Editorial - Abrafati · tive paints, automotive refinish coatings, and coatings for the ship-building and petrochemical industries. “Nearly five years after its creation, the CB-164

Editorial

In this issue we cover a variety of themes that show just how diversified the work we do is. It includes numerous actions focused on four result areas in which we con-centrate our activity: sustainability, representativeness, quality, and competitiveness. Our articles show that not only is our work diversified, it is also intensive and has been yielding positive results in various respects: from negotiations with the supply chain and the government to job training, to the dispos-al of solid waste, to the standardization of coatings and, with an increasingly greater emphasis at this moment, to matters pertaining to ABRAFATI 2017.The tough times that the country and the coatings in-dustry have been going through will not discourage us from pursuing our greater objective, and that is sustainable development in the industry. We are following to the letter a sentence coined a very long time ago that has recently resurfaced as a message of encouragement: “Don’t speak of crisis, just work.” This is what we have been doing and will continue to do, lead-ing our industry to make progress and display consistent results and advances.The cover article clearly demonstrates the support and encouragement from our Management Board to the continuity of those projects. In it, the new chairman of the Board Freddy Carrillo reaffirms the commitments we have kept since our foundation and the direction in which our actions have been following, stressing the constant need to deepen them and take further steps ahead, while keeping their essence and upholding the values underpinning our activity.

Dilson FerreiraExecutive President

Revista ABRAFATI is a quarterly publication from ABRAFATI, the Brazilian Coatings Manufacturers Association. This Pocket Edition brings a summary of the key themes published in the complete version of the magazine, available in Portuguese. Av. Dr. Cardoso de Mello, 1340 - cj. 131 - 04548-004 – São Paulo - BrazilTel: (55 11) 4083-0500 - [email protected] - www.abrafati.com.brThe reproduction of the articles is allowed, as long as the source is mentioned.

Albe

rto M

uray

ama

New chairman of the ABRAFATI Directive Board reveals his plans and outlook on the market

FREDDY CARRILLO: THE FOCUS IS ON CARRYING ON WITH SUCCESSFUL PROJECTS AND ALWAYS ADVANCING

Cover Story

“Our goal is to carry on with those actions which are working out, but climbing up a few steps to reach higher levels.” This is how Freddy Carrillo sums up the direction in which he wants to lead ABRAFATI’s Directive Board, of which he was made chairman in late April.He values the work that has been done and has delivered. “The programs we carry out are extremely important in terms of their impact on the marketplace, including the PSQ (Industry-Specific Quality Program for Decorative Paints), Professional Painter, Sustainabil-ity, and Coatings Care. All not to mention the major event com-bining the Exhibition and Con-gress,” he says.In all of those initiatives, he sees that there is room for innovation, improvements and expansion. “In the case ABRAFATI 2017, there are opportunities for it to play an even more important role for the entire value chain, as we can ex-pand its scope by incorporating other segments. The fact that it’s going to be held in a new venue also brings about new prospects, making it more appealing,” he exemplifies.

www.abrafati.com.br03

Albe

rto M

uray

ama

Cover Story


The path to continue evolving also includes keeping up with and responding to the new demands associated with factors like innovation, quality and sustain-ability. “We need to add value to paints and coatings, thus preventing them from being viewed as commodities.” For decorative paints, he points out that there is something to be learned from the experience in the industrial coatings market, where technology is a recognized point of difference and price is no longer the decisive factor. He also recommends learning from the success stories of other product categories.“Our challenge is to have the market understand that it’s advantageous to en-hance products with certain properties or additional benefits, including making them more sustainable. To that end, we need to conduct at lot of surveys with the public, so we can understand what is considered relevant,” he explains. Along with that, trends should be analyzed and anticipated. “We must be proactive so we don’t get caught by surprise. That’s what ABRAFATI has done about lead and, more recently, VOCs (volatile organic compounds),” he adds.Concerning the falling sales, he thinks they can be boosted by encouraging ren-ovations and maintenance jobs. “There are a whole lot of things to be painted. Encouraging that will improve our results and be beneficial to the country in both social and economic terms,” he guarantees.At the same time, he names a few factors that he considers to be strongly positive in Brazil: its size as a market, which allows for economies of scale; a vast room for growth, as per capita consumption is still low; and most of the production being on a good quality level, which he credits to the PSQ.“I see a market that has potential and a strong and representative association that can put forward proposals and develop new solutions for the industry to advance,” Freddy Carrillo concludes.

