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Hempel Opens Argentine Plant for Region

New facility will
deliver more than

10 million liters of
paint and coatings
per year.

by Charles W. Thurston Latin America Correspondent thurstoncw@rodpub.com

Hempel has opened its first Latin Ameri- can marine and protective coatings fac- tory in Buenos Aires with plans to supply much of the region with its production, according to Lars Johansen, the company’s group vice president for the Americas, at Conroe, Texas, near Houston. The $17 million factory will ramp up production this year to 155 liters of paint per man hour from its planned staffing level of 30, or to 10. 5 million liters per year, expected by year’s end.

While much of the paint and coatings for the Latin American market came from Singapore, the Copenhagen-based company also operates a factory in Houston, which has supplied Mexico and the Central American sub-region.

“We’ll be better placed to serve existing and new customers in the region, as well as develop and customize products faster,” said Johansen.

While there is a free trade agreement in place in the Southern Cone of Latin America, Merco-sur, Brazil still has domestic content rules in place for bidders seeking government contracts. “You’ve got to have a presence in Brazil to really attack the market there,” said Johansen, who declined to say whether the company has future plans to add capacity in Brazil.

Consultancy ABP Offshore notes that it has
worked with Hempel to plan for capacity in
Brazil, stating, “ABP Offshore contributed in the
study of the logistics set-up for Hempel Tintas
do Brasil Ltda. in their return to the Brazilian
market. Evaluations regarding the usage of
bonded warehousing as well as cost calculations
for third-party warehousing at the start-up phase
were an essential part of the study to lay the base
for Hempel to take further decisions on where
to start operations in the Brazilian market.”
The company indicated that the Argentine
plant features conical dissolvers that enable
flexible production runs down to 20 to 30 per-
cent of maximum capacity. To control the
speed at which the powder is fed into the ma-
chine from the bags, a sonic system monitors
the frequency generated from the dissolving
process and adjusts the powder feed accord-
ingly. To reduce emissions from the cleaning
process, all the tanks are linked to a closed cir-
cuit cleaning system, which is sealed during the
cleaning process.”
The company also notes that it is “especially
known for [its] proven performance with [its]
epoxy urethane exterior system and [its] lining
systems for molten sulphur and plastic pellets.”
Apart from Argentina, Hempel serves the
region with offices and warehouses in
Ecuador, Chile and Mexico. In Canada, the
company has offices in Surry, British Colom-
bia; St. Albert, Alberta; and Montreal.