BASF Española Inaugurates New Technology Center in Marchamalo

BASF Coatings recently held an opening ceremony for the Technology Competence Center at the facilities of BASF Española in Marchamalo (Guadalajara).

The official opening ceremony was attended by the regional minister of Sustainable Development of Castilla – La Mancha, José Luis Escudero, as well as the mayor president of the city of Marchamalo, Rafael Esteban Santamaría, among other institutional representatives. The representation of the company was headed by Uta Holzenkamp, president of the global Coatings division of the BASF group, Carles Navarro Vigo, general manager of BASF Española, and Lars Kuellenberg, site manager of BASF Española S.L. in Marchamalo.

This technology center is dedicated to researching and replicating the painting process of any vehicle manufacturer, taking into account the various individual factors in each production line, such as temperature, humidity, or coating technology, and which have a definitive influence on the paint application process at the end customer. The facilities are digitally connected (Industry 4.0) with internal process management and control systems, and share digital networking with other BASF Group sites worldwide.

This Technology Competence Center provides services to more than 100 automotive factories in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia, including manufacturers of plastic parts for the same industry.

The construction of these facilities has contributed as a catalyst for the production transfer project of solvent-borne basecoats to the Marchamalo center, supported by the decision of the BASF group to officially designate the Marchamalo headquarters as a European strategic center for this technology. In addition, its construction has been a challenge having to carry out the construction and installation of the new application booths while maintaining the productive flow in the old ones, without affecting the quality or capacity of the process in continuous service to the end customer.

BASF has invested around 14 million euros in this facility. The equipment installed in this Technology Center includes state-of-the-art installations which place this center at the world technological summit for coating application processes for the automobile.

Innovation and commitment to the customer have been the fundamental basis for the construction of this center. Always with a clear focus on sustainability and environmental protection, BASF has installed equipment with the highest energy efficiency, and with the optimum degree of emission reduction.

The Marchamalo production center is a strategic site for the Coatings division in Spain. It has been a production site of BASF since 1982, although the origins of the former company date back to 1867.

With an area of 310,000 m2 and approximately 550 employees, the center has three modern production plants, two of which are paint plants, and one is for the production of intermediate resins. The facilities also include a Refinish paint training center for customer workshops, as well as control and development laboratories for all its main segments of high-tech products for the automotive industry.