BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany) announced that BASF Shanghai Coatings (BSC) opened its new technical center building at the BSC Minhang site. As one of the key highlights of the Minhang extension project, the launch of the technical center building marks another milestone. With the brand-new outlook, BSC will better serve automotive OEM customers in China with its technology, products and services.
Equipped with advanced laboratory facilities and a team of highly qualified and experienced staff, the new technical center building can provide customers with total solutions covering whole process from color design, styling and matching, to product development and launch based on its “color + innovation” studio. With the new set up, it will create high quality colors, greatly reduce product development time and improve overall work efficiency. The e-coat application technology center is newly built to enhance technical competence and application engineering capability. The e-coat application laboratory and pilot plant are able to offer product approval, quality conduct and process compatibility tests, while supporting customers on parameter adjustment as well as process and engineering optimization via bath and engineering simulation.
“I am very excited to celebrate the opening of the new technical center of BASF Shanghai Coatings, and witness the completion of the Minhang extension project”, said Dr. Jeffrey Jianfeng Lou, President and Chairman, BASF Greater China. “This new technical center will further strengthen BASF’s innovation capabilities and increase the synergy between our research efforts in China, enabling us to offer better coating solutions to our customers in China.”
“The BSC Minhang site is always of strategic importance to BASF’s Coatings division. In this rapidly developing automotive market, the new technical center will improve our technical capability and enhance our innovation advantage, helping our automotive customers stand out in the competitive industry”, said Jack Zou, Vice President, Automotive OEM Coatings Solutions Asia Pacific, BASF.
The Minhang extension project was started in 2020, including the upgrade of a comprehensive office building, a technical center building, the e-coat application technology center, and the newly established Chemetall regional R&D center. The expanded Minhang site will become a production site with major focus on coatings and surface treatment development, bringing development, technical services and salespeople closer together to form the best team for OEM customers and jointly promote the innovative and sustainable development of the automotive coatings industry. BASF’s Coatings division operates production sites, technical labs and R&D centers in all regions to increase customer collaboration and provide OEMs with product solutions tailor-made for their individual needs.