BARIL COATINGS
A COMPANY AS DURABLE AS ITS COATINGS
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BARIL COATINGS
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PROFILE
as its
A company as durable
coatings
Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, world-renowned paint and coatings manufacturer Baril Coatings has been championing sustainable bio-based products for over two decades. This family run business has been working on its sustainability goals for much longer than the recent worldwide push. Made up of a tight-knit group of committed employees, the company makes products for sectors ranging from industrial, maritime and construction, to maintenance. A report by Jordan Yallop. 2
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aril Coatings is an industry recognised, global player in the paint and coatings sector. The company has a rich family history dating back to its founding in 1982 and is currently enjoying its 40th anniversary this year. From a small-scale paint maker operating out of a shed, Baril now distributes its products globally and have been used in high profile constructions, such as the Stadionul Ion Oblemenco ,a football stadium in Craiova, Romania. Starting in the small Dutch town of Moerkapelle, the company’s highly skilled and committed employees have been its beating heart since day one; now 40 years later, Baril is capable of producing 6 million litres of product a year. Captained by the entrepreneurial Duijghuisen family, corporate social responsibility has always been very important to the company. “We’re very much into sustainability and it’s not just in the recent years that we started to think about it. It’s already been that way for over 20 years,” stated Joost Broeders, Technical Director. “This is the way we want to go; all our actions and activities should be based on sustainable thinking and corporate social responsibility. We like to say that it is in our veins.” Baril is actively working on cleaner factories and is leading the charge with bio-based coatings. The company actively admits that its greatest asset is its committed and driven team, around 80 strong, who are experts in their field and can keep up with the changes within the industry. Baril has production facilities in the Netherlands, USA and in Poland, and with local distributors across Europe and
North America, the company has built up a great deal of trust from its customers. The company’s brands of durable protective coatings are used in over 20 countries and can even be tailored to the specific requirements of the customer to cater to every situation.
Coating the market Baril Coatings is active in a number of markets, explained Hans Jansen, Export and Sales Manager. “We develop, produce and sell our own coatings at a high quality, mainly for industrial applications, in addition to a small amount of work in the DIY sector. We are also very active in the construction and infrastructure markets and machinery equipment, marine and offshore sectors. Our coatings are meant for all kinds of substrates, steel, aluminium, concrete, wood and various other substrates.” When it comes to coatings for the construction and infrastructure sectors, steelwork exposed to the open air needs cost-effective and sustainable protection against corrosion (up to C5). The DualCure and SteelKote coatings from Baril stand out because of their sustainability, flexibility, adhesion, ease of application, resistance against corrosion and chemical and mechanical resistance. This is all the result of the company’s great competence in coating chemistry in combination with extensive attention to the necessities and wishes of its clients. Baril tailors products towards the engineering and the industry, providing a sustainable finish. Baril’s products allow the customer to reduce their Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) emissions, offering more environmentally friendly solutions for the metal processing industry. These Inside Industry
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BARIL COATINGS
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PROFILE
products optimally protect machines and devices against damage and wear; the quick drying characteristics mean a lot of time can be won in the production process. Joost Broeders said: “Our DualCure products are a technology that we have patented, it has a fast cure performance, and this specific product has a very high durability. Outdoor durability is more and more important in all kinds of special market requests. This is because protection is one very important characteristic but so is the speed of application and cure time.” The maritime and offshore sector is another key market for Baril. The broad range of products Baril supplies to these harsh environments protect steel under heavy stress. All of the products are qualified for immersion under NORSOK, IM 13 and are considered ‘ocean proof’. Coupled with long maintenance intervals, reduced maintenance costs and maximal corrosion protection, Baril’s products are tailored to meet all marine needs. Finally, Baril also makes environmentally friendly biobased paints for the home and maintenance sector. The company’s Copperant brand allows the customer to protect surfaces while also
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reducing their carbon footprint; while the Roboton solvent-free and water-based floor coatings protect concrete floors, walls, staircases and wooden floors in a sustainable way. These coatings are also made solely using energy sourced from Baril’s solar panels. Mr Jansen said: “50% of our business is export and a small, but rapidly growing percentage is the DIY market. The most important market we serve in the Dutch segment is structural steel. “Our products for this market are excellent if you want to apply multiple layers in one day and it has to be transported tomorrow. With the DualCure products, these solutions can be given to both the customer and the final user.
20 years of bio-based solutions Baril Coatings designs, develops and produces coatings that are as sustainable as possible, with the aim of allowing its customers to both protect their assets and reduce their carbon footprint. The company actively invests in sustainability, and seeks out new avenues of research to achieve this goal without sacrificing quality and utility. Baril is taking a proactive approach to complying with
the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. Mr Jansen said: “It’s a relentless challenge getting more and more biobased material in our products; it’s an ongoing adventure. We see our customers getting increasingly excited for these kinds of products because they are also faced with environmental issues in their own sectors. So, if you have a supplier that’s a front runner in bio-based solutions, you’re already halfway there. “To be honest, 20 years ago, we didn’t even tell them that it already was partially biobased.” Joost Broeders added: “Components that we used at that time were already bio based for the most part, but at the time there was no market specifically for biobased; so, it simply wasn’t marketed that way. Now we see customers are actively asking for it.”
Uncompromised performance The creativity and innovation that Baril Coatings has been able to
achieve is, in no small part, accredited to the highly skilled and motivated team. Another factor is the ownership; as a family-owned company, the employees are able to take an active role in the development of the company’s vision. As a result of its close-knit approach, Baril has risen to challenges and is committed to finding the most interesting
and innovative solutions to the sustainability conundrum. According to Joost Broeders, the company is showing no sign of slowing down the mission. “Bio-based products will be more and more important, not only to the DIY market but also for the industrial market. The most important thing at that point is quality.”
He concluded: “When we exchange the raw material to biobased, there should be no discussion about diminished performance of the product. I’m positive that these kinds of solutions will help us to grow and hopefully in three years’ time, most of our products will at least have 50% biobased content; that is really our goal.” n
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