Decorative Coatings North America, a business unit of Akzo Nobel, has assumed direct responsibility for North American marketing and manufacturing of the company's Synteko brand of wood floor coatings. The unit has also established separate Profit Centers for Synteko and its longstanding Sikkens brand of wood care products.

"With the addition of Synteko to DCNA, we have re-organized into two Profit Centers to ensure that we maintain the momentum we've built for our Sikkens brand, while making certain that Synteko receives the attention necessary for its growth," said Theo Bouwens, general manager, DCNA.

"Our goal is to grow our Decorative Coatings business by intensifying our focus and allocating greater marketing, sales and distribution resources to support the two brands," Bouwens said.

DCNA has named Antonio Leandres and Gerry Koutavas Profit Center Managers for the Synteko and Sikkens brands, respectively. They are responsible for sales, sales support, technical support and marketing for their brands.

Akzo Nobel has sold Synteko products in North America through an independent distributor for more than 20 years.

"Now that we have direct control of all aspects of Synteko, we can ensure its continued growth through dedicated management of the brand," Leandres said.