We have been active in the trade and manufacturing of a variety of paints, coatings and resins for five generations. It all started when our great grandfather, Akbar Kh.F. Ahrabi, born in 1881 in the city of Tabriz in Iran, started a new line of business in his shop at the Tabriz Bazaar, selling colored natural mineral pigments, vegetable oil, handmade tools and brushes. A picture of Akbar Kh.F. Ahrabi is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Akbar Kh.F. Ahrabi, the first generation, one of the earliest founders of the trade of paint raw materials in Iran
Later on, his son, Asghar Kh.F. Ahrabi, born in 1899 followed the business and during the occupation of Tabriz by the Russians in 1941, moved to Tehran and opened a relatively large paint store. At the time, this paint store was the most modern paint store in Tehran. He named it Kala Rang Store. A picture of Asghar, who later on changed his surname from Kh.F. Ahrabi to Niknafs is shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2. Asghar Niknafs, the second generation, opened the first modern paint and its accessories store in Tehran in 1941
By this time, Asghar Niknafs was selling almost readymade paints and its accessories at his shop Kala Rang. A picture of Kala Rang paint store is shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3. Kala Rang, the first modern paint store in Tehran, established in 1941 by Asghar Niknafs, the second generation
Asghar Niknafs’ son, Mohammad Ali (1927-2011) started working at Kala Rang when he was very young. It was there that he started importing European and American readymade paints and their application accessories. He did this by travelling to Europe and getting exclusive agencies for distributing the said products at Kala Rang. Some pictures of Mohammad Ali Niknafs at Kala Rang paint store and during his business trips are shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4. Mohammad Ali Niknafs, the third generation, at Kala Rang paint store and in business trips for acquiring exclusive distributorship of European and American readymade paints and their application accessories in Iran
During his travels to Europe, Mohammad Ali got the idea of establishing a new modern paint manufacturing plant in Iran. As such, eventually he established Super Rang company in 1962. Super Rang was a joint venture with a Danish paint manufacturing company called Dansk Farve og- Lakfabrikker (D.F.L.). Some images of D.F.L. paint manufacturing company taken during Mahoammad Ali Niknafs’ visit in the 1960s are shown in Figure 5.
Figure 5. The Danish Dansk Farve og- Lakfabrikker (D.F.L.) paint manufacturing company in the 1960s, in partnership with which Mohammad Ali Niknafs established Super Rang Co in 1962 in Iran
A picture of Mohammad Ali Niknafs during his time as the managing director of Super Rang Company is shown in Figure 6.
Figure 6. Mohammad Ali Niknafs, the third generation, founder of Super Rang Paint Manufacturing Company in 1962, one of the earliest modern paint manufacturing companies in Iran
The products of Super Rang included architectural and some industrial paints. These paint and coating products were manufactured in Iran by the most modern machinery of the time. The quality control laboratory of Super Rang was the best paint QC laboratory of that time. Some pictures of Super Rang paint production plant and its QC laboratory are shown in Figure 7.
Figure 7. Super Rang, one the earliest modern paint manufacturing companies in Iran, established in 1962 by Mohammad Ali Niknafs, the third generation
In 1978, Mahmoud Niknafs, son of Mohammad Ali, returned to Iran after finishing his studies at the Masters level in the United Kingdom in chemical engineering and operational research. In the same year, he joined Super Rang and later on became the plant manager, share holder and member of the board of directors. In 1989, Mahmoud Niknafs established a new company called Goharfam Industrial and Manufacturing company. Goharfam became extremely successful and grew to become one of the largest coating manufacturing companies in Iran and the Middle East. A picture of Mahmoud Niknafs is shown in Figure 8.
Figure 8. Mahmoud Niknafs at the time of his graduation at the MSc level in 1977, the fourth generation, founder of Goharfam Industrial and Manufacturing Company, one of the largest industrial coating manufacturing companies in Iran and the Middle East
Under the direction and leadership of Mahmoud Niknafs, Goharfam Company produced many types of industrial paints and chemicals, such as automotive OEM coatings for car manufacturers, coil coatings, can coatings, powder coatings, air craft coatings, metal pretreatment chemicals, PVC plastisols and wax dispersions for automotive OEM base coats. Each of these products has their own modern separate plant and R&D and QC laboratory at the Goharfam manufacturing complex. Whilst under the management of Mahmoud Niknafs, Goharfam became one of the major suppliers and sometimes even the sole supplier of automotive OEM coatings and coil coatings to Iran’s major car and steel manufacturers, namely Iran Khodro, Pars Khodro and Mobarakeh Steel Company. Some images of the manufacturing plant of liquid industrial coatings are shown Figure 9-1.
Figure 9-1. Production machinery of liquid industrial coatings at Goharfam plant complex, established in 1989 by Mahmoud Niknafs, the fourth generation
Some images of the manufacturing plants of powder coatings, PVC plastisols and wax dispersion at Goharfam production complex are shown in Figure 9-2.
Figure 9-2. Production machinery of powder coatings, PVC plastisols and wax dispersion at Goharfam plant complex, established in 1989 by Mahmoud Niknafs, the fourth generation
To ensure the production of top quality coating products, Mahmoud Niknafs generously equipped the R&D and QC laboratories of Goharfam with a wide range of state of the art and modern equipment. Some of the many types of machinery and equipment that are used at Goharfam laboratories for the preparation, application, mechanical and appearance evaluation of automotive OEM coatings, coil coatings, aircraft coatings and can coatings are shown in Figure 10-1.
