What is the importance of Ligna and what can we expect to see at the stand is the central question we ask Senior Commercial Director Lars Nordgren and Product Manager Pär Ottosson Kalm. Lars Nordgren immediately reacts: “Traditionally for us, Ligna is the most important fair we attend. We know our customers make a lot of decisions during this week and everyone is there, this fair is a golden opportunity for us.”

“What we do, is help our customers with their selection of machinery, the improvement of their processes and how to create the best surfaces for the best price. We try to be neutral in the choice of the brand they choose, but at the same time, it is of vital importance for Sherwin-Williams that we make sure our customer’s investments are the right ones. You can only achieve the best result when you meet each other face to face, and that is exactly what brings our team to Hannover.”

Industrial Wood division
At Ligna, as part of the Industrial Wood division, the company will meet with the industry offering its paint, stains and lacquers to the wood manufacturing industry. In doing so, it targets segments such as Furniture, Floorings, Kitchen Cabinets as well as Interior and Exterior Building Products.
“This fair is also about showing the market that we are a bigger supplier than ever before”, Mr. Nordgren continues. “One of the things the visitor will see is how since the beginning of December of last year, the major Italian industrial group ICA, is now part of the Sherwin-Williams Industrial Wood Division in the Performance Coatings Group operating segment. ICA, with headquarters in Civitanova Marche (Macerata) and two production plants in Italy, will be positioned by Sherwin-Williams to continue global excellence in wood coatings and drive cutting-edge product research and development, while building upon the company’s heritage and values.”

“Of course, there’s a lot more to show than just this brand. Our brands will be very present, with special attention to Sayerlack. Sayerlack supplies a broad range of highly-engineered solutions in more than 80 countries around the world”, Lars Nordgren summarizes. “It is one of the brands that demonstrate how Sherwin-Williams is a global leader in the manufacture, development, distribution, and sale of paints, coatings and related products to professional, industrial, commercial, and retail customers. All of this illustrates how we bring a full concept to market when it comes to paint and different technologies. We are not aiming to be perceived as the biggest coatings company but as the best”.

Positive impact on the world
Flooring is one of the major segments the company is targeting. To learn more about this, Product Manager Pär Ottosson Kalm has joined the interview. Mr. Ottoson Kalm stresses how also in the flooring segment the focus will be on one major issue: the plant-based wood coatings. At Ligna, Sherwin-Williams will be offering a full range of wood coatings with plant-based materials for industrial applications.
“Flooring is very important for our company”, he opens, “when I started working here in 1985, I did the follow-up for the flooring for one of our big customers and this hasn’t changed, we still deal with the major wood parquet producers in Europe.”

“The message we want to get across is that at Sherwin-Williams, it’s all about creating a sound environment. We are fully committed to this and it is simply in our nature to grow our business with the greatest care for people and the planet and to make a truly positive impact on the world around us. That’s why our wood coatings partly contain plant-based ingredients and are made using cutting-edge technology. These products, which are based on our sustainably advantaged product platform, are part of our blueprint for a green tomorrow. They reduce (y)our carbon footprint without compromising on performance and quality. In doing this, we answer to our customer’s needs for more sustainability in the way of working and producing.”

Corporate sustainability approach
At this point, Mr. Ottoson Kalm explains how and why Sherwin-Williams maintains a very strict corporate sustainability approach. This is based on three pillars: the environmental footprint, the product blueprint and the social imprint.

Pär Ottoson Kalm: “Sustainability is rooted in our values and our way of doing business and this is why at Ligna we focus intensely on plant-based wood coatings. Several things will become clear in our plant-based approach. First of all, we will demonstrate how our products are partly based on renewable raw materials from plants that do not compete with the human food chain. It will also become clear how our products contain a lower VOC-content and that no raw materials of concern are used in our products. Still, our coatings have the same performance and characteristics as fossil-based products, while they will contain up to 40% 14C in WB products and up to 100% 14C for oils. And the best about it is that customers will have no issues whatsoever when they switch to plant-based products, but will instead be reducing their own footprint at the same time.”