ABOUT FREDDY CARRILLO

A Venezuelan citizen, Freddy Carrillo got his degree in International Business in the United States, where he also took his MBA program at Boston College, focusing on Marketing and Operations.He also lived in England, the United States and Ecuador. He started his career in the coatings industry back in 2010, when he joined Sherwin-Williams as head of the Ecuadorian and Colombian markets. His next step was taking up the company’s presidency in Brazil, while also playing a part at ABRAFATI, until he became chairman of its Directive Board in late April of this year.

Representativeness


Proposals from the business community have been well received, allowing for a more optimistic outlook for resumption of growth.

NEGOTIATION WITH NEW GOVERNMENT CREATES OPPORTUNITIES

As Michel Temer was taking up the Presidency of the Republic, so, too, was the National Meeting of the Construction Industry taking place, with more than 1,000 entrepreneurs and industry leaders in attendance. Since then, expectations concerning the economy have improved, as a window of op-portunity for growth was already in sight.The broadening of horizons that took place over the following weeks confirmed that sense that the

voice of the private sector would now be really heard. The paint and coatings industry, represented by ABRAFATI, has experienced this new reality by attending rather promising meetings with some of the nation’s top political leaderships.At the first meeting, President Temer and several ministers received a group of businessmen who advocated measures to stimulate the economy and invest-ments. Just a few days later, Minister of Cities Bruno Araújo held a very productive meeting with four leaders in the construction supply chain, including ABRAFATI’s executive president Dilson Ferreira. On the occasion, the minister introduced a program to stimulate home renovations through what is known as the “renovation check”, and then listened to suggestions for improvements to that program. The construction of 15,000 housing units was also announced at that same meeting.The same representatives of the building materials industry met in late June with Gilberto Occhi, president of Brazil’s federal savings bank Caixa Econômica Federal (CEF), to suggest measures to boost building and construction and, as a result, the economy itself.“There’s been great receptiveness to our pro-posals, demonstrating that there are strongly converging interests and ideas between the government and the manufacturing sector re-garding the need to grow our economy and address the country’s severe social problems,” says Dilson Ferreira.


Quality

Since its creation in late 2011, the ABNT (Bra-zilian Association for Technical Standards) Brazilian Committee on Coatings has central-ized the standardization of paints, coatings and related products. Thanks to the work previously done by other committees and the

combined efforts of a highly qualified group of experts, there is now a vast body of technical standards for coatings: the ABNT NBR standards already number 83. That volume will further expand as standards concerning some specific-purpose products are shared by other committees.Those 83 include several standards on product specification, which set forth the requirements for the relevant products to be recognized as claimed, as well as testing methods. Other standards involve procedures, product classification, and even the correct terminology associated with paints and coatings.“Developing new standards is an essential job. However, we should also stress the importance of periodically of revising and updating existing standards, so as to keep pace with technological development and new regulatory requirements,” says Gisele Bonfim, manager of Technical and Environmental Affairs at ABRAFATI. While there is a long way to go, there are also results to celebrate: 10 standards have been published in the past 18 months alone, including new ones and revised versions.The Committee has Study Commissions dedicated to specific themes: decora-tive paints, automotive refinish coatings, and coatings for the ship-building and

petrochemical industries. “Nearly five years after its creation, the CB-164 is a very positive reality to the indus-try. Centralizing the activities related to that theme has made for an easier, more fluid participation in discussions and in the preparation and revision of several standards concerning all kinds of paints and coatings,” says Gisele Bonfim.

83 ABNT NBR COATINGS STANDARDS ALREADY APPROVEDCollection compiled by Brazilian Committee on Coatings continues expanding.

ABRAFATI 2017


The date has already been set: October 3 through 5, 2017. The venue, too, has been chosen: São Paulo Expo Exhibition & Convention Center, the most modern, best equipped space for events of this kind in Brazil. It’s time, therefore, to plan and prepare for participating in ABRAFATI 2017.“As soon as an event like ours, which is recognized for the benefits it provides to exhibitors, comes to a close, those who are there start planning for the next edition. Both the Exhibition and the Congress add value and give a proven re-turn to businesses, hence their being on the agenda of leading market players, who include them in their short, mid and long-term planning,” says ABRAFATI’s Director of Corporate Events Telma Florêncio. To move forward with the preparations, suppliers to the industry will be able to choose, in this second half, the spaces they will occupy at the Exhibition. Firstly, an event will take place on September 13 exclusively for Congress sponsors to make their choices beforehand —one of their perks, in recognition of the key role they play. On the 7th of the following month, sales will be opened to all other interested businesses.One of the new developments for this edition is the expansion of the trade show space. New industry segments in which many of the exhibitors are already engaged will be incorporated into the show: adhesives, sealants, construction chemicals, waterproofing coatings and others. “As a result, on the one hand, the investment made by exhibitors that cover several segments is optimized. On the other hand, we make room for new companies to participate and for new themes to be included in the Congress program, while drawing a broader spectrum of visitors,” Telma Florêncio explains.

COUNTDOWN TO INDUSTRY’S MAIN EVENT HAS BEGUN

ABRAFATI 2017 is already mobilizing companies, as they prepare to get the greatest return on this trade show.


Professional Training

The ABRAFATI Trade Courses in House Painting got a new boost this year, ex-panding their beneficial effects on the marketplace. To begin with, a partnership struck with Anamaco (short in Portu-guese for National Association of Dealers in Construction Materials) has enabled

those courses to be also offered at Escola do Varejo Anamaco (or “Anamaco Retail School”), in São Paulo, which not only ensures great facilities for theoretical and practical lessons, but also adds that school’s expertise to the initiative.A second step towards expanding the reach of those courses was an agreement signed with Seconci-Rio (short in Portuguese for Social Service of the Rio de Janeiro Construction Industry) to hold them in its facilities. Following the training of two instructors to give those courses in the state capital of Rio de Janeiro, the lessons for the first two classes began in June. Altogether, 10 classes are expected to be formed this year, with more than 200 students.The processes of prospecting for new possibilities made another great stride with the creation of the Multiplication Program, which, as the name suggests, is de-signed to have that course multiplied by member companies. The proposition, as discussed and improved at the Commission on the Professional Painter Program, is for those companies to take on the task of offering the same course at their business locations, using the same contents and methodology.

“This partnership with manufacturers will lead to a significant expansion in both numeric and geographic terms, benefitting more painters and having positive effects across the market-place. Companies also gain direct benefits, such as the opportunity to make those professionals loyal to their brands and to advertise their product range to them,” says ABRAFATI’s ex-ecutive president Dilson Ferreira.

PAINTER TRAINING ACTIVITY EXPANDEDPartnership with Seconci-Rio and multiplication program allow professionals to be trained in much larger numbers

Anamaco


The efforts undertaken in search of the best solutions concerning the proper disposal of empty paint containers, as part of the process of meeting the re-

quirements of the National Policy for Solid Waste, comprise a series of projects that, all combined, have been setting the industry apart in this field.Among recent advances, a special mention is owed to the reconfiguration of Centro Prolata de São Paulo, which is now well established as an important option for redemption of paint containers and has moved to a new, better space. Another new development is the presence of voluntary surrender points in large building material stores. Following the experience gained with the first such point, which was implemented last year in São Paulo, plans for extending it to several other cities, in partnership with Anamaco (short in Portuguese for National Association of Dealers in Construction Materials), are well underway.A recent action which stood out in terms of raising awareness and delivering results was its participation, in conjunction with Abeaço (short in Portuguese for Brazilian Steel Packaging Association), in the Challenge Day held in Curitiba in June. Promoted by the FIEP (Paraná State Industries Federation), Sindus-con-PR (Construction Industry Union of Paraná) and the Office of the Municipal Secretary for the Environment, the event encouraged people to bring solid waste to an events venue, putting into action the concept of shared responsi-bility. “The result was very positive, show-ing that there is room for actions of that kind, which include direct involvement of the population. Our participation has imparted more visibility to our work on that front and bolstered our commitment to work together with other associations and the government in search of the best solutions,” says Gisele Bonfim, manager of Technical and Environmental Affairs at ABRAFATI.

SOLID WASTE: ADVANCES WITH EFFECTIVE NEW ACTIONS

Sustainability

Great achievements in proper packaging disposal.

Everson Bressan-SMCS/Curitiba

Editorial - Abrafati · tive paints, automotive refinish coatings, and coatings for the ship-building and petrochemical industries. “Nearly five years after its creation, the CB-164

Documents