This is particularly the case with
the EU chemicals regulation REACH,
which obliges companies to register
with safety profiles their chemicals,
with the more hazardous ones being
subject to separate, detailed evaluation
and ultimately, if necessary, authorization to stay on the market.
Customers are anxious to know
whether raw materials and ingredients
in formulations are liable to be restricted under REACH by being classified as
substances of very high concern (SVHC).
Chemicals for authorization are selected
from the SVHC list, which currently
numbers around 140 but is due to be at
least tripled over the next few years.
“Regulations like REACH are forcing
us to change products to ensure that they
don’t contain substances which are or
may not be environmentally acceptable,”
said Gregory Delmas, application group
manager at Arkema. “Customers also
don’t want to have to put warning signs
on their product labels about hazardous
chemicals either because of REACH or
eco-label schemes.”
Arkema won the European Coatings
technology award for 2013 at the show
for its Encor 2433 waterborne dispersion
technology, which enables direct-to-metal
application of coatings with quick air-
drying times and low emissions of vola-
tile organic compounds (VOCs).
Also, there was plenty of evidence
at the show that the momentum behind
the switch to biomaterials is still strong.
This has been due to regulatory influences, and also the desire among end-users such as brand owners and retail
chain for “green” formulations.
Petrochemical-derived chemicals
are being targeted by producers of bio-based alternatives who believe they
have products that can perform as well
or even better.
“We are finding for example that
there is a lot of interest among customers in bio-substitutes for synthetic latex
because of worries about its health effects and odor,” said Stefan Krause, industrial account manager for Avebe, a
Dutch potato starch producer. “Starch
is a good source for biomaterials for alternatives to latex and other chemicals.
We believe that the next 10 years will be
boom period for starch.”
The Importance
Of Sustainability
An underlying theme of the latest exhibition was the economic and financial
sustainability of individual companies
with exhibitors anxious to demonstrate
how well they have been coping in the
tough times of a persistent euro crisis,
high unemployment and public sector
austerity.
The total of 962 exhibitors at this
year’s ECS, which had more than 25,000
visitors, was a record for its 22-year history, while the number of non-German
exhibitors at 615, or just under two-thirds, was also the highest ever.
China was the second highest national
exhibitor after Germany, with a total of
115, followed by The Netherlands with
56 and the UK with 46.
“Some Chinese companies are not
interested in the market in Europe any
more because of the state of the economy
in the region,” said Anne Kong, Europe
trade manager at Yipin Pigments Co.
Ltd., Shanghai. “We want to grow in
Europe and expand our network of dis-
tributors. We have to show our presence
in the market.”
For non-European companies estab-
lishing themselves in the region, the big
challenge is building and maintaining
ties with customers. This involves not
just making single but multiple contacts
with companies.
“It is no longer sufficient to know the
purchasing and R&D managers,” ex-
plained Phil Ruxton, vice president sales
and marketing for coatings and polymers
at Croda Europe. “You’ve got to know
the marketing and sales managers, prefer-
ably the whole management team, if you
are to understand the needs of customers
while also helping them understand the
full value of your products.”
At a time of economic difficulties, re-
lationships with customers are strength-
ened if raw material suppliers and
coatings producers can help find ways of
curbing downstream costs.
“In current economic conditions
with their margins under pressure, costs
are the big issue with customers,” said
Jan Weernink, responsible for European
industrial marketing at Dow Coating
Materials. “The current focus of our
customers is to manage cost, and they
are working on products to achieve the
same performance but at a lower cost.
So a thinner film in a coating must perform in the same way as the original one.
Presently innovation is strongly being
driven by the need for lower cost: raw
material cost, cost in use and ownership”
Dow has recently introduced a waterborne road marking paint, which a
life cycle assessment confirmed had a
lower environmental impact than solvent-borne paints in the same market.
Also, in terms of application costs it is
cheaper, which has made it especially
attractive to municipalities hit by government austerity measures.
“Austerity in the public sector has
helped us to introduce a new technology
for waterborne road paint,” Weernink
said. “Paint with this new technology is
competing against solvent-borne paints
and can be applied once every two years
instead of once a year with the solvent-
borne version. This need for fewer coats
and thus cost is welcome to municipali-
ties that are looking for cost savings.”
Differentiation of their products and
services was what most exhibitors were
trying to convey to visitors to their stands
at the exhibition. This urge for distinc-
tiveness even extended to the ways com-
pany personnel at the ECS communicated
with existing or potential customers.
DSM Coating Resins had a stand
around the size of a medium-sized kitchen, far smaller than at previous ECS exhibitions. The stand acted as a conduit for
visitors to talk to DSM staff in private
rooms adjacent to the exhibition halls.
“We thought that people would be
more comfortable talking to our staff in
separate rooms where they would have a
level of privacy not available on an exhibition stand,” said a DSM official.
DSM’s change of approach indicated
the priority now being given by raw material suppliers and other players in the
coating sector to putting relations with
customers on firmer foundations at a time
of economic uncertainties. CW
