Staying close to customers (CP 1/2009)

BASF Coatings has been a partner of Russian steel producers for ten years now. Partnerships with automobile manufacturers have evolved into an important business as well, leading to the opening of a dedicated plant in that country.

Pride: The Pavlovski Posad team has shipped its first order of basecoat to its customer AvtoVAZ.

Russian carmaker AvtoVAZ, which manufactures the Lada at its Togliatti plant, was the first customer to receive shipments of basecoat since production kicked off in June 2008. Delivery from the nearby plant was rapid, which was indeed the purpose for investing in the new production facility. BASF Coatings is now the first global coatings producer to have a plant in Russia,

allowing optimal on-the-ground response to customer needs. Designed in a modern, industrial, architectural style, the new production site is located on an industrial estate in the town of Pavlovski Posad, roughly 60 kilometers east of Moscow. The plant is one of the most cutting-edge facilities of its kind in Europe, incorporating tried and tested processes and production techniques that conform to stringent environmental standards.

Having this presence makes it possible to give customers direct application technology support and laboratory services.

BASF Coatings will be producing roughly 6,000 tons annually of automotive OEM finish (base- and clear-coat) at the Pavlovski Posad plant, with capacity for up to 20,000 tons given sufficient -demand. About 50 employees, spread across production, the quality control lab, the warehouse, the service center, and administration, ensure smooth operations and high quality.

Certified quality

These efforts are already paying off, as an extended third-party inspection certified that the plant meets the exact product and process requirements of the automotive industry. Having thus passed the DQS audit for compliance with auto industry standard, TS 16949, the plant went on to obtain ISO 9001:2000 certification.

“This gives a clear message to our partners that they can depend on the quality production at Pavlovski Posad,” says Plant Manager Stanislav Zabnev. Besides AvtoVaZ, customers include the GaZ Group, based in Nizhny Novgorod, one of Russia’s biggest carmakers, the General Motors operation in Togliatti, Ford in St. Petersburg, and Renault-Avtoframos in Moscow, soon to be joined by VW in Kaluga and Nissan and GM in St. Petersburg.

The plant also underwent and passed separate site approval audits to become a supplier of Nissan and Renault.

The prospects for the new plant are promising, especially since the Russian market continues to enjoy positive growth despite the worldwide financial crisis. Russia is one of the world’s four largest growth markets, expected to become Europe’s second biggest national economy.

Automobile manufacturing be-longs to Russia’s growing industries – in the first half of 2008 the number of new car registrations even exceeded that of Europe’s traditional leader, Germany. “Before long all major automakers and Asian OEMs will be operating in Russia, as many already are,” affirms Juan G. Ximénez-Carrillo Gerber, Head of -Automotive OEM Coating Solutions Europe at BASF Coatings.

“The new plant puts us in an excellent position to meet the needs of a growing number of customers as a key player in the Russian automotive market.”

Coil coatings

Our confidence is based upon intimate familiarity with today’s commercial and economic environment, and extensive prior experience in the Russian market. BASF Coatings has been active here since the days of perestroika.

Alongside Automotive OEM Coatings Solutions, the Industrial Coatings Solutions unit also has key relationships in Russia, including the country’s three largest steel firms, Magnitogorsk Metallkombinat (MMK), Novolipetsk Iron and Steel Corporation (NLMK) and Severstal.

In 1991, BASF Coatings helped NLMK ramp up its first coil coating facility and provided consulting for the second one, built in Magnitogorsk in 2004. And since 2001, a Pevicoat facility in Novolipetsk has ensured local customers their supply of coil coatings with the same speed and flexibility the Pavlovski Posad plant will now be able to provide for automotive OEM coatings.

www.basf-coatings.de