Automotive OEM Coatings
More Than Just Paint:
A Q&A with Carsten Bernau, Mankiewicz Coatings’ Sales Director, Automotive
Carsten Bernau studied business economics in Berlin and Vienna, specializing in foreign trade. After graduation, he
worked as a sales representative for a chemical company for ten years and then started working at Mankiewicz, first in
the general industry, later in the automotive sector. He has been the director of the automotive department for more
than 20 years and is a member of the management board.
When did Mankiewicz enter the auto-
motive market and what has changed
since then?
We have been busy in the automotive
sector for over 25 years now. In the beginning the focus was on the interior. At the
time, functionality was more important
than design issues. Accordingly, the paint
was comparatively “hard” and applied in
high film thicknesses up to 100 µm. This
only changed in the middle of the 1990s
with the development of new, much more
elastic binding agents for appealing textures and haptics. The film thickness was
reduced: in the car interior, it is only 20
to 30 µm nowadays. At that time, color
design and haptics were first combined.
The scope of design for the car interior became more varied – as did the demands of
the customers. Today, cars are not merely
sold for their technical performance; an
aesthetic interior is essential, too. Appealing surfaces are mostly achieved with
customized paint systems. Todayś paint
systems are much more resistant to mechanical and chemical influences.
What does the Mankiewicz product
portfolio comprise?
We mainly produce two-component
polyurethane-based paints: the ALEXIT
paint systems. In the automotive interior,
we use so-called décor haptic paints to
enhance plastic surfaces optically and
haptically and to align them with other
materials like leather of fabric. Plastic
parts are coated with metallic paints to
substitute metal components and surfaces. We also offer individual concepts
like laser-etchible paint systems for a day-night design in the automotive interior.
The symbols on the keys are etched out
with a laser beam, thus becoming visible
later. In the exterior, we use polyurethane-
based or UV-curing high-gloss paints in
color shade piano black. UV-curing sys-
tems offer very good mechanical and
chemical resistance values, thus reduc-
ing slight scratches on the high-gloss
surfaces to a minimum. We also offer
mat exterior décor paint systems which
improve the scratch and light resistance
values. Our NEXTEL paint systems offer
suede-like, non-glare surfaces to replace
textiles. Easy-to-clean paints round off
the portfolio.
What are the demands on the automotive interior and exterior fittings?
Interior fittings have to be resistant to heat
and humidity in order to avoid hydrolysis
damage. The paints have to be resistant
to hand lotions, mechanical influences
and ageing. In contrast, exterior paint systems have to be resistant to light as well
as climatic and mechanical influences like
stone-chipping. They have to survive automated carwash systems, bird droppings
and insect removers without damage.
Is it correct that your focus will be
more on the exterior sector in future?
That’s correct. We are very experienced in
the coating of plastics. It was obvious for
us to make use of this know-how in the
exterior sector as well. The growth potential for us is huge. We have gained lots of
experience in the coating of plastic components like radiator grills, license plate
brackets and bumper parts.
What are your key markets?
The domestic market – Europe – is still
our major target. Quality enhancement by
means of paint is very well accepted and
we know the demands very well. 60 per-
cent of the automotive business is done
in this market. The Chinese market with its
huge demand and unrealized potential is
another important target for the Mankie-
wicz group. The US market is, too. For a
long time the domestic and Japanese car
manufacturers were one step ahead in this
market, but nowadays the Europeans are
gaining more and more ground. Mankie-
wicz is already present in the USA and we
will certainly expand the market presence
of the Mankiewicz group.
How big is your automotive team?
Apart from the production department,
approximately 200 employees work in
the automotive sales, laboratory and applications engineering departments – the
automotive department is one of the
companyś biggest sectors.
What do you think are the future paint
trends in the automotive market?
At the moment mat paints with smooth
or textured surfaces and appealing haptics are in vogue. This is contrasted by the
trend to use metallic color shades and metallic paints in the car interior – as a special
visual feature. Paint is increasingly used as a
replacement for galvanized surfaces. Playing with colors and textures sometimes
leads to unusual designs. For example, we
now paint parts in bright colors which traditionally used to be dark. Naturally, these
surfaces are much more prone to contamination, which makes the development of
easy-to-clean surfaces very interesting.
They look like regular paint surfaces, but
are less prone to soiling and much easier
to clean. In future, the issue of “black panel
systems” will gain in importance, too: the
touch screens in the cars will have to blend
in harmoniously with the surroundings.
Therefore, the surfaces around the display
will also be designed as a black panel.
Doubtless, autonomous driving is a general future trend of the automotive industry.
In spite or, perhaps, because of that the car
interior design will remain very important.