Figure 10-1. Preparation, application, mechanical and appearance evaluation equipment for automotive OEM coatings, coil coatings, air craft coatings and can coatings at Goharfam Company’s labs, established in 1989 by Mahmoud Niknafs, the fourth generation
Some of the equipment that are used at Goharfam laboratories for the evaluation of chemical resistance properties and long term durability of industrial coatings as well as preparation and evaluation of PVC plastisols are shown in Figure 10-2.
Figure 10-2. Equipment used for the evaluation of chemical resistance properties and long term durability of industrial coatings as well as preparation and evaluation of PVC plastisols at Goharfam Company’s labs, established in 1989 by Mahmoud Niknafs, the fourth generation
From the time when he established Goharfam Industrial and Manufacturing Company in 1989, Mahmoud Niknafs was the managing director, share holder and member of the board of directors at the said company until 2012.
In October 2005, Ali Niknafs, son of Mahmoud, joined Goharfam Industrial and Manufacturing Company as a research and development chemist and shareholder after completing his studies at the Masters level in polymers and surface coatings at the University of Leeds, United Kingdom. He became involved in the project of developing cost effective and even improved countertypes for the imported resins of Goharfam. Simultaneously, he also started his PhD studies as a split-site candidate in the field of polymer chemistry at the University of Leeds. This enabled him to heavily engage himself with the literature survey for the development of the resin systems that were used at Goharfam. With the full support and encouragement of his father, Mahmoud Niknafs, as well as his colleagues the outcome of this project was mostly successful. In early 2008 and for the first time in Iran, novel, high tech, improved and cost effective polymeric binders as replacements for well known resins from DSM, Teknos, Cytec, Dupont and Nuplex were developed at Goharfam and gradually manufactured in its newly installed resin plant. These resins mostly included saturated polyesters, etherified amino resins and a few thermosetting acrylic resins for application in stoving coil coatings and automotive O.E.M paint systems. A picture of Ali Niknafs is shown in Figure 11.
Figure 11. Ali Niknafs at the time of his graduation at the PhD level in 2011, the fifth generation who played key role in the development of novel, improved, high performance and cost effective coating resin systems in Iran as countertypes for well known products from DSM, Teknos, Cytec, Dupont and Nuplex
A link to a particular saturated polyester resin system for coil coatings, developed by Ali Niknafs as presented in his PhD thesis is provided in the link below;
https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/6774/1/545708.pdf
Some images of the equipment of the coating resins laboratory and pilot plant at Goharfam Industrial and Manufacturing Company are shown in Figure 12.
Figure 12. Facilities and equipment at Goharfam coating resins laboratory and pilot plant, used by Ali Niknafs between August 2006 to February 2012 for the development of novel, improved, high performance and cost effective countertype coating resin systems
Some images of the resin manufacturing unit at Goharfam plant complex are shown Figure 13.
Figure 13. Large scale manufacturing facilities of coating resins at Goharfam Company, one of the first in Iran to produce world class and exceptionally high performing resin systems, started up by Ali Niknafs and Mahmoud Niknafs in late 2006
In 2011, Mahmoud Niknafs and Ali Niknafs decided to use their expertise to serve the coating and resins industry in another way. Therefore, they sold their shares at Goharfam Company and in 2014 established Nikfam Research International.
Upon establishment of Nikfam Research International Company, Lili Niknafs, daughter of Mahmoud Niknafs, also joined the company as a research and development chemist and shareholder. Later on, and simultaneous with her activities in the company, she became a student at the MSc level in Amir Kabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnique) in the field of polymers and surface coatings. A picture of Lili Niknafs is shown in Figure 14.
Figure 14. Lili Niknafs, 2020 MSc graduate of Amir Kabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnique) in the field of polymers and surface coatings, the fifth generation, joined Nikfam Research International Company as a R&D chemist and shareholder in 2014.
In order to serve the coatings industry, Nikfam Research International Company engaged in a variety of activities as follows;
1- Technical consultancy services for both the paint and resin manufacturers.
2- R&D services for development of new or improved resins and coating systems.
3- Supplying specialty raw materials sourced from carefully selected overseas manufacturers ranging from resins to additives and pigments.
4- Manufacturing of specialty coating resin systems.
In April 2019, Nikfam Research International Company inaugurated it’s resin manufacturing plant based in Hashtgerd Industrial Town, Hashtgerd, Alborz Province, Iran. The inauguration ceremony was attended by Savojbolagh’s governor and a number of other officials. Some pictures from the inauguration ceremony of Nikfam Research International’s resin manufacturing plant are shown in Figure 15.
Figure 15. Inauguration ceremony of Nikfam Research International’s resin manufacturing plant in April 2019, located in Hashtgerd Industrial Town, Alborz Province, Iran chaired by Savojbolagh’s Governor in company of Mahmoud Niknafs, the fourth generation.
Based in its resins manufacturing facility in Hashtgerd Industrial Town, the 4th and 5th generation founders of Nikfam Research International established a fully equipped resins and coatings research laboratory. Images of some of the equipment available in Nikfam Research International’s laboratory as used for R&D, investigative studies and quality control purposes for both resins and coatings are shown in Figure 16.
Figure 16. Some of the equipment used for R&D, investigative studies and quality control of resins and coatings at Nikfam Research International’s laboratory located in its resin plant in Hashtgerd Industrial Town, Alborz Province, Iran
Images of some of the facilities for pilot scale and industrial scale manufacturing of specialty resins for industrial surface coatings at Nikfam Research International’s plant are shown in Figure 17.
Figure 17. Pilot scale and industrial scale manufacturing facilities of specialty resins for industrial surface coatings at Nikfam Research International’s plant based in Hashtgerd Industrial Town, Alborz Province, Iran.
At present and based on the demand of our esteemed customers, the operations of Nikfam Research International Company are mainly focused on manufacturing of high-end specialty amino resins as curing agents for industrial and automotive O.E.M. coatings.