Coatings World’s Top 10 Breaking News Stories for 2020

Coatings World covered a wide variety of stories online throughout 2020, from online exclusives and features to breaking news, video and more.

These 10 breaking news stories drew the highest readership totals during 2020:

10. Asian Paints Commits Rs.35 Crores Towards COVID-19 Relief

“As a socially responsible company, Asian Paints is committed to providing necessary support towards various relief measures announced by the government to combat Covid-19,” said K.B.S. Anand, managing director & CEO, Asian Paints Limited. “We will continue to work with various Government bodies to aid the community at large.”

9. AkzoNobel Provides Update on Winning Together: 15 by 20

“Since 2017, we’ve kept a laser-sharp focus on our Winning together: 15 by 20 strategy and on the promises set at the time. The progress we’ve made has been reflected in AkzoNobel’s total shareholder return of 82% during the same time period,” CEO Thierry Vanlancker said.

8. AkzoNobel Acquires Titan

“The Spanish market has strong growth potential and this is an excellent opportunity for us to reinforce our position in the region,” AkzoNobel CEO Thierry Vanlancker said. “The acquisition will enable us to better serve our customers and provide added momentum, while also offering further proof of us being the reference in paints and coatings in Europe.

7. AkzoNobel Acquires Stahl Performance Powder Coatings

“This is a great acquisition which will enable us to build on our global leadership position by entering emerging market spaces that have major potential,” said Daniela Vlad, business director of AkzoNobel Powder Coatings. “The clearly differentiating UV technology, in particular, is expected to see significant growth and will further strengthen our position as a complete provider of sustainable solutions for heat-sensitive substrates, in particular for our wood coatings customers.”

6. AkzoNobel Appoints John Griffin to Lead Automotive, Specialty Coatings Business

“John has been an instrumental leader for us for decades, and I am excited to see where he will take our regional automotive and specialty coatings business,” said Patrick Bourguignon, AkzoNobel’s global business director, Automotive and Specialty Coatings. “Most recently, John led our company’s aerospace and film coatings segments with great success. I’m confident he will now guide our automotive and specialty coatings teams through the challenges we all face from the unprecedented global pandemic and will achieve outstanding results in his new role.”

5. BASF Donates More Than 100 Million Protective Masks

“An emergency situation such as this can only be managed by all of us together,” said Martin Brudermüller, chairman of BASF’s Board of Executive Directors. “We are therefore using our purchasing networks and logistics in China to help.”

4. Nippon Paint, Corning Inc. Develop Antivirus Surface Coating

“The coronavirus outbreak has prompted us once again to be highly innovative, and we are happy to work jointly with Corning at this particular time to complete the development, tests and production of the antivirus coating. We hope this will give frontline healthcare professionals valuable support as they fight the virus,” said Eric Chung, president of Nippon Paint, China.

3. PPG Initiates Global Restructuring

“Given the broad economic impact relating to the COVID-19 pandemic and the recovery timeline in a few end-use markets, we are taking decisive action to further adjust our cost base,” said Michael H. McGarry, PPG chairman and CEO. “These measures will enable the company to come out of the crisis with lower structural costs. As a result of these actions, along with continued discretionary cost controls, we expect strong operating margin leverage as economic activity continues to improve. Despite efforts to reduce our total costs, we remain committed to continuing our investments in growth-related initiatives, including fully funding our research and development for products, services and digital capabilities that will drive long-term growth.”

2. BASF Atop ICIS Top 100 Chemical Companies Listing

BASF regained the top spot as the world’s largest chemical company with sales of $66.6 billion in 2019, a decline of 1.5% from 2018.

1. Pilot Offers 32 Disinfectants on EPA’s Disinfectants for Use Against SARS-CoV-2 List

“Our customers serve the consumer, institutional and industrial markets. In today’s world, effective disinfection, sanitization and cleaning products are critical to helping ensure the health and safety of everyone including family members, workers, students, customers, and patients,” said Richard Rehg, VP of commercial, Pilot Chemical Corp. “We applaud the EPA for its efforts to fast-track registrations. Pilot Chemical stands ready to meet the market demand for these products. We take very seriously the important role that proper disinfection, sanitizing and cleaning play as our country mobilizes to combat this serious public health threat.”