With Parker, Dürr is strengthening its position in the Japanese market which has traditionally been marked by local suppliers. Parker Engineering, a subsidiary of Nihon Parkerizing Co. Ltd., was established in 1951 and has longstanding, close customer relationships with the Japanese automobile industry. The focus of the company’s technology is on corrosion protection through body pre-treatment and dip coating, both of which steps precede the actual painting process. Dürr covers the full spectrum of painting technologies and will be bringing this know-how into the partnership.

In the past years Dürr has increased its sales with the Japanese automobile industry from €20 million to about €70 million, which is equivalent to a good four percent of its overall sales. So far the group has supplied almost exclusively to so-called transplants, in other words Japanese OEMs’ foreign plants outside Japan.

“The cooperation with Parker will speed up our growth with the Japanese automobile industry,” said Ralf Dieter, Dürr AG’s CEO. “In view of the Japanese auto industry’s roughly 25% share of the world market and our market and technology leadership there is significant growth potential for Dürr.”

Dürr and Parker have already submitted first joint offers for the construction and revamp of automobile paint shops in Japan.