ETint reduces costs and improves competitiveness

Kiwi company Resene is recognised globally as being at the forefront of the paint manufacturing industry in its commitment to innovation and the production of environmentally sustainable products. A unique tinting application developed for Resene by Optimation is playing a vital role in helping the company realise its vision for local and international growth, while overcoming the technical, commercial and environmental challenges of paint manufacturing.

Resene

Commercial: Application development

The ETint application enables fast, accurate paint tinting at point-of-sale and makes the complex paint tinting process simple and accurate for retail staff, trade customers and the paint-buying public. Resene CIO Tim Simpson explains that one of the keys to Resene's success is its ability to supply a broad and flexible colour range. However, behind the scenes, matching up the right bases with the right tints in the correct proportions involves the application of a vast range of chemical and mathematical formulas. The smallest inaccuracy in the process can result in a costly tinting mistake and wastage from unusable paint.

Optimation's software project team spent significant time in the laboratory with the Resene R&D team, getting to grips with the company's unique and complicated business requirements and ensuring the ETint application was able to precisely and reliably process all the chemical formulas and calculations involved.

"The breadth and flexibility of our paint range is key to our success as a business, and to attracting and retaining customers. ETint is designed to eliminate the technical and logistical challenges of providing such a large colour range, including matching customers' paint samples and making up custom paint tints. ETint is also delivering technical and environmental benefits and enabling us to reduce our costs," says Simpson.

Resene's business goals

• Eliminate technical and logistical hurdles to providing a very broad and flexible range of paints to customers around New Zealand
• Improve the accuracy of the paint tinting process
• Reduce waste and costs
• Contribute to business sustainability and innovation goals
• Enhance custom-tinting services for customers
• Increase customer and staff preference for the Resene brand in paint resellers including Mitre 10 Mega

We delivered

• An industry-leading application that combines complex business processes and technical requirements with ease-of-use and an intuitive interface
• Built-in system checkpoints to increase accuracy and ensure quality control
• One-click deployment to enable simple and fast deployment to multiple stores with varying hardware and software configurations
• Agile development and project management methodologies to quickly deliver functionality within a tight budget

Improving brand preference and competitive advantage

The ETint system is used across all 70+ Resene shops in New Zealand as well as in numerous resellers including Mitre 10 Mega stores. It is expected to play a key role in increasing Resene's competitiveness against other manufacturers.

"For stores like Mitre 10 Mega that sell a range of paint brands, the ease-of-use, flexibility, accuracy and significant reduction in wastage delivered by the new ETint application will now make Resene paints much more attractive for both the stores and their customers. That will give Resene a competitive edge."