application is performed with the
EcoBell 3 rotating atomizer, and
color change with the EcoLCC
The EcoDryScrubber, the innovative
system for dry separation of overspray,
will be used in the spray booth at the
Hambach plant. More than 50 painting
lines worldwide have already been ordered with this water and chemical-free
Dürr technology that allows for extensive
air recirculation. This leads to 60 percent
energy savings in the paint booth.
Starting at the end of the year, 55
Smart for Two model vehicles will be
painted per hour in the new top coat line
in Hambach.
RPM acquires Brazilian
building materials business
RPM International Inc. has acquired Viapol Ltda., a Brazilian manufacturer and
marketer of building materials and construction products. Based in Cacapava,
Brazil, near Sao Paulo, Viapol has annual
sales of approximately $85 million.
Viapol, which was founded in 1990,
will become part of The Euclid Chemical
Group, a unit of RPM’s Building Solutions
Group that serves construction and rehabilitation markets worldwide. Viapol’s
products are brand leaders in the Brazilian market and include rolled asphalt
roofing materials, waterproofing products, concrete admixtures, industrial
epoxy flooring systems, structural recovery products and retail paints, varnishes
and stains. The company has more than
300 employees, nearly 125 independent
sales representatives and two ISO 9000
certified manufacturing facilities in Brazil.
The acquisition further establishes
RPM’s footprint in the Brazilian market,
the largest economy in South America and
now the sixth largest economy in the
world. The Viapol management team is
led by Ariovaldo Jose Torelli and Alexandre Racz.
ICA incorporates
Salchi Wood Coatings
ICA, one of the leading industrial groups
in Europe specializing in the manufacture
and marketing of special coatings for
wood, is reinforcing its competitiveness on
the global market through the establishment of the new Italian coatings division,
by incorporating Salchi Wood Coatings
SpA, a company that was already 100 percent controlled by ICA SpA.
The incorporation project makes the
most of the synergies between two companies that have played leading roles in
wood coatings, thereby boosting the
group’s competitiveness. Aside from allowing the group to expand, the merger
also bolsters collaboration between the
two separate sales networks, reinforces the
presence of its products within international markets including Germany, where
it has a sales office in the city of Heek, and
enables it to target new territories around
the world, particularly emerging countries.
All of this will be achieved without overhauling the existing infrastructures or
making changes to staff numbers.
Today, the Italian coatings division employs 70 staff, 59 of whom are based at
the facility located on a 20,000 square
meter site in Romano D’Ezzelino, in the
Italian province of Vicenza.
The Italian coatings division will be
marketed under iCO, the new brand in the
wood coatings sector, which represents
the group’s core business.
BASF opens new
technical support lab in India
Photo BASF caption: Prasad Chandran,
chairman, BASF companies in India and
head South Asia and Peter Fischer, senior
vice president, coatings solutions Asia Pacific, BASF, unveiling the inaugural stone
at the coatings technical support lab,
Mangalore.
Taking another stride towards developing India as an international competence center, BASF Coatings (India)
Private Limited, which merged with BASF
India Limited as of January 14, 2011, has
set up a new coatings technical support
lab at Mangalore, India. This new facility
at Mangalore will support lab activities
including product development, analytical
testing, certification and new pigment
qualification, catering to the coatings customers of BASF outside of India.
the core competencies that BASF Coatings
(India) has already set up at the Mangalore site. Over the past years, BASF has
put in place various state-of-the-art equipment, which offers both manufacturing
and technical services.
The Mangalore site is BASF’s largest
manufacturing site in India and in South
Asia. Operational since 1996, it is currently
engaged in the production of performance
chemicals, dispersions and paper chemicals,
automotive coatings, coil coatings and construction chemicals. The site is equipped
with modern facilities including a waste
water treatment plant and an Incinerator.
The Mangalore site is certified with ISO
9001- Quality management system & ISO
14001- Environmental management system
by an International certifying authority.
Prasad Chandran, chairman, BASF companies
in India and head South Asia and Peter Fischer,
senior vice president, coatings solutions Asia
Pacific, BASF, unveiling the inaugural stone at
the coatings technical support lab, Mangalore.
AkzoNobel completes
demerger of Pakistan activities
AkzoNobel completed the restructuring of
its activities in Pakistan by establishing
AkzoNobel Pakistan Limited as a separate
legal entity from ICI Pakistan. As previously announced, the split means that the
company has started the formal sale
process to divest its 75. 81 percent share-holding in ICI Pakistan.
The new AkzoNobel Pakistan Limited
business is focused on three core areas—
decorative paints, performance coatings
and specialty chemicals. An appropriate
management and organizational structure
is currently being finalized. Jehanzeb
Khan has been appointed CEO.
