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BASF Coatings Wins Automotive Sustainability Award

The Sustainability Award in Automotive 2026 recognizes its Overspray Free Application process.

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By: Rachel Klemovitch

Assistant Editor

BASF Coatings won the Sustainability Award in Automotive 2026 for its Overspray Free Application (OFLA) process, an overspray-free approach to two-tone painting. 

The award is jointly organized by the ATZ/MTZ Group (Springer Nature) and the management consultancy Arthur D. Little.

The award was presented in the ‘Technology: Operations & Supply Chain’ category, which honors tangible technological and process innovations that make a measurable contribution to sustainability by improving industrial operations and production processes. 

“The award underlines how process innovation, enabled by advanced paint technology, can fundamentally change the sustainability profile of automotive two‑tone painting without the efficiency and resource penalties of conventional approaches,” said Alvin Lao, Head of Global Sustainability, Automotive OEM Coatings at BASF Coatings. “The jury’s recognition highlights OFLA as a technology‑driven solution that delivers measurable environmental and operational value for automotive manufacturing.”

OFLA is a wet-on-wet process for two-tone vehicles. The contrast color is applied with digitally controlled paint jets, producing a sharp paint edge without masking, enabled by BASF Coatings’ ColorSharp decor coat paint technology, engineered for overspray-free application. 

With tailored rheology and optimized flow and leveling behavior, the paint is designed to support sharply defined jet-applied paint lines and help avoid defects typically associated with conventional spray basecoats. 

The process achieves 100% transfer efficiency and eliminates overspray. For OEMs, this can reduce energy demand and CO2 emissions, cut masking-related waste, and deliver process-level paint savings while maintaining stable serial quality.

OFLA is the result of close collaboration across the automotive value chain, combining BASF Coatings’ paint innovation and technology, Renault’s OEM manufacturing expertise, and Dürr’s advanced application and automation technology.

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