PPG, the U.S. automotive paint supplier, will restructure to cut costs

U.S. automotive coatings supplier PPG announced on December 9th that its board of directors had passed a resolution to carry out a "significant and comprehensive restructuring to simplify the global cost structure". In a statement, PPG said the restructuring was focused on areas and end markets where business conditions were poor, with the aim of reducing operating, functional and management costs.
while a spokesman for the company said the restructuring "will have a minimal overall impact on any particular region," the reality is that about 1,700 employees will be laid off - 3.6 per cent of PPG's global staff - and some business and management will be cut in the adjusted regions. PPG did not disclose the details.
to the restructuring, PPG President and CEO Michael McGarry said: "Given the continued slowdown in overall global demand growth, we are taking decisive steps to restructure costs. In this way, our resources and business conditions can be better unified, so that PPG in its participation in the end market to maintain competitiveness. We...... Investment in growth-driven projects and areas with potential for sustained growth will not change. According
PPG's plan, the company will save between $120 million and $130 million in costs by 2018 when the restructuring is completed.
of course, cost reduction is only one way, as a coating supplier, how to meet customer needs, especially to provide solutions to meet global standards and regulatory requirements is the basis for this."
November 11th PPG Industries bought back 50 per cent of its foreign stake in PPG Univer, a joint venture it set up in Italy 12 years ago. According to Jean-Marie Greindl, PPG's vice president of global architectural coatings, the move could further strengthen its European operations.
century-old PPG is a well-known U.S. chemical giant with a wide range of applications, such as coatings, glass, fiberglass and chemicals. For more than a decade, it has been reshaping its business through divestitures and mergers and acquisitions.
became one of the world's largest paint producers in 2008 with its successful acquisition of the French-style Sigma Kalon group. This initiative has made it more focused on the development of coatings and specialty products, and automotive coatings are now the company's core business unit.
automotive industry has experienced more than a century of development, the original car paint also from the original natural resin varnish, alcoholic acid, nitro and other technologies developed to the present thermo-solid acrylic, epoxy and polyurethane and other technologies.
, PPG now serves the automotive industry in a full range of coatings, from coating design and application expertise to service solutions for the paint shop. It has production sites and affiliates in nearly 70 countries and more than 20 plants in China.
PPG automotive coatings include pre-treatment agents, electrophoretic coatings, primers, color paints, varnishes, adhesives, sealants, water-based soundproofing coatings and special products. Whether original or patchy, its products have been recognized by Rolls-Royce, Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari, GM, BMW and many other top carmakers.
as a coatings supplier with a full range of services to the automotive industry, PPG offers solutions from coating design and application expertise to the paint shop.
Currently PPG green car coating products cover the major automotive coating sectors:
in the pretreated, PPG has environmentally friendly energy-saving film pretreated products Zircobond, to achieve green pretreated, no phosphorus, nickel-free, manganese-free, energy-saving, and greatly reduce equipment investment, reduce wastewater treatment investment, Zircobond is now used in the GENERAL Motors production line batch.
in color paint, PPG in China earlier with customers to develop such products, the existing B1:B2 water-based / solution-based coating products, has been adopted by the public, general, PCA, Jianghuai and other enterprises.
in electrophoresis coatings, PPG has developed EPIC, an electrophoresis paint product that is completely free of heavy metal ions as a catalyst. At present, the product has been used in two factories in Europe, is expected to be more widely used.
PPG has also been groping to shorten processes and reduce energy consumption in the coating process. Take water-based single-coated products as an example, it reduces the coating from the total amount by reducing the coating, using a variety of coating methods, recycling paint reuse, etc., and realizing the water-based coating.
In short, compared with the conventional paint coating in the coating, varnish, color paint three processes, PPG water-based single coating technology to achieve the compression process, reduce varnish coating, with a single coating instead of color paint, varnish coating. Next, PPG hopes to break through the coating technology to upgrade from electrophoresis directly to water-based single paint to better meet customer needs.
PPG Asia Pacific Automotive Coatings Products and Marketing Development Director Cui Zhiyong said: "PPG water-based single coating products although the unit price to see higher costs, but reduce the coating, late exhaust gas treatment costs will also fall, the overall cost is controllable, from a long-term development point of view, the cost is falling, and the appearance of quality is no worse than oil." Oil to water is an important road. For
, water-like paint significantly reduces volatile toxic gases, the high cost of wastewater treatment persists. PPG does not use the spraying process, but instead uses the powder at room temperature, the paint powder is still evenly sprayed on the surface of the car body, although this is no different from the liquid spray effect, but the powder does not have the volatile problem of toxic solvents.
by subtly installing a vacuum nozzle near the body, PPG absorbs and recycles the excess powder scattered and uses it as a base powder for other new spray bodies. This process, in one go, avoids the evaporation of toxic gases, reduces the waste of paint and reduces sewage costs.
PPG is always looking for solutions to help customers meet future global standards and regulatory requirements, most importantly by finding coating technologies that improve lightweight performance, especially substrate protection systems for advanced materials. It has developed products that help reduce the thickness of the electrophoresis coating film and reduce the total weight of the vehicle.
As OEMs increasingly use different substrates, such as ultra-high-strength steels, carbon fibers, aluminum alloys and plastics, PPG will continue to develop products that effectively coat new substrates, even though they are not very important in automotive applications.
also worth mentioning that, a long time ago, cars were almost black; After that, people gradually find a variety of colors from nature as the color of cars. Today, in PPG's showrooms, we see many of PPG's original colorogens, which are largely unable to find similar colors in nature.
With the increasingly fierce competition in the global automotive industry and the diversification of automobile consumption, car consumers in different countries and regions are affected by complex factors such as geography, