep its dominance over this sector in the years to come and its industrial spray booth sector will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 2.3% by 2030.

Emerging technology trends in the industrial paint booth sector

Low-VOCs and air pollution concerns continue to be a major influence on the direction the industrial paint booth sector is taking. This has largely been driven by consumer demands, strict regulations and “green” standards, such as LEED v.4, EU-ECOLABEL and AgBB. Low-VOC coatings are rapidly becoming mainstream, thanks to growing awareness in the sector of the negative effects of VOCs spread, together with limitations. Much of the R&D being done at the moment concentrates on developing low-VOCs technology that can effectively meet performance requirements in coalescents, toughners, resins, defoamers, reactive modifiers to name but a few.

Additionally, there is a growing shift in the industrial paint booth sector towards waterborne coatings. Powder coating is growing in popularity, particularly in those applications where waterborne coatings could be undesirable. Another interesting trend is the adoption of fusion bonded epoxies that depend on advanced resins and toughners to be able to fully maximize desired performance characteristics. This includes flexibility, performance in extreme temperatures and pressures, impact strength, and resistance to chemicals and UV radiation.

ZPar International is a leading manufacturer of many standard and custom paint booth solutions including the industrial , open front, crossflow, semi downdraft, pitted downdraft and side downdraft varieties. We also offer top-notch powder coating units, abrasive blasting equipment and spray booth accessories.