International. The Dürr Group and Mercedes-Benz entered into a long-term strategic partnership in the field of painting technology equipment. Its purpose: to make vehicle paint CO2-free based on new standards in sustainability.
The Mercedes-Benz paint shop in Sindelfingen will be equipped with the latest technologies from the world market leader Dürr in the coming years.
The partnership agreement is a first in the decade-long cooperation between Mercedes-Benz and Dürr, and includes a statement of intent to jointly plan and implement the renewal of paint technology at German plants.
The first project is the new construction of a sustainable paint shop in Sindelfingen. Planning for this has already begun and Dürr is expected to receive the supply order from Mercedes-Benz next year.
Jochen Weyrauch, CEO of Dürr AG, stated that optimizing energy consumption in the painting process is the key prerequisite for being able to build cars in a climate-neutral way. Hence, the development of energy-efficient and climate-neutral technologies is at the top of the innovation agenda.
"The strategic partnership with Mercedes-Benz is an important lighthouse project in Germany as an industrial location: together, we are implementing climate-friendly production processes on a large scale and are therefore also playing a pioneering role internationally," he said.
In addition, it is planned to reduce the energy consumption per painted body to less than 400 kilowatt hours. This represents an absolute record level and corresponds to less than half of current consumption.
According to the company, Dürr's software applications for energy management and exceptionally energy-efficient technologies, for example for the economical and intelligent operation of paint booths and body furnaces, will contribute to the reduction.
In addition, the company says, in the future it will be possible to paint without fossil fuels. Instead, energy needs will be met with green electricity. This will enable CO2-free operation and is an important step towards the decarbonisation of automotive production.
Jörg Burzer, Member of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, Production and Supply Chain Management, said that by 2039 they intend to cover the energy needs of the global production grid entirely with renewable energy.
"Together with Dürr, we will take decisive steps in this direction in the coming years and take painting to a completely new level in terms of sustainability and energy efficiency."
