Coatings World - October 2016

BASF Shanghai Coatings Co., Ltd. broke ground on a new, world- scale automotive coatings plant at the company’s existing site at the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park in Caojing, Shanghai, China. The new plant represents an investment of approximat-ley €140 million and is expected to start operation in the fourth quarter of 2017.

As the latest investment of the joint venture between BASF and Shanghai Huayi Fine Chemical Co., Ltd., the new plant is an expansion of the automotive coatings plant, which began production in 2014 at the same site.

“With the expansion, we continue to
invest in local production to get even
closer to China’s automotive industry,”
said Dr. Stephan Kothrade, president
and chairman Greater China, BASF.
“As the leading chemical supplier to the
automotive industry, BASF will take an
active role in developing this rapidly
growing business, based on our local
production network, innovative power
and market knowledge.”
“Our automotive OEM customers
in China are increasingly looking for
innovative, eco-efficient coatings so-
lutions to drive sustainability in their
processes. Adding world-class manu-
facturing and R&D capabilities in
the country is our contribution to the
rapidly evolving expectations of the
automotive industry,” said Dr. Markus
Kamieth, president, Coatings Solutions,
BASF. “This new investment in China
is another example of our ongoing
growth strategy in this region and in
our automotive coatings business.”
“We have been investing in parallel
with the growth of the automotive in-
dustry, strengthening our presence where
our customers are located. Further in-
vestment into China reflects our strong
commitment to our customers in order
to provide faster and more efficient solu-
tions that support their business growth,”
said Peter Fischer, senior vice president,
Coatings Solutions Asia Pacific, BASF.

In addition to this new plant, BASF also operates a production facility for resins and electrocoat at the same location. The close proximity of these plants allows for more synergies and efficiency. All plants are designed in a highly energy-efficient and sustainable manner, offering the potential for future expansion and the flexibility to adapt to new production requirements in the years ahead.

PPG Marks Completion of
$10 million Coatings Center
of Excellence in Tianjin,
China

PPG held a ceremony marking the completion of a new $10 million coatings center of excellence at its existing complex in Tianjin, China. The new facility will serve regional customers in the automotive plastics and decorative accessories industry.

The new coatings center, which is the first PPG facility in China dedicated to customers in this part of the automotive supply chain, offers world-class development and process capabilities to help PPG customers that manufacture automotive decorative parts achieve better color consistency and shorter lead times.

“The fast-growing automotive sec-
tor in China is an area of global focus,
Vincent Robin, PPG vice president,
automotive coatings, Asia Pacific,
said, “Establishing this coatings center
marks another important milestone in
PPG’s growth and expansion in China.
It will significantly improve our ability
to collaborate with automotive plastics
and decorative accessories customers
in the region, improving the first-time
capabilities and yield rates on their
painting lines and reducing their total
cost to paint plastic parts, which will
help them achieve more competitive
market positions.”
PPG built its first coatings plant in
China at the Tianjin site in 1994. Through
expansion, PPG’s Tianjin complex has
become the company’s largest coatings
production base in the world. It currently
supplies automotive original equipment
manufacturer (OEM) coatings and indus-
trial coatings for a variety of end uses to
PPG customers in China and the greater
Asia Pacific region.