Harris Paints Makes History with New Next Gen Products and Earns Patent in 50th Year

The island’s first and only locally owned paint company, Harris Paints, hits a half-century next month and is shaking up the paint industry by unveiling new revolutionary Next Gen products that are among the first of their kind worldwide and have earned them an international patent. 

Harris Paints’ next-generation products are powered by the new proprietary Quantum Technology colour platform. “This is a boundary-breaking innovation”, said CEO Ian Kenyon who indicated that the new colour platform provided a myriad of benefits for all stakeholders involved in decoration, stocking or tinting paint colours and none so important as producing even better, more durable colours for customers. 

“What matters is being able to provide paint colours that match customers’ expectations and will look as good as they imagined”, said the CEO. “Tests on our new products have shown that the new system has superior accuracy and precision when compared to traditional methods of tinting and produces cleaner, clearer, colours that last longer in our climate”. 

The company has been working alongside a number of international agencies for several years, to harness and adapt emerging technologies to develop a superior, new colour system that is applied from factory to in-store environments. The research and development team was led by Vice President of Technical Services and Innovation, Charles Kirton who has been the man behind Harris Paints formulations for 39 years. Kirton was the first to see the opportunity and has been hands-on with thousands of hours in the lab and is credited with an international patent for creating a key formulation or ‘the secret sauce’ central to the innovation. 

Lifting the lid on the new platform, Kenyon explains: “Quantum Technology brings together many elements; engineering, chemistry, colour science, pigments and special formulations to produce better than ever colour results for our customers. The one-base products are made on new advanced tint dispenser machines specially designed for the purpose. The new style dispensers have also earned multiple technological patents for advancements in engineering and colour production and can control a dot of colour ten times smaller than average traditional tint machines used in the industry today.” 

The first of the next generation products available are Harris’ top sellers and high quality emulsions: Ulttima Plus Flat, Satin and Porch & Patio paints. The company will gradually convert all product lines to the new system. 

First introduced from a new purpose-built factory in Antigua in 2020, leading agent, Jason Goddard of Paint Plus, sees many advantages and said “the special patented pump technology used on the new tint machine is much more advanced and reliable so you don’t get colour variances as you do with other pumps that degrade slowly over time. In general, it’s a much simpler system with less risk of operators grabbing the wrong base and if there are issues, having tech support that can tap in remotely is definitely a benefit”.

Harris Paints, which is headquartered in Barbados, will be expanding the concept across all its markets. This year they have installed the new dispensers in retail outlets across Barbados, Belize, Jamaica and Guyana and by the end of next year they expect to have the new system operational across 15 countries in the Caribbean and are looking to take the technology to many markets beyond the Caribbean in the near future. 

Innovation is not new to Harris Paints. The brand itself was established in 1972 to provide Barbadian consumers with more choice at a time when there was only one imported paint available. Harris Paints became the first and only locally owned paint company and has over the years introduced many first-of-a-kind products across the Caribbean. “At Harris innovation is in our DNA” says CEO Kenyon. 

“In our 50th year, it’s tremendous to both celebrate all that has been accomplished and to look forward to an exciting future based on this new colour technology platform. It delivers such significant benefits we expect it will likely lead to a significant step change in the future of the industry. 

Harris Paints will mark its 50th year in colour next month.