BASF Coatings and Zukunftswerkstatt 4.0 announce partnership

BASF's Coatings division has announced a pioneering partnership with Zukunftswerkstatt 4.0 in Esslingen, Germany. This institution is regarded as a renowned innovation lab and important network for the automotive trade, which already includes around 130 partners from the automotive industry. In an open platform concept, innovative technologies as well as applications for the dealership and workshop sector are presented and promoted. BASF Coatings is significantly represented with automotive refinish solutions and offerings from the Digital Incubation Unit, which identifies and validates digital business models as the company's incubation unit. "With BASF Coatings, the Future Workshop 4.0 will immediately occupy a new and previously unoccupied field of innovation; the BASF division is an innovation leader in the areas of vehicle series and automotive refinish coatings. All car dealerships and workshops are concerned not with the question of whether to carry out paint work, but how. Professional implementation requires the right equipment and know-how - BASF Coatings brings both elements to the Future Workshop 4.0. The ZKW network is looking forward to this and is proud to have this strong industry player on board," says Prof. Dr. Benedikt Maier, Managing Director of Zukunftswerkstatt 4.0.

As part of the partnership, it is planned that interested parties will be able to find out about selected innovations at the Zukunftswerkstatt location in Esslingen as well as online in the Innovation Radar. For the automotive repair sector, these include the spectrophotometer, which, with the associated software platform "Refinity," supports paint stores in finding and adjusting the right mixing formula by means of digital color matching, while at the same time reducing the time required for this process. There will also be virtual insights into the innovative Series 100 waterborne paint system from Glasurit, BASF's premium refinish brand, which impresses as the most sustainable solution on the market by increasing efficiency in the application process. According to BASF Coatings, the partnership with Zukunftswerkstatt 4.0 represents a complementary strategic move to further expand its innovation leadership, strengthen competitive advantages and actively shape the future of the industry. In doing so, the company is focusing on the broad spectrum of product, process and business model innovations, which also include digital offerings. To this end, BASF's Digital Incubation Unit operates at the exciting interface between the challenges of the automotive and surface industries and the opportunities offered by digital trends. "At the launch of the partnership, visitors to the Future Workshop will have the opportunity to experience one of our projects, the Virtual Reality Showroom, on site. Here, our leading expertise in coatings is transferred to the digital world and a unique color experience is created. Feedback can be used to actively participate in the further development of our prototypes," says Dominic Rudloff, Head of the Digital Incubation Unit at BASF. "The Future Workshop 4.0 is a unique innovation hub, specified to the further development of our industry. We are looking forward to pooling innovation power and to jointly lead the way towards a sustainable and digital future for auto repair shops," adds Tobias Brefeld, Sales DACH & CE Refinish Coatings at BASF.