7. BASF Coatings
Münster, Germany (global headquarters)
Southfield, MI (North American headquarters)
248/304.5413
President: Uta Holzenkamp
2022 Coatings Sales: Approx. $4.58 billion (€4.22 billion)
BASFs Coatings, a division of BASF SE, develops, produces, and markets automotive OEM and refinish coatings, decorative paints, and applied surface treatments for metal, plastic, and glass substrates for a wide range of industries. The division employs around 11,400 people at more than 70 sites. BASF operates a collaborative network of sites in Europe, North America, South America and Asia-Pacific. The company’s site in Münster, Germany, is the headquarters of the Coatings division and reportedly the largest integrated paint-manufacturing site in the world. Part of BASF’s Functional Materials & Solutions segment, BASF Coatings achieved sales of approximately $4.58 billion (€4.22 billion) in 2022, representing 22.7% of sales for the segment.
Parent Company: BASF SE
Notes: In March of 2022, BASF opened a new laboratory building for the development of automotive refinish coatings and innovations beyond paint at its site in Münster, Germany. The new laboratories are supplied with thermal energy by using the residual heat from the company's waste incinerator, which is released via underfloor heating. In that same month, BASF’s Coatings division signed a new multiyear Global Industry Partnership with WorldSkills International. The agreement continues BASF’s long-standing commitment to developing new talent in the automotive refinish industry and solidifies BASF’s support of the next global WorldSkills Competition, which was held in Shanghai, in October 2022.
In May of 2022, BASF India’s Coatings division expanded its Automotive Coatings Application Center in order to boost its customer service capability.
In July of 2022, BASF Coatings Co., Ltd. expanded the production capacity of automotive refinish coatings at its coatings site in Jiangmen, Guangdong Province in South China to reach 30,000 metric tons per year.
In September 2022, Energiekontor AG, international maintenance company Omega-Tools GmbH, and BASF’s Coatings division partnered to gradually equip Energiekontor’s wind turbines with Novaflex BladeUp, thus making them more efficient. In that same month, BASF Coatings invested 15 million euros in a new research center for electrophoretic dip coating at its headquarters in Münster-Hiltrup, Germany.
In October 2022, BASF announced that it will invest in a new, world-scale neopentyl glycol (NPG) plant with an annual production capacity of 80,000 metric tons at its new Zhanjiang Verbund site, China. In that same month, The Surface Treatment global business unit of BASF’s Coatings division, operating under the Chemetall brand, opened its first regional innovation and technology center for applied surface treatment technology in Shanghai, China.
In December of 2022, BASF’s ColorBrite® Airspace Blue ReSource basecoat, certified by REDcert according to a biomass balance approach, made its debut in China. This is the first time BASF’s biomass balance automotive OEM coatings were introduced to Asia since the official launch in Europe in May of this year.
Source: Annual Report, press releases, company website