That was probably my biggest takeaway after visiting Nanofilm Technologies.
I have had the opportunity to get to know Nanofilm over the years, including a previous visit to its Shanghai operations.
Yet every visit seems to add another layer to how I look at the company.
We often associate Nanofilm with coatings.
Perhaps the better way to understand Nanofilm isn't simply as a coatings company, but as a material science enabler.
They don't necessarily make the end product.
They make the end product better.
Harder. More durable. More resistant to wear and corrosion. Sometimes, simply more beautiful.
From the decorative finish on consumer devices to industrial and precision applications, there is some pretty serious material science happening behind things we often take for granted.
And that's perhaps the irony about Nanofilm.
Its technology can be all around us, yet its name is almost never on the final product.
One area that particularly interested me was Sydrogen, its venture into the hydrogen economy. Its SydroDIAMOND® technology, for example, is a specialised coating for metallic bipolar plates used in hydrogen fuel cells.
Hydrogen is still a developing industry and, as an investor, I would still want to see how these opportunities eventually translate into customers, revenue and profits.
But I came away thinking about the possibilities.
Because when your core capability isn't about making one particular product, but making materials perform better, the potential applications can be much wider than we realise.
And there is another area I haven't even touched on here, nanofabrication.
Perhaps a story for another day. 😉
Thanks SGX Group, especially Lynica, Amanda and Shimona, for organising the visit, and Kay Lim, Duane Tan, Kelvin Tan and the Nanofilm team for the generous sharing and hospitality.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about Nanofilm is also the easiest to overlook.
You may never see Nanofilm on the final product.
But $Nanofilm(MZH.SI)could be one of the reasons that product works the way it does.
#NTINanofilm #MaterialScienceEnabler #TradeSGX #POEMS #danccs
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