KLB’s industrial floor coating business is flourishing – and relies on BASF
“Look, I’ve got a problem,” said the unidentified person who called sales manager Dr. Michael Fritz of KLB Kötztal Lacke + Beschichtungen GmbH at
That Monday evening, Sachs personally landed his helicopter at KLB to pick up the ready-mixed coating product. The floor of Sachs’ spectacularly designed residence at the Schlosshotel in
The memory never fails to bring a smile to the faces of KLB general managers Artur and Erwin Kehrle. “This story shows perfectly what our business is all about: speed and flexibility,” said Artur Kehrle. “Since industrial floor coating must not interfere with operations, the job usually gets done on Sundays or on holidays,” Kehrle added.
Orders coming in at short notice and at impossible hours are not the only complication. The coating components, which are originally liquid, must also cure and develop their required properties as fast as possible so that operations can be resumed. “It happens fairly often that we arrange something for a weekend or holiday,” confirmed Erwin Kehrle, who is in charge of manufacturing and material management at KLB.
The “Kehrle formula for success”: The formula for a bright future
The “Kehrle formula for success” bears fruit. While in 1995, when the business was founded, its portfolio was limited to 12 products to coat roughly 45,000 square meters of floor area, KLB’s customers now have 700 products to choose from. “Today we produce coating materials for more than three million square meters of industrial flooring, with exports accounting for roughly 25 percent,” Artur Kehrle said not without pride. The past years of crisis notwithstanding, KLB has created 80 jobs since the company was established, and the manufacturing facilities at Ichenhausen, a town near the city of
The product range focuses on polyurethane and epoxy-based coatings for commercial and industrial flooring. KLB is a premier league player in this field. “We are excellently positioned for conductive coatings,” said Kehrle, “These are essential in all plants manufacturing electronic components.” KLB is also a top-notch supplier of coatings that are compliant with
“We strive to act faster and more flexibly than our competitors and meet each customer’s wishes even more perfectly,” Kehrle explained his strategy for growth, “We’ll supply the coating no matter what it’s expected to look like” – in volumes ranging from one kilogram to 1,000 tons.
BASF brings continuity and solutions based on chemistry
This works best if you rely on suppliers that equally focus on customer expectations, as BASF does. “We have been cooperating with KLB for years, supporting them as a strategic partner,” said Bernhard Mohr, who takes care of the KLB account in BASF’s Intermediates division. Mohr is responsible for a product range of about 20 amines. These are major constituents of KLB’s coating formulas because they make the epoxy resins cure. BASF sells them under the Baxxodur® brand.
“We need and appreciate the continuity of our cooperation with BASF, who can guarantee fast supply simply because of close geographic proximity,” Kehrle said. In addition, KLB’s head stressed, “BASF is a company that is here to stay. We set great store by reliable planning and continuity.” The cooperation works equally well when KLB needs information from BASF to respond to inquires about subjects such as REACH, toxicology or product safety. And KLB also relies on BASF for new product development. Mohr said: “We liaise closely with the customer when we develop and test new products for an imminent market launch.” One of the subjects developers are currently exploring is product formulations that are low in emissions but retain their previous functionality and properties. Products that make a coating formulation cure faster are another major issue on which the companies cooperate.
New developments and „Konzept 2020“
Newly developed products will become increasingly important for KLB. “Based on our industrial flooring expertise we intend to develop new businesses to become more resilient to economic cycles,” said Kehrle, looking to the future. KLB’s research and development team is currently working on a highly resistant coating for the protection of solar panel surfaces.
(Top) Test series are ensuring the high quality of KLB's industrial floor coatings.
In the photo from left to right: Bernhard Mohr, who is serving the customer KLB at BASF Intermediates, KLB-manager Artur Kehrle, and Gabriela Schlimme, BASF Intermediates
“We have been cooperating with KLB for years, supporting them as a strategic partner,” Bernhard Mohr, takes care of the KLB account in BASF’s Intermediates division
Another example is synthetic resin molds for small series automotive manufacturing. Kehrle explained that “as these molds must retain their dimensional stability even when temperatures change fast, we are literally working on high-precision technology.”
To pave the ground for these efforts, KLB has introduced its “Konzept 2020” initiative, which is entirely inspired by confidence in success. “Apart from gaining new customers we intend to develop the excellent and close relationships with our current customers,” Kehrle announced. KLB will therefore continue to expand the application training seminars it has been offering since 2003. Expecting to double its annual manufacturing capacity to a total of 10,000 tons by 2012, KLB recently inaugurated a new warehouse and a new mixing plant. In this venture, too, KLB relies on excellent cooperation with and ongoing support for growth by BASF.