At IKEA, we’re always on the lookout for smarter ways to make furniture affordable for the many people. For the past decade, our Production Development team has been perfecting a new paint application process that’s more efficient – without compromising on quality.
Paint might not be the first thing you think of when it comes to improving furniture production, but for us, it’s been a puzzle worth solving. Flat surfaces? Easy. A few layers of UV paint are applied evenly with a hard rubber roller, and you’re done. The process is efficient, and the paint dries fast.
But with kitchen fronts that have detailed indentations like STENSUND, things get trickier. To reach every indent, the only real option has been three layers of spray paint or costly membrane-pressed PET foil. It works, but it’s far from efficient. Spray painting can waste the paint through overspray, while uneven coverage often means applying more paint than is actually needed. Add in the much longer drying times, and surface treatment, and it can end up costing up to ten times more than a flat panel.
After years of persistence, IKEA project leader Kent Persson and his team achieved an innovative breakthrough – read on to discover how they solved the puzzle and opened up a new way of painting 3D surfaces with grooves and detailing.
As with many challenges in innovation, it all started with a series of questions: "Could there be a smarter, more efficient way – one that uses paint more wisely, dries faster, and still delivers the same great finish?" says Kent. That has kept the Production Development team in Älmhult busy for a number of years.
While flat surfaces can be painted with a waste-efficient hard rubber roller, 3D surfaces with indentations – like STENSUND kitchen fronts – require several rounds of spray painting to achieve an even coat.
The first step in answering that challenge was to explore whether the number of spray-painted layers could be reduced to just one, by applying UV paint onto the 3D surface using rollers first. Not with the usual hard rubber rollers – they can’t reach the indents – but with a new kind of soft rubber roller that could press gently into every curve and corner.
The idea was highly innovative. So the Production Development team in Älmhult set out to adapt existing soft-roller technology by working closely with IKEA Industry factories and trusted suppliers. And from that collaboration, the very first technology of its kind was born.
Peter Jonsson, Christian Linner, and Joakim Petersson from the production development team stand by a roller coater.
The newly developed soft-roller technology, created through close collaboration with suppliers, is a world-first. It enables IKEA to apply paint to 3D surfaces by rolling multiple layers, reducing the need for spray-painting to just a single coat.
For all 3D surfaces, the smoothness of the indents is key – both in how they look and how they feel. Throughout the explorative process, the newly soft roller-painted surface was carefully checked from different angles, since even the smallest imperfections or unevenness would show.
The team began with simple 3D shapes like peg boards, gradually refining the process until it was ready to be applied to more complex surfaces such as the STENSUND kitchen front.
Ahmad Al-Hamdani checks the smoothness of a STENSUND kitchen front surface using a torch to help detect scratches or an uneven finish.
Process Engineer Kent Persson and Product Engineer Oscar Naesstrom inspect the quality of the paint coat on a STENSUND kitchen front in the factory in Älmhult.
A pile of STENSUND kitchen fronts coated in UV paint in the factory in Älmhult.
The years of research and development have paid off. With the new soft-roller technology, the process has gone from three full spray coats to several soft-rolled layers and one spray. It might sound like a small change, but the impact is huge. The finish is just as smooth and durable as before – in fact, by concentrating more paint where kitchen fronts see the most wear, the quality is even higher.
There’s also less waste. “The good news is that with roller coating, almost no paint goes to waste. The UV paint is pumped onto the rollers, and any unused paint is simply returned to the can and recirculated. In the end, only about 10% is lost during cleaning or when changing colours. This reduces the amount of paint used per year on STENSUND kitchen fronts in IKEA Industry Älmhult by over 20 tons while still giving the same results," says Kent.
During the soft rolling process, excess paint is collected in a drum before being recirculated, meaning less waste.
“This, in my opinion, has been the most Democratic Design project I’ve ever led. We managed to reach every cornerstone – changing the process without affecting the form,” enthuses Kent. “We’ve also achieved the same quality using less material – all from the heart of IKEA in Älmhult.”
At IKEA, development never stands still. The soft-roller technology is a big step forward, but it’s only the beginning. Already, it’s being used on pieces like the STENSUND kitchen fronts and the HEMNES daybed — proof of just how far it has come.
The soft roller technology can successfully reach every indent, curve and corner of the HEMNES daybed, making the coating process more efficient.
But there are still some limitations. Because the roller presses down with significant pressure, the surface needs a flat backside and enough strength to withstand it. That means items like tapered legs still rely on spray painting. But the idea of soft rolling is sparking new creativity: designers are beginning to shape products with this technique in mind, making it possible to use the technology in even more ways.
As we step into the future, more and more 3D surfaces will benefit from this smarter, more affordable approach – helping us bring furniture to the many people.
