MUENSTER, Germany — The Refinish Competence Center at BASF Spain in Marchamalo, Guadalajara Province, Spain, celebrated its official reopening. This training center is dedicated to teaching body shop technicians, distributors and large automotive companies, all of them BASF customers in Spain and Portugal, about its renowned premium brands Glasurit and R-M. In addition, it hosts numerous events intended to promote the training of young future professionals, through initiatives such as “R-M Best Painter Contest” or “Castilla-La Mancha Skills”, as well as training vocational teachers through the FORTECO program.

Originally built in 1983, the facility is among the top addresses for BASF customers in Iberia, and more than 2,000 people a year participate in the training programs. The training is key to being able to master the complex techniques of color adjustment and automotive refinishing, and it provides a complete overview of the latest innovations of the two brands.

Since the start of this year, the Marchamalo center has invested around €2.5 million in renovating the facility so as to offer the best possible technological experience. The fundamental reason for the modernization was BASF’s innovative spirit as well as its commitment to its customers. With a clear focus on sustainability and environmental protection, BASF has installed equipment with maximum energy efficiency and minimum emissions.

Patricia Franco Jiménez, Regional Minister of Economy, Enterprise and Employment for Castilla-La Mancha, and Rafael Esteban Santamaría, the mayor of Marchamalo, joined other official representatives at the inauguration. Katja Scharpwinkel, Senior Vice President Automotive Refinish Coatings EMEA, Carles Navarro Vigo, Managing Director Country Cluster Head Iberia, Christian Schneider, Site Manager Marchamalo/Director of Operations, and Ramón Farré Gaudier, Regional Business Manager Automotive Refinish Coatings Iberia, represented the company.

The production center in Marchamalo is the headquarters of the Coatings division in Spain. The plant has been used by BASF as a production center since 1982, although the company origins date back to 1867.

Covering an area of 310,000 square meters, the center employs around 650 staff and encompasses two paint factories, one plant for intermediate resins, and a large-scale production unit. Apart from the renovated training center, the site includes an automotive application center as well as quality control and development laboratories for all its main product segments.

The products manufactured at the site include high-technology coatings for the automotive industry and other technically demanding applications, various acrylics, binders for electrocoating, thix additives, polyesters and other special intermediate resins, and decorative paints, fillers and protective additives for tunneling machines.