BASF recently named Marvin Gillfillan as the vice president of Automotive Refinish business for North America. Gillfillan sat down with ABRN to discuss his priorities in the role and some key industry trends impacting the direction of BASF.
ABRN: What will be your main focuses as the new VP of BASF's Automotive Refinish business?
My two main focuses are to continue to build on BASF Automotive Refinish’s successes and to simplify our processes by empowering our teams so it’s easier to do business with us. BASF has very strong brands, products and services. We have world-class finishes with best-in-class color match and the most OEM approvals in the industry. Coupled with this we offer industry-leading Advanced Process Solutions that maximize our customers’ efficiency and profitability. APS is a complete focus on the shop’s repair process. The shop goes through intensive classroom training and then we bring a team into the shop to help them implement APS. Working together as partners, the top 25 percent of our APS shops have increased their sales and profits more than 25 percent and their touch time has increased 100 percent.
Our customer base is extremely loyal and we want to continue to partner with our shops and distributors to help them grow their market share. By focusing on these two areas, BASF will continue to grow with our partners.
ABRN: What key trends are impacting the direction and products of BASF?
Consolidation at the shop and distributor level continues to drive efficiency. In addition to consolidation, we see trends around innovation, sustainability and productivity. As the industry consolidates there is increased need for innovation and improved productivity. Some of the products and services we provide such as R-M Onyx HD that can be used as a solventborne or waterborne product, Advanced Process Solutions and the new Glasurit color boosters enables our shops to be more profitable.
ABRN: What can customers expect from BASF over the next year? The next 5 years?
We will continue to focus on being a market leader with the best products and services. We are also growing our distribution across the U.S. Just in the last few months our single-line ColorSource distributors have opened 8 new locations. And we see this expansion continuing with the majority of our distributors. In addition, BASF is focusing on much more than just paint. As the number one chemical supplier to the automotive industry we have the largest R&D spend in the global chemical industry and we will continue to innovate and provide solutions for our partners to help them grow their sales and profits.
ABRN: What will be your key areas of focus/messages during the SEMA Show?
For the first time we’re announcing a Color of the Year during SEMA at a press conference on Nov. 1. Our Color of the Year incorporates the Parallax color trends we announced in May and shows its practicality for the OEM and refinish markets. In addition, we’re unveiling new special effect colors for R-M and the Best Paint Award for Glasurit. Chip Foose will unveil a 1939 Cadillac Coupe painted with Glasurit 90 Line and he is signing autographs and we’ll have Richard Petty in our booth. Another exciting introduction at SEMA is our new Color Tool Tracking application. With all that said, BASF continues to be number one in color and we want to continue to grow with our customers and help them become more productive and profitable.
ABRN: How do you see the painting business changing in the near future?
As I mentioned earlier, we see continued consolidation in distribution and shops. And our partners want to continue to drive costs out of the repair process. We’re very focused on helping our partners become more productive by offering our Advanced Process Solutions, VisionPLUS, Performance Groups and training. We will continue to be the innovation leader for products that are better for the environment and improve our customers’ profits.
ABRN: Is training a priority for BASF and how do you help your customers to stay trained and prepared?
Training is a key driver in all we do at BASF. The collision repair industry consistently identifies training as an enabler of business success. BASF sees this as an opportunity to differentiate itself in the industry by pursuing state of the art digital training solutions, expansion of training centers and staff as well as an expanded instructor led course offering that offers I-CAR credits. The objective is to make meaningful training more available in general and also by offering it through smart devices serving those that need “on demand” support.
We opened a new, state-of-the-art training center in Houston this year. We had exclusive training for Bentley this summer and we’re adding online training. Our trainers and technical team, along with our distribution partners, provide classroom training, OEM certification and in-shop training and support year round. We’re very involved with iCAR, CREF and SCRS. In fact, BASF was the first company to commit to the Repairer Driven Education Series at SEMA in 2010. Again this year, we’re a Masters + OEM Summit level sponsor of the RDE series at SEMA.
