Fresh Paint
across European markets.”
KIA Motors produces approximately
1.4 million vehicles globally and
exported 348,000 vehicles to Europe
last year.
BASF INTRODUCES WATERBORNE
BASECOATS IN ROMANIA
BASF Coatings has introduced
waterborne basecoats in Romania.
BASF Coatings’ waterborne basecoat
technology is used to coat carmaker
Dacia’s Logan and new Sandero
models, which are produced at the
Dacia plant in Pitesti, around 150
kilometers from Bucharest. All of the
colors come from BASF’s Color
Design Studio Europe. Each day,
1,400 vehicles are coated at the
Dacia plant. Plans call for 400,000
new vehicles to leave the plant each
year starting in 2010.
Romania is a significant growth
market in Europe and an important
hub in the BASF network. In addition to the waterborne basecoat system, these new products primarily
include new colors for Dacia.
However, BASF also contributed its
expertise during the construction of
the new production line.
DÜRR, FORD SIGN GLOBAL ALIGNED
BUSINESS FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT
Dürr and automaker Ford are further
expanding their collaboration in the
area of painting systems. For that purpose, the two companies signed a
framework agreement giving Dürr the
status of an aligned business framework (ABF) partner worldwide. This
means that Dürr is the first supplier
Ford will approach for projects in the
field of painting systems, and the two
companies will jointly develop technical solutions.
Dürr is currently building paint
shops for Ford in India and Romania
and a final assembly line in St.
Petersburg. Ford enters into aligned
business frameworks agreements only
with select key partners that are especially efficient and competitive in
respect to technology and global presence. The agreements spell out business practices designed to increase
future collaboration, including
phased-in up-front payment of engineering and development costs,
extended sourcing and data transparency. Worldwide, the automaker
works together with currently more
than 65 ABF partners.
According to Ralf Dieter, CEO of
Dürr AG, “The framework agreement
is a milestone in our relationship with
Ford as it opens up additional global
business opportunities for Dürr.”
A decisive factor in the selection of
Dürr was the experience Ford has
had in the past years, especially in
the areas of innovative ability, delivery quality and costs. Dürr can thus
make a contribution towards
enabling Ford to produce automobiles on fewer, globally used platforms in higher quality, at lower cost
and with greater use of standard
parts and systems.
SHAWCOR EXTENDS PIPE COATING
SERVICES TO TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
PIPELINE PROJECTS
ShawCor Ltd. announced its Bredero
Shaw division has received a contract with a value in excess of $60
million to provide Concrete Weight
Coatings and anode installation for
the National Gas Company of
Trinidad & Tobago Ltd’s North East
Offshore (NEO) and Tobago Pipeline
Projects. Bredero Shaw will mobilize
two Compression Coat Technology
(CCT) concrete weight coating plants
to Trinidad and will commence coating for these projects in the second
quarter of 2009.
The North East Offshore Pipeline
Project will consist of approximately
84 km of 36” pipe to be installed offshore and approximately 10 km
installed onshore that will transport
natural gas from BHP Billiton’s
Angostura Gas Export Platform to
Mayaro Bay on the east coast of
Trinidad. The Tobago Pipeline
Project will consist of approximately
54 km of 12” pipe that will transport
natural gas from the BHP Billiton
Gas Export Platform to Cove
Industrial Estate at Columbus Point
on the south coast of Tobago.
Bredero Shaw will provide Concrete
Weight Coating using Compression
Coat mobile coating technology.
Compression Coat is the pipeline
industry’s leading coating system
for projects requiring rapid mobilization or coating near the right-of-way. This concrete coating system is
designed to provide negative buoyancy and mechanical protection for
pipelines in submarine and wet
environments. Compression Coat
uses a side-wrap application process
making it ideal for both small and
large diameter pipelines.
VALSPAR NAMES HOWARD HECKES
SENIOR VP, GLOBAL ARCHITECTURAL
The Valspar Corporation has named
Howard Heckes as senior vice president, global architectural. In his
role, Heckes will have leadership
responsibility for Valspar’s architectural business, a full line of premium
interior and exterior paints, stains
and coatings for DIY and professional markets, and becomes an officer of
the company.
Heckes, 43, joins Valspar from
Newell Rubbermaid, Inc., where he
served in a number of executive
business leadership roles, most
recently as president of that company’s global markers, highlighters,
art & office organization business,
and brings extensive brand management experience to his role at
Valspar. Prior to Newell Rubbermaid, Heckes held positions with
the Square D Company and the
Bemrose Corporation. CW
