Klaus-Georg Gast, Vice President General Industrial Coatings EMEA at Axalta Coating Systems, a supplier of liquid and powder coatings, was elected at this year's Annual General Meeting on May 18 in Baden-Baden. "The VdL is probably the strongest association at European level and I am very pleased to be part of this important organization" explains Klaus-Georg Gast. Today in particular, coatings manufacturers are facing major challenges, especially when it comes to sustainability and the Green Deal. Here, it is important to recognize where the right approaches are and to help develop solutions at an early stage.
As the largest trade association of the coatings industry in Germany, the VdL represents the economic and socio-political interests of the German paint industry and German subsidiaries of foreign manufacturers vis-à-vis other sectors of the economy, politics, authorities, science and the media. The VdL represents 85 percent of German coatings, paints and printing inks. More than 200 member companies are organized in the association, whose structure is very heterogeneous: Alongside a few large multinational companies, most of which are linked to corporate groups, there is a large number of medium-sized manufacturers, many of them family-owned.