Applause for ECS 2003 - European-coatings.com

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Quelle/Publication: European Coatings Journal Ausgabe/Issue: 05/2003 Seite/Page: 20 Premiere with simultaneous translation During the one-day 4th Construction Chemicals Congress on April 10th, 12 select lectures dealt with current scientific and technical developments as well as topics of interest from within the sector. Simultaneous interpreting was provided for the first time and attracted a large contingent of delegates from foreign countries. Rainer Sobek, vice-president of German Bauchemie e.V., opened the congress in confident tones, drawing attention to the high importance of the construction chemicals, including its social dimension: "Important buildings throughout the world cannot be - and could not have been - built without the use of construction chemical products". But he also addressed the problems besetting the construction chemicals sector, especially in Germany: "The weakness in the German construction sector is now in its 5th year - we do not feel like celebrating". But it is precisely in difficult times that there is a great need to exchange information and knowledge - this too was revealed by the 4th Construction Chemicals Congress. 2nd Ink Makers' Forum All about inks The printing inks market is currently going through hard times, but this is actually forcing a certain amount of differentiation on the ink manufacturers - the thing to do now is to stand out from the market not only in cost but also in technological leadership. During the ECS, the Ink Makers' Forum, 2nd European Congress on Printing Inks, provided an opportunity to hear about technical details from international experts on current innovations in the fields of binders, pigments and colorants, additives for printing ink formulations as well as on new production and testing technology. The 70 delegates from 14 countries heard 23 expert lectures - spread for the first time over two days - that reflected the full range of current developments in printing inks, and also discussed the current market and legislative situation. In the opening session, Martin Kanert (VDMi/CEPE), especially, caused a stir when he explained the impact that the planned EU chemicals policy - to the extent it is known - would have on the printing inks industry, and he then formulated CEPE's position on this. An important point of his deliberations: according to estimates, the costs of chemical registration as provided for under the REACH program would increase the cost of substances produced in quantities of less than 1 t/a by around 42% (this figure being commensurately lower for larger amounts): 10 t/a: 11%, 100 t/a: 5%, 1000 t/a: 2%, 10,000 t/a: 0.4%). Of course, additives will be mostly affected by this. The probable consequence would be the disappearance of a large number of chemicals from the market. The German VCI estimates that this will be the case for 20 to 40% of substances produced in quantities ranging from 1 to 100 t/a. Some highlights from the technical sessions The migration of unreacted photoinitiators and their breakdown products from UV cured inks is of increasing concern in the food packaging industry. R. Stephen Davidson presented on behalf of Coates Lorilleux new multifunctional photoinitiators (MFPI's) that have been developed to reduce the amounts of extractable components in UV-cured coating. Because of their multifunctionality, the photoinitiators are firmly embedded within the binder during cure, while still keeping a good reactivity to achieve full cure of the system. The "dynamic fingerprint" of any ink formulation can be generated with a time-dependent differential maximum bubble pressure technique. As Victor P. Janule (ChemDyne) explained, this allows formulators to characterize the ink performance under all possible process conditions before the ink is used. This is especially important when multiple surfactants are present in the formulation. As the measurements show, the formulations that give the lowest surface tension may not be the best. Wim Peter Stout (Air Products) talked about how important it is to adjust and control surface tension in printing inks. Acetylenic diols are well known as high performing additives for the waterborne liquid inks, showing the technical advantages offered by Gemini surfactants. Stout presented a new generation of these additives, which offer even better performance benefits. Jörg Seubert (Eckart Werke) presented new aluminium metal pigments that can be produced as very thin platelets of highly uniform thickness by means of PVD (physical vapour deposition). These pigments exhibit pronounced non-leafing behaviour and the binder protects them very well in printing inks against mechanical and chemical influences. They are ideal for mirror-effect inks. They are not meant to compete against conventional metal effect printing inks, but rather to replace metallising layers, e.g. in packaging and labels. The advantage of these mirror-effect inks is that they can be applied precisely and exclusively to the areas where they are used in the decoration - this is not possible with metallisation. Masterbatch Day: Small but distinguished Some 28 international masterbatch manufacturers gathered at the ECS in a relaxed atmosphere for their first joint forum: Masterbatch Day. A series of five short lectures gave them an insight into pigments (white, carbon black and effect pigments), waxes and especially European legislation, which is of vital concern to them as masterbatch formulators. The various directives, guidelines and ordinances addressed were those on preparations, material safety data sheets, hazardous goods, toys, packaging and waste, and materials and articles intended for food contact. Substantial breaks during the day ensured there was plenty of time to get to know each other and to trade expertise. East & West: Connecting Europe Neighbours mingling Up until now a "mere" forum, the European coatings convention "East & West: Connecting Europe" was expanded this year to include a lecture series. The lectures delivered by the leading paint managers from Western, Central and Eastern Europe were received with great interest. An audience of 120 used the chance on April 9th to find out about the various national markets, to hear statistics and to catch up on local trends. Where else is there an opportunity to get firsthand basic data on, for example, the Estonian coatings market? As David O'Brock of Viru Keemia Grupp explained, some 14,400 metric tonnes of paints and surface coatings were produced there in 2001, with 36% of the market held by non-Estonian companies. The various speakers demonstrated the potential afforded by the various East European coatings markets with the aid of market analyses and surveys. The atmosphere remained intimate and informal throughout; contact between east and west smoothly transcended whatever linguistic borders there might have been. This coatings event has now developed into a valuable information and contact mart. Simultaneous interpreting was provided for the two Russian lectures. The remaining contributions were delivered in English. Workshop Production Technology Vincentz Network +++ Schiffgraben 43 +++ D-30175 Hannover +++ Tel.:+49(511)9910-000
