Coatings

People & Society

We value people and treat them with respect.

We enable and empower our employees while ensuring safe working conditions. Beyond this, we take responsibility for contributing to a better quality of life for everyone. The neighborhoods around our sites are crucial to our success, as we can only thrive with the trust and support of our neighbors. Therefore, we take our role as a reliable partner and attractive employer seriously, actively implementing diverse social responsibility projects within our communities.

Three young employees sitting outside a table and talking animatedly.

Our employees

Our employees are fundamental for achieving our goals. They are the key to our success. We engage and empower our employees to make the most of their talents and their jobs. We create an environment in which our diverse talents can contribute in the best possible way. We promote a culture in which different ways of thinking and working can develop optimally.

Health & Safety

We never compromise on safety. We act responsibly and value the health and safety of people above all else. We also work every day to protect the environment.

We commit ourselves to the principles of Responsible Care® and continuously improve the efficiency of our production plants to save resources.

Empowering the next generation of refinish painters

The refinish business would not exist without refinish painters, so we work to show off the refinish business and attract new people to the refinish industry. We also support high, sustainable refinish standards in our core of diverse training and development programs. Whether it’s the R-M Best Painter Contest or the global WorldSkills competition, we empower the next generation of refinish painters and enhance their skills on the global stage that benefits local markets.

From left to right: Chris Titmarsh, Senior Vice President Automotive Refinish Coatings, BASF, congrats the winners Ronan Le Tutour from France, Yuto Hushino from Japan, Lara Kaufmann from Switzerland, Jason Scherer from Germany together with Joern Stoever, Global Key Account Manager SATA

Photo: WorldSkills

WorldSkills

Started in 1950, WorldSkills Competitions are the gold standard of excellence in vocational skills. In May 2020, BASF Coatings renewed its global sponsorship of WorldSkills to continue its long-standing commitment to developing new talent in the automotive refinish industry. The mission of WorldSkills is to raise the profile and recognition of skilled people and show how important skills are in achieving economic growth and personal success. The competition inspires competitors to reach new heights, while giving them the training and skills needed to turn their passion into a profession.

Best Painter Contest

Focusing on training and opportunities to grow expertise in the industry, the R-M International Best Painter Contest is the automotive refinish brand’s own unique competition. Since 1999, R-M has hosted the contest for up-and-coming spray painters to promote the profession as an attractive career and honor the most talented spray painter.

Video R-M International Best Painter Contest 2022

Building bridges into skilled work

Promoting diversity in all its forms is very important to BASF Coatings. As a company that centers around research and innovation, we are mainly committed to promoting science education. This entails getting children and young people interested in science, as well as identifying and enabling their individual careers.

Without training, you can’t get a job. Without a job, the range of prospects might get slim. To broaden the individual range of prospects for job opportunities, BASF Coatings not only offers a wide variety of vocational trainings, but is also involved in projects with regional partners to build bridges between schools and professional training sites early in a person’s career.

Youth Research competition

"Jugend forscht"

What are gummy bears made of? How can waste be removed from bodies of water and metal be recovered from old computers? Every year, school students take on these and many other questions during the German “Jugend forscht” (Youth Research) competition. In Münster, we have supported the regional competition as a main sponsor since 2002 within the national framework. Young talents from the areas of science, technology, information and mathematics have the opportunity to realize their ideas, while connecting BASF with the bright minds of tomorrow.

Jugend forscht

One-year internship

Bridge into skilled work

With the program “Brücke zum Beruf” (a bridge into skilled work), BASF Coatings is offering a one-year internship for young people who could not enter a vocational training program. “Schule – und dann?” (School – what’s next?) is a project established by the Wirtschaftsförderung Münster GmbH (Münster business promotion organization), giving school students from Münster the opportunity to spend one afternoon at the BASF site learning about the know-how required for various professions.
In addition, the business network “Industry in Münster” (BASF Coatings is a member) offers a job orientation tool on its website. Here, school students can find out more about their interests and talents. Furthermore, they can find personal contacts to get in touch with in case of any questions.

Suvinil and Social Impact

The Success of the Pintar o Bem Program

In 2020, Suvinil, our decorative paints business in Brazil, launched Pintar o Bem (“Paint the Good” in English) with the aim of providing financial support to painters who have been out of work during the Covid-19 pandemic. At the time, almost 2,000 professionals from all regions of Brazil were benefited.
Two years later, Pintar o Bem evolved. In partnership with the Alicerce Institute and NGOs such as Gerando Falcões and G10, Suvinil has launched a new phase of the program with the aim of transforming and boosting the paths of people in situations of social vulnerability and supporting them in entering the job market.

As a result, Pintar o Bem began to offer educational trainings - such as reading, writing, maths, socio-emotional content, and theoretical and practical classes on painting, so that participants can become professional painters. As an incentive to complete the trainings, those enrolled also receive financial aid conditional on their attendance at classes.

Since then, almost 150 people have graduated from Pintar o Bem, learning on average as much as in 2.5 years of school. In addition, a survey carried out with the first classes found that almost 30% of the graduates were already working as painters or painting assistants 6 months after the classes. 35% said they were earning a higher income than before being part in the project; and 96% said that Pintar o Bem had changed their lives.

And the impact of the program goes beyond the students' lives. The facades of the houses in the communities where the classes are held are revitalized with paint donated by Suvinil and with the students' own labor, supported by the brand's technical team and partner painters.

Suvinil believes that education and training are powerful tools for leveraging social and economic prosperity. That's why the Pintar o Bem will continue as its main project towards people in situations of social vulnerability.

Learn more about Pintar o Bem (only in Brazilian Portuguese).