EUROPE
International Coatings Scene
the new building’s capacity will be
much higher with 2,000 people expected to use the global center before the
end of this year.
“Glasurit is currently the leading
brand for automotive refinish products,” said Christoph Hansen, head of
BASF’s automotive refinish business.
“The new competence center will
enable us to strengthen our position
further.”
The RCC will play a prominent
role in BASF’s plans for forging closer links between vocational colleges
and the body shop sector, as well as
between refinish businesses and
Glasurit’s training teams.
“Technologies in this industry have
been developing rapidly but colleges
have been unable to keep up with the
changes,” says Johansson. “There has
been little exchange of information
between the colleges and industry,
which can be put right by having
closer ties between the two. Centers
like the new RCC building can help
bring the suppliers of coatings,
equipment and accessories, the body
shops themselves and the colleges
closer together.”
BASF enters into contracts with
colleges under which in return for
paint and other supplies they ensure
that their teachers attend the company’s training seminars and take
advantage of its other support services such as the provision of updated
technical information.
The company has also been drawing
up curriculum for colleges. In the
emerging economies, such as Russia
and China, it is helping introduce specific training programs for technical
schools.
“There is no training of body shop
skills in technical colleges in Russia
at the moment,” said Wladimir
Zhizhilew, BASF Coatings’ technical
sales support manager in Moscow.
“We have developed training programs for Russian colleges. We have
a pilot project with one technical
school in central Moscow which will
produce 10-15 qualified body shop
painters annually, which we expect
to be increased to 50-100 annually
within a few years.”
BASF is also following a similar
policy in China where it has recently
opened a fourth training center,
while it has also set up new training
units in Iran and Egypt.
Once a framework is created which
ensures a steady flow of qualified
students for employment in the
refinishing sector, the next priority is
the establishment of a system of permanent education.
“Outside the countries currently
without the means for proper training
at the technical school level, the main
requirement is a basis for continuous
learning within the body shops,” said
Hendrik Franke, manager of the RCC
at Muenster-Hiltrup. “Our national
trainers come back here twice a year
to be updated about new knowledge
and also improved teaching methods.
It is then their responsibility to disseminate that information through
their training teams to body shops in
their countries.”
BASF’s objective is to have an
international information network,
of which training colleges and centers are only one part. The rest
includes websites, conferences, seminars and communication links with
its equipment and accessories partners for the distribution of information on new body shop products,
processes and technologies. CW