Quelle/Publication: European Coatings Journal Ausgabe/Issue: 05/2003 Seite/Page: 20 International dialogue The second-ever Workshop Production Technology had a very international flavour this year. 49 participants from 15 countries made the journey to the NürnbergMesse conference center on April 9th. Non-German countries made up 65% of the total. Besides many audience members from Germany's neighbouring countries, some had also come from as far afield as India and Tanzania. To make the lecture series attractive to the widest circle of participants, the organizers had devised a program that more or less dispensed with specialist topics. Dr. Olaf Eichstaedt, an excellent and engaging moderator, guided the participants through the day, which was often characterized by intense discussions. The first of these came during general questions on the opening lecture by John E. Dunstone of Orr & Boss management consultancy on issues of the design of paints and coating shops. One of his core premises was indisputable, namely that simplicity is generally the key to success. The remaining lectures covered different aspects of production technology in detail and illustrated the possibilities and limitations of both new and developed processes. Two successive lectures on quintessentially different inline technologies, for example, made for interesting comparison. And then, right at the end, the excitement level rose reached a new pitch with the presentation of a method, fresh out of the development stage, for manufacturing printing inks. The method provides for production on extruders, which make continuous production theoretically possible and therefore have an advantage over conventional equipment, particularly where mass production is concerned. Purchasers' Day A multifaceted premiere It has long been possible to buy a lot for a little at supermarket discounters. Indeed, such supermarkets base their company policy on staying cheap. But quality is now almost just as high on the list of requirements that the products must meet. This example from everyday life reflects a trend which has increasingly shaped developments in coating raw materials purchasing in recent years. But, just as you can't simply pick any old product off the shelf of discount supermarkets in the hope of getting value for money, so too purchasers in the coatings industry mustn't rely on a simple fax order when the stores start running low on a raw material. Successful purchasing of coating raw materials is now a multi-faceted affair and it is vital to know the specific ins and outs and mechanisms of the various raw material markets and the possibilities afforded by modern purchasing. It was precisely to give trading persons in the industry an opportunity to widen their knowledge base in this regard that Purchasers' Day was created for this year's European Coatings Show. The advantage to the roughly 40 participants from the German-speaking paints and coatings industry and its suppliers was that the event was tailored specifically to their needs. The conference opened with a summary of the rapid transformation in the professional life of a coating raw materials purchaser, who today is more of a relationship manager than a simple merchant. This was followed in quick succession by the other lectures, some of them more general in nature, such as the report on what electronic purchasing has to offer and a paper that illustrated market mechanisms and their influence on the response times of prices. Some of the lectures also examined the normal working day of a purchaser in very great depth. One of the Vincentz Network +++ Schiffgraben 43 +++ D-30175 Hannover +++ Tel.:+49(511)9910-000 highlights was the report by Ernst-Eberhard Klink of the eponymous solvent trading company in Stuttgart. Klink made it clear that the prices for solvents depend on a wide variety of factors, not just on the obvious ones, such as the price of crude oil. He conducted an invaluable exercise in trying to predict the future. Winfried Bergmann, managing director of Intrela GmbH in Alzenau, wound up the lectures by showing that collaboration is a proven way of not merely creating better conditions for increasing competitiveness, but doing so especially during purchasing. International audience: All roads lead to Nuremberg "I'm impressed - there's so much to see here. Everything you expect to be here is here - and a little more besides. What I found really good and useful was the testing part of the show, which is interesting to everyone. I'll definitely come back to the ECS!" Stefan Hjort, Ph.D. Surface Engineering, Swedish Institute of Production Engineering Research, Sweden. "The show is very well organised, and that's especially important for people who only come for one day. It's very useful for informal meetings within your own company and outside it. And it's very interesting to see all the products together in the same place." Kenneth Ahlm, Sales Manager Powder Coatings, Rohm and Haas Nordiska AB Powder Coatings, Sweden. "We want to expand and are looking for new and better products. We have come here because we are interested primarily in European companies. We're on the lookout for European franchise partners as well. We had a large number of promising discussions and now we'll see what comes of them." Deviyani D. Ved, Director Gamma Coatings Pvt. Ltd., and Manju K. Chandak, India. "I am at the ECS for the first time and I like it a lot. Ties with Western Europe are really important for the Russian coatings industry and that's why I've come to Nuremberg." Professor Dr. Kaschnikov, JSC Spektr. LK, Russia. Exhibitors from all around the world: 3 out of 646 "This is where the whole industry gets together. But many users who come to the ECS and who show a lot of interest still have too many inhibitions. They should venture onto the stands more often to seek out their contacts." Günther Heiling, Marketing Waxes, Technical Service, Clariant GmbH Division Pigments & Additives BU Additive, Germany. "Even in quite specialist niche areas, where we expected hardly any visitors, there were excellent technical discussions in progress." Peter Zehntner, owner and managing director of Zehntner Testing Instruments, Switzerland. "The European coatings market is very active and offers great demand potential. It was therefore important for us to be represented here." Li Bin, Vice Manager of Foreign Trade Department of Zhejiang Tiansong New Materials Co. Ltd., Hangzhou, China.
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