BASF licenses valureTM technology to EM.tec design GmbH
- EM.tec design GmbH becomes first licensing partner for valure™ in Europe
- Customers benefit from the proximity to the production and expertise
Ludwigshafen, Germany – June 23, 2015 – BASF SE has entered into a technology license agreement with EM.tec design GmbH for the production of valure™. The new production plant, located in Bingen, Germany, will have an annual capacity of about 1.5 million square meters of surface finished material. With this BASF has extended the availability of valure™ globally, complementing the existing production facility in India, which started up last year. BASF supports its licensing partners with the chemistry, technology know-how, and joint development with customers as well as application-oriented services.
“This partnership with EM.tec design represents a powerful opportunity for valureTM to accelerate and extend its reach in Europe which is a major market for BASF,” said Hermann Althoff, Senior Vice President, BASF Leather & Textile Chemicals. “EM.tec design has demonstrated the dynamic character of a start-up combined with solid know-how of the automotive industry. OEMs and brand owners will benefit from the versatility of valureTM to create more innovative surfaces for their products.”
EM.tec design is the wholly owned spin-off start-up of Heinz Einhaus GmbH which is a leading supplier of finishing systems for the automotive industry for small- and medium-size parts. “Our state-of-the-art production facility in Bingen shows our long-term commitment to valure™,” said Manuel Einhaus, Founder of EM.tec design. “Together with BASF, we will focus our combined efforts to serving a broader range of customers in the automotive, fashion, furniture and packaging industries.”
valure™ is a technology to create laser structured surfaces with almost limitless design freedom to create haptics and textures ranging from soft touch to hard, leather graining, the appearance of velvet and geometric patterns and impressions. A silicone mold is laser engraved and sprayed with a microporous polyurethane dispersion. The resulting film can be applied to a wide variety of materials like leather, fabric, cardboard, paper or plastic without impairing the air permeability of the material – helping to achieve surfaces with a distinctive character that are soft, warm to the touch, and offer attractive designs. The polyurethane surfaces are resistant to wear and tear, soiling, and within limits to the exposure to water, sweat and oil. Quick design changes present no difficulties enabling customers to produce different sizes on a smaller scale.
About BASF
At BASF, we create chemistry – and have been doing so for 150 years. Our portfolio ranges from chemicals, plastics, performance products and crop protection products to oil and gas. As the world’s leading chemical company, we combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. Through science and innovation, we enable our customers in nearly every industry to meet the current and future needs of society. Our products and solutions contribute to conserving resources, ensuring nutrition and improving quality of life. We have summed up this contribution in our corporate purpose: We create chemistry for a sustainable future. BASF had sales of over €74 billion in 2014 and around 113,000 employees as of the end of the year. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (AN). Further information on BASF is available on the Internet at www.basf.com.
About EM.tec design
As a spin-off start-up of the Heinz Einhaus GmbH Industrielackierungen founded in 2014, EM.tec design combines surface finishing know-how from automotive industry for over 30 years with latest technology from its partner BASF. The partnership enables EM.tec design to provide its know-how to a very new field of future driven customers, who pay attention to individuality and state-of-the-art design in each of their fields automotive, packaging, furniture and fashion. We want to offer high individualized products which meet the special desires of current and future customers. To provide the customer all the time the needed quality, EM.tec design pushes its requirements to fulfill its own expectations of being a competitive start-up right from the start.
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