Renault and Volvo grant approvals for coatings: BASF Coatings new supplier for Plastic Omnium Auto Exterior in Bruay La Buissière

Citation

(2005), "Renault and Volvo grant approvals for coatings: BASF Coatings new supplier for Plastic Omnium Auto Exterior in Bruay La Buissière", Anti-Corrosion Methods and Materials, Vol. 52 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/acmm.2005.12852fab.025

Renault and Volvo grant approvals for coatings: BASF Coatings new supplier for Plastic Omnium Auto Exterior in Bruay La Buissière

Renault and Volvo grant approvals for coatings: BASF Coatings new supplier for Plastic Omnium Auto Exterior in Bruay La Buissière

BASF Coatings and Plastic Omnium Auto Exterior, the automotive equipment manufacturer specialising in the supply of plastic car body parts and modules, have set up a close partnership. The agreement signed by the two companies means that BASF Coatings is now the main supplier of primer surfacers, basecoats, and clearcoats for coating plastic components at Bruay La Buissière, where Plastic Omnium currently manufactures 3,500 parts per day for Volvo (trim strips and rocker panels) and for Renault (bumpers, radiator grilles, and rocker panel molding for the Kangoo and bumpers for the Megane). Both Volvo and Renault have granted BASF Coatings approvals for their coatings.

“The new contract partnership with French plastics specialist Plastic Omnium Auto Exterior opens up completely new opportunities for us to co-operate with Renault and Volvo. The long-standing confidence on the part of our customers and the excellent quality of our products have paid off once again,” says Siegfried Riediger, Global Account Manager for plastic automotive components. Along with Christophe Marceau, Production and Non- Production Purchasing Director of Plastic Omnium Auto Exterior, Riediger signed the new contract at the Sigmatech center in Saint Julie near Lyon. Also present at the signing were Dirk Lorbeer, head of Plastic AC Account Management Europe, Patrice Bouhier, Global Account Manager for Plastic Omnium and plastic automotive components and his close associate Remi Blandureau, as well as Plastic Omnium's Antony Pierreclaud, Raw Material and Paint Purchasing Manager and Katerine Malaval, purchaser.

“For two years we have been able to demonstrate tremendous progress on the plastic components coatings market. Our new partnership with Plastic Omnium is a huge step forward in France,” says Riediger.

In their speeches at the official signing of the contract, Christophe Marceau and Antony Pierreclaud stressed the significance of the new partnership: “For us, this contract means a significant continuation of the development of our long-standing cooperation with BASF Coatings that now includes the expansion of our business relations. This contract is forward-looking and has been set up for the long term.” Two global players have found each other in order to co- operate successfully.

As Siegfried Riediger puts it, “Signing this contract is a clear statement of our commitment to our customer Plastic Omnium. We will do everything in our power to make Plastic Omnium even more successful and to prove that we have the best team in the industry, each and every day.” Riediger explained how this can be put into practice: “Labs in Clermont and Münster work together on Plastic Omnium projects with the objective of successfully introducing BASF Coatings' paints at Plastic Omnium's Bruay site. Service technicians work at the customer's site in order to answer questions locally and solve problems quickly.” Joint projects such as introducing an even more efficient color management concept for improving color specifications and preventing color deviations and the continuous controls that are required have been initiated and are in full swing.

Measures for developing additional innovations and for improving productivity by decreasing paint consumption and further increasing quality are also on the agenda of BASF Coatings.