Automotive and Specialty Coatings
2022 summary
It was a strong year for Aerospace Coatings as the market recovered, which also saw many wins at customer level. A big highlight was the innovation award we received for our chrome-free technology. Vehicle Refinishes produced a similar performance, achieving good results in all regions. High energy costs and labor shortages continued to impact our customers, while presenting us with opportunities to support our customers’ sustainability ambitions. It was a mixed year for our Automotive activities, which were impacted by semi-conductor shortages, although we did see an encouraging recovery in the second half of the year. While our Consumer Electronics business was impacted by lower demand, our teams worked hard to uncover new opportunities ahead of what is expected to be another challenging year.
It was another year of solid performance and, given the rebound of both aerospace and automotive, there are many opportunities ahead of us.
Patrick BourguignonDirector of Automotive and Specialty Coatings
2022 highlight
We introduced the vehicle refinish industry’s first repair calculator to measure, manage and reduce carbon emissions. The CO2eRepairCalculator is designed to help customers reduce their carbon footprint when using our premium refinish products. It identifies the carbon levels associated with the painting and drying process – including the energy consumed – and is linked directly to the vehicle refinishing products being used. Bodyshops are therefore able to see how changes in the products they use and the processes they follow can have a direct impact on reducing carbon emissions and energy costs, as well as improving their productivity.
Nintendo partnership
Supplied special coatings for the interior of the Nintendo Switch OLED, which offers a larger screen with more intense colors.
New milestone
Our Acoat Selected program for the vehicle refinishes industry – which offers business benchmarking, management training and process optimization – celebrated its 45th anniversary.
Sharing success
We supplied our latest aerospace grade Intura interior coating system to composite materials business Diab for its innovative thermoplastic sandwich panel – which was recognized at the 2022 JEC Composites Innovation Awards.
Capacity boost
In July, we announced a €15 million investment to boost production capacity at our aerospace coatings facility in Pamiers, France. The funds will also be used to reduce environmental impact and improve safety processes and working conditions.
Chrome-free primer
In close collaboration with a leading OEM, our Aerospace Coatings business developed a chrome-free basic primer system which offers the performance of traditional chromate primers, without the use of chromates.
BYD agreement
We became global refinish partner for electric vehicle maker BYD – extending the agreement we already had in China – enabling us to push ahead with our shared ambition of reducing carbon emissions.
Virtual training
Launched a new innovation in aerospace industry training by investing in virtual reality technology which mimics a customer’s production environment. The VR headset immerses the trainee in a virtual paint booth, complete with everything from aircraft parts to the production floor itself.
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Key brands
The total amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused during a defined period of a product’s lifecycle. It is expressed in terms of the amount of carbon dioxide equivalents CO2(e) emitted. Greenhouse gases include CO2, CO, CH4, N2O and HFCs, which have a global warming impact. We also include the impact of VOCs in our targets.