AkzoNobel Launches MIXIT Digital Color System for Aircraft Paint Repairs

AkzoNobel Aerospace Coatings has launched MIXIT, a cloud-based digital color-retrieval system that lets maintenance providers retrieve paint formulas and mix coatings on site, with more than 2,700 formulas available at introduction for its Topcoat FR2-55 cabin-interior product.

The company presented the workflow at MRO Europe in October 2026, demonstrating a spectrophotometer (a device that measures color from a surface) scanning actual panels linked to a touchscreen, with a real-time video showing how quickly a color can be retrieved and prepared.

What does the system change for MROs?

The core change is location. Today, identifying a color formula and preparing the matching coating can involve steps outside the paint facility, stretching repair timelines. MIXIT retrieves formulas from a digital database via desktop, tablet or mobile device. Where the formula is unknown, a spectrophotometer connected to the application measures the surface and identifies the closest available formula.

The facility then prepares the coating on site using a color mixing wall, a precision scale, and the correct tints and associated components, including hardeners and thinners. AkzoNobel designed the workflow for repair situations where aircraft availability and response time are critical — principally unscheduled maintenance and aircraft-on-ground (AOG) events.

Graham Lambourne, AkzoNobel's Aerospace Color Manager, framed the operational problem directly. "From unscheduled maintenance on an interior panel to damage to a nacelle, aircraft-on-ground situations demand a fast, practical response," he said.

The alternative, according to Lambourne, is delay. "So MIXIT has been designed to help approved paint facilities, or their distributors, retrieve the required color and prepare the coating on site, giving them greater speed and more control during the repair process," he said.

That control matters for scheduling. "It allows them to make the coating repair immediately rather than having to make temporary fixes until repairs can be scheduled," Lambourne added. The claim addresses a persistent cost driver: temporary repairs on panels and nacelles that defer definitive work and consume additional aircraft downtime.

What is available now versus later?

The rollout is phased, and the distinction between delivered and promised capability is material for buyers.

• Initial phase, live at launch: access to more than 2,700 formulas covering the most frequently requested tints for Topcoat FR2-55, AkzoNobel's cabin-interior topcoat.
• 2027: exterior formulas added to the MIXIT database.
• 2027, under consideration: additional digital tools including stock management, e-commerce, reporting, and the ability for customers to store their own generated formulas.

Exterior work — fuselage, nacelle and empennage coatings — therefore falls outside the current database, meaning the AOG nacelle scenario Lambourne cites will be fully addressable through MIXIT only once the 2027 exterior formula additions land.

A proven base, adapted

MIXIT for aerospace is not a new build. It extends an application AkzoNobel has operated in automotive refinishing for the past 10 years, transferring an established color-matching workflow into the aviation maintenance environment, where certification and compliance constraints on coatings are stricter.

AkzoNobel states the system reduces repair time without compromising quality or compliance, though the company has not published quantified time savings from MRO trials. The initial formula count and the 2027 exterior expansion will be the first verifiable measures of coverage against the thousands of airline-specific colors in service.

For MROs, airline paint facilities and distributors, the near-term decision is whether the FR2-55 interior formula base matches their repair volume. AkzoNobel will watch the same question at scale next year, when exterior formulas and the broader digital toolset determine whether MIXIT becomes a full coating workflow platform or remains a cabin-interior utility.