Finishing - November-December 2023
Inflation is still high and we seem to be paying more for everything, especially cars. The most common way for people to buy new cars in the UK is PCP finance and with deals coming to an end and new interest rates on car loans higher, will this see a decrease in new car sales. So what will this mean for the car and finishing industry in the UK? My feeling is that car buying, especially in cities and big towns, will change. People will look at alternatives such as renting cars and using apps such as Uber, instead of buying a depreciating asset. Technology might be making personal car ownership a thing of the past. But I don’t thing this means there will be fewer cars on the road, just fewer owners. This issue has the winners of the BCF Awards, plus news of a win for the BCF itself!
Inflation is still high and we seem to be paying more for everything, especially cars. The most common way for people to buy new cars in the UK is PCP finance and with deals coming to an end and new interest rates on car loans higher, will this see a decrease in new car sales. So what will this mean for the
car and finishing industry in the UK?
My feeling is that car buying, especially in cities and big towns, will change. People will look at alternatives such as renting cars and using apps such as Uber, instead of buying a depreciating asset. Technology might be making personal car ownership a thing of the past. But I don’t thing this means there will be fewer cars on the road, just fewer owners.
This issue has the winners of the BCF Awards, plus news of a win for the BCF itself!
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6 NEWS www.finishingmagazine.co.uk<br />
The BCF Award winners have been announced.<br />
Sky high fundraising<br />
Two employees from Merseyside Galvanizers have reached extreme<br />
heights on their mission to raise awareness and funds for mental<br />
health.<br />
On 2nd September <strong>2023</strong>, Richard Smetham, sales manager, and<br />
Richie Harland, currently a galvanizing operative at Merseyside<br />
Galvanizers embarked on a charity tandem skydive, alongside friends<br />
and family Hayley Westbury, Sam Jones and Kavan Burgess.<br />
Driven by very personal motivation, it was part of a wider challenge<br />
to raise awareness of mental health, as well as fundraise for the Mental<br />
Health Foundation.<br />
Richard said: “Richie is a very good friend and colleague of mine –<br />
always easy going, positive-minded, and going above and beyond, at<br />
work and in life. Following a six-month period of setbacks and dark<br />
times, he attempted to take his own life in January 2022. Despite<br />
being able to read the signs due to my own previous struggles and<br />
doing everything I could to try and help, I couldn’t stop the impact on<br />
his mental health.<br />
“Luckily, I was in the right place at the right time, and Richie is still<br />
with us. Through help and support from family, friends and colleagues<br />
over the past 18 months – as well as Wedge Group providing him<br />
adequate time and assistance to help towards his recovery - he is<br />
returning to his old self.<br />
“To celebrate our friendship, and Richie’s recovery, we decided to<br />
complete a charity tandem skydive. We’re incredibly grateful to all<br />
those who pledged donations, which allowed us to smash our original<br />
target, and kept us motivated when the realisation of falling 15,000<br />
feet sunk in…<br />
“It was a truly exhilarating experience - we were measuring speeds<br />
of around 153 mph during freefall - but I’d absolutely love to do it<br />
again.”<br />
New cooperation<br />
LANXESS, and Tennants have agreed on a strategic cooperation for<br />
integrated solutions in the field of industrial plant hygiene. In doing so,<br />
the partners will combine the specialty chemicals group’s biocide<br />
portfolio and the company’s adenosine triphosphate (ATP) technology.<br />
ATP technology can be used to quickly and reliably detect a possible<br />
contamination with microorganisms.<br />
Philipp Seidenstuecker, global marketing manager paints & coatings<br />
in the material protection products (MPP) business unit at LANXESS,<br />
explains, “Plant hygiene is a key element of a proper preservation,<br />
especially in our ever tighter regulatory environment. The ATP<br />
technology from Tennants is an excellent way to monitor the hygiene<br />
level in the factory and to support a most efficient use of biocides.<br />
Customers of both companies benefit equally from this cooperation.”<br />
The winners of the <strong>2023</strong> British<br />
Coatings Federation (BCF)<br />
Awards were announced on<br />
19th October at The Grand<br />
Hotel in Birmingham. Over 200<br />
delegates attended the biggestever<br />
event in the 13 years of<br />
running the awards.<br />
The highlight of the evening<br />
was celebrating the amazing<br />
young talent coming through in<br />
the sector, recognised in the<br />
Apprentice of the Year Award,<br />
won by Sean Kelly from Anstey<br />
Wallpaper Company; Young<br />
Leader of the Year Award, won<br />
by Molly Kershaw from PPG<br />
Architectural Coatings and<br />
Student of the Year Award,<br />
which saw Courtney Turner<br />
from Tor Coatings win.<br />
Recognising investment in<br />
people, Sherwin-Williams were<br />
awarded the Diversity and<br />
Inclusion Award, followed by<br />
HMG Paints being presented as<br />
the winner of the Excellence in<br />
Training Award.<br />
The Sustainable Innovation<br />
Multinational Award was won<br />
by Siegwerk for UniNATURE,<br />
and the Sustainable Innovation<br />
SME Award was presented to<br />
Terrafend for Ambimization®. A<br />
new category for <strong>2023</strong> was<br />
launched, Race to Net Zero,<br />
with its first-ever win being<br />
awarded to Crown Paints.<br />
The sustainability theme<br />
carried on through the evening<br />
with the Coatings Care Progress<br />
Award was given to winning site<br />
Becker Industrial Coatings, and<br />
Overall Best Performer was<br />
awarded to Tor Coatings. The<br />
Corporate Social Responsibility<br />
Award was taken home by PPG<br />
Architectural Coatings for their<br />
Community Engagement<br />
Programme.<br />
BCF Award Winners <strong>2023</strong><br />
Sustainable Innovation<br />
Multinational Award <strong>2023</strong><br />
SIEGWERK - UniNATURE<br />
Sustainable Innovation SME<br />
Award <strong>2023</strong>: Terrafend -<br />
Ambimization<br />
Race to Net Zero Award<br />
<strong>2023</strong>: Crown Paints<br />
Corporate Social<br />
Responsibility Award <strong>2023</strong><br />
PPG Architectural Coatings -<br />
Community Engagement<br />
Programme<br />
Diversity and Inclusion<br />
Award <strong>2023</strong>: Sherwin-Williams<br />
Marketing Campaign of the<br />
Year Award <strong>2023</strong><br />
HMG Paints – AI-Generated<br />
Colour Range<br />
Customer Service Award<br />
<strong>2023</strong>: AkzoNobel, Dulux<br />
Decorator Centre - Customer<br />
Segmentation<br />
Excellence in Training Award<br />
<strong>2023</strong>: HMG Paints<br />
Student of the Year Award<br />
<strong>2023</strong>: Courtney Turner, Tor<br />
Coatings<br />
Apprentice of the Year<br />
Award <strong>2023</strong>: Sean Kelly, Anstey<br />
Wallpaper Company<br />
Young Leader of the Year<br />
Award <strong>2023</strong>: Molly Kershaw,<br />
PPG Architectural Coatings<br />
Coatings Care Progress<br />
Award <strong>2023</strong>: Becker Industrial<br />
Coatings<br />
Coatings Care Overall Best<br />
Performer Award <strong>2023</strong>: Tor<br />
Coatings<br />
<strong>Finishing</strong> – <strong>November</strong>/<strong>December</strong> <strong>2023</strong>
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