Glasurit, premium paint brand of BASF, is the official sponsor of the 44th WorldSkills, which will take place in Abu Dhabi from October 14 to 16. At the world championship of professions, apprentices, students and young professionals from all over the world will measure their skills in the individual professions – and under demanding international standards.
Glasurit is the main sponsor in the competition category Car Painting. All young painters at the WorldSkills will use only the refinishing products from Glasurit – the world’s leading premium brand.
The WorldSkills motivate young people all over the world to take up vocations such as those of the spray painter and to expand their skills. And these are urgently needed. “Over the past several years, a dramatic lack of young people in the area of automotive refinishing has been emerging for the entire value chain in the automotive repair industry. The reasons for this include the lack of knowledge about the profession of painters and the little optimized and promoted training courses,” said René Lang, Vice President Automotive Refinish Coatings Solutions Europe at BASF. “We are committed, for example by sponsoring the WorldSkills, to promoting a sustainable development of the entire value chain and helping our partners search for highly qualified apprentices,” he explained.
“Glasurit has been committed for years to developing the quality of training in the area of automotive refinishing, to giving greater publicity to the interesting contents of the vocational field and to supporting female apprentices in particular”, added Katja Scharpwinkel, Manager Automotive Refinish Coatings Solutions Europe at BASF. To achieve these objectives, the Glasurit Educate program was developed which Glasurit has been using since 2014 to offer further training to teachers all over the world and to support vocational colleges with teaching resources.
The preparations for the WorldSkills are already in full swing. Talented young people have qualified in international competitions to participate in Abu Dhabi. Until the competition takes place, they will have to broaden their skills by training. Glasurit also supports this. For example, the Danish vocational college Teknisk Skole Silkeborg used the teaching resources and workbooks provided by Glasurit to prepare the participants from the Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden in spring for the competition. Participants from Brazil, China, Germany, France, Great Britain and Thailand also attended this training course. “These meetings, the experiences, to be demonstrated in an international competition – and working with the latest technology – play an important role in providing the image of the coating profession with a long-term positive effect”, explained Andreas Jansen who is responsible for youth development at the Glasurit Training Academy.
The organizers of the WorldSkills are expecting more than 100,000 visitors from all over the world in October as well as participants from 26 countries who will measure their skills against each other in 51 performance competitions. In the competition for the title of “World’s best young car painter”, the talented young people will become acquainted with state-of-the-art paint products and tools from Glasurit. Their task will be to restore a perfect surface to a damaged vehicle and to find the matching colors, shades and effects – and all this in consideration of the aspects of safety and protection of the environment. Therefore, the partnership with WorldSkills is now more than just a question of promoting new talent. It is also an example of the commitment of Glasurit to develop competence and sustainability in the daily routine of the paintshops.
Editor: Our own Dusti-Lee Franchi from Perth will be competing at WorldSkills and we wish her every success over there.