meet new VOC regulations as some 4,000 shops in that state
will have made the conversion away from solventborne
basecoat in the very near future.
Across the U.S. to date, we’ve converted more than 2000
shops over to PPG waterborne technology. What we have found
quite interesting is the fast-growing demand for our waterborne basecoat products in areas of the country where air quality regulations do not yet demand their use. There are two factors influencing this trend. First, the “green” movement is gaining wider acceptance throughout the automotive refinish community as progressive shops realize the benefits of a having a
cleaner operating environment for their employees as well as
the opportunity to promote their use of green products to the
community. Secondly, at least in PPG’s case, the word is quickly spreading that waterborne basecoat represents a significant
step forward from solventborne in areas where it matters most
including color match accuracy, ease of use and increased productivity. There’s no doubt that the skepticism surrounding
waterborne is fast diminishing as more and more shops
become familiar with the technology.
Eilenberger: Severity is the key issue facing our market today.
Technology from electronics, and safety and environmental
aspects are increasing repair costs so rapidly that it is very
easy for a car to be totaled and not repaired.
Coatings World: What are the key issues with your auto refinish customers and how is your company addressing those needs?
Schueler: Color is key in our industry and we’ve always
aspired to color leadership in response to the expectations of
our customers that a repair job must be perfect the first time.
We’ve had a number of IT systems in place to deliver color
accuracy for some time, and our approach is to continually
improve those systems. Last year, we introduced a major
upgrade to our Automatchic color matching system, and this
year, we’ve introduced Mixit Pro, the latest version of our color
formula retrieval system, and integrated it with Automatchic
3, our color measuring device. This integration goes hand in
hand with an upgrade of our color database.
It’s also important to offer a variety of solutions. The market
is not monolithic—the regulatory environment is different in
the EU than in the U.S. or Asia. Different considerations come
into play in many markets, and the technologies that work for
major dealer networks are not always suitable for small
bodyshops. So we try to pay close attention to the customer
needs across the spectrum and provide suitable products and
services to meet all those needs.
Jim Berkey, director, business solutions group, PPG
Automotive Refinish: The increased emphasis on lean performance and the key process factors of speed, quality and cost
are key issues. As consumers we are all being conditioned to
expect quality cost and speed as a part of any product or service that we buy. Automobile insurers and their direct repair
programs (DRPs) have always challenged shops to improve
performance and are now placing more and more emphasis on
cycle time reduction as a way of satisfying and retaining their
policy holders. The demand to better satisfy policyholders with
fast repair turnaround with high quality at low cost will continue to pressure collision shops to work smarter and compete
on that basis. For shops that can effectively implement process
changes and drive improved performance, the current challenges represent an extraordinary opportunity to differentiate
themselves within the market.
Additionally, PPG understands that interdependent success
is more than just a buzz word these days. For us to be successful we must make sure that our customers and potential customers are the ones who are winning in today’s competitive
environment. To that end, PPG’s MVP Business Solutions
team is completely focused on providing collision shops with
the expert support and guidance needed to address these challenges head-on. We offer an extensive portfolio of programs and
services from fundamental business training, to practical
courses on estimating and production, bi-annual conferences,
all the way up through our industry-leading MVP Green Belt
Training. MVP Green Belt training is a four-day, comprehensive course on the practical application of Lean Six Sigma to
collision center processes.
Eilenberger: One of the key issues facing our customers today
is getting cars to the door. Bodyshops are suffering from fewer
accidents occurring, a lower percentage of “drivables” being
repaired and a higher percentage of “totals,” therefore the
shops look for ways to market themselves to keep their number of cars to the door up. BASF Refinish is currently in the
process of releasing several programs to help drive more work
to the doors of our bodyshops
Coatings World: What is the latest technology being utilized
by the auto refinish market?
Schueler: If we are just talking about technologies that are in
the market now, then UV-curable coatings is still probably the
most important new development. We’ve added a UV primer to
our existing clearcoat. Scratch-resistant, self-healing clearcoats
are also an area with great potential. With our Sikkens
Autoclear LV Exclusive, which we launched recently, you apply
heat to the area around a scratch for about fifteen minutes, and
because we’ve engineered “reflow” properties into the coating,
the scratch vanishes. Even a hot summer day will already often
do the trick.
But if you are looking further out into the future, then there
are all kinds of possibilities. One thing we’ve been working on
is peelable coatings. Right now, they are only used to protect
vehicles during transit and storage, but they can also be used
to change the appearance of a vehicle temporarily—for special
events like the World Cup or a big conference, for example.
Further out, we see incredible potential for coatings that have
the capability to absorb energy—possibly to power a vehicle
electrical system—or to reflect energy in order to keep vehicles
cool. With applications of nanotechnology, it is also possible to
produce coatings that are actually self-cleaning. Products like
these add a new dimension to our business. Where in the past,
