Today, paint is generally produced at the POS with both manual and automatic dispensers. Anyway, the market is finally experiencing an “evolution of species” of these machines, represented by the Smart Units, for several reasons that we will explain here below. But to understand it better, let’s start from the beginning of Paint dispensers’ history.

In the 70’s, the Coatings Industry introduced the so called Tinting System, a new way to tint bases on Points of Sale through manual machines that could dispense colorants. Over time, manual machines have been almost totally replaced by automatic dispensers, which operate by means of a PC physically connected to it. In this case, all information are stored on the software installed on the PC, making it accessible “on site” or by establishing a remote connection. So, where is the difference with Alfa Smart Units?

Alfa was born with the idea of innovating the Industry on different levels, from an optimized process of producing paint directly at the POS, to a software platform to have full control of the business. All this has been possible through a natural evolution, already experienced in our mobile phones, from automatic dispensers to modern Smart Units with PC, slave boards and sensors embedded in the machines and with a series of features typical of Industry 4.0:

• Internet of Things: all Alfa dispensers are Smart Units capable of collecting, sending and receiving information in a bidirectional way
• Cloud Platforms: all machines’ information are gathered and made available to all authorized users from remote and in real time
• Big Data: all Units let companies improve decision-making processes and minimize risks.

➔ In the next articles, we will talk about the benefits that companies can get through Alfa advanced technology, especially in the fields of Marketing, Laboratory and Service.