The successful collaboration between Axalta and ALTANA has opened up new perspectives.
Currently, the two companies are thinking about intensifying their cooperation in research and development.
Suraj Krishnan: Coatings are all about sustainability. Their primary
function is to protect the vehicle parts being coated, enabling
them to last longer and perform better. Next, to protect those
substrates from corrosion, climate, road conditions, and more
year after year, our coatings must themselves be durable and sus-
tainable. Some of our latest coatings support fuel efficiency
by being formulated for lightweight vehicle parts which help fuel
efficiency. And I’d be remiss not to add that in most cases
our coatings also need to be beautiful. But sustainability goes yet
further for us at Axalta. Our technologies enable us to reduce
waste in vehicle repair business. In the old days, body shops first
had to mix different paint samples and then compare the color
with the paint on the car to get the correct color match. The orig-
inal paint can fade over time. This required a lot of re-work and
wasted paint. With the help of BYK-Gardner’s handheld spectrophotometers
body shops now match the exact color shade
without trial and error and speed up the repair process.
Dialog with our Stakeholders 23
CONVINCING COLLABORATION
KEY ACCOUNT AXALTA
Axalta awarded ALTANA companies Sup-
plier of the Year in 2016, the first year
of the program, and in 2017. The partners
engage in regular exchange regarding
innovation.
2017 – AWARD
“ SUPPLIER OF THE YEAR”
Axalta and ALTANA are working well together in many
areas. What are your wishes for the future?
Suraj Krishnan: ALTANA, and especially BYK and ECKART, are
part of our initiative to improve collaboration with suppliers.
We meet quarterly to discuss current issues – operative, technological,
or commercial ones. The topic of sustainability always
plays a role, even when it is not addressed firsthand. It hovers
over everything. For the future, I would like us to be able to
learn more from one another in terms of how to help our customers
reduce their environmental footprint, and to optimize our
own as well.
Detlev Lindner: I agree with Suraj. In my view, the cooper-
ation between Axalta and ALTANA is excellent. But of course
there is always room for improvement. For the future, I envi-
sion stronger cooperation between ALTANA’s research and devel-
opment and Axalta, in order to better understand what the
market needs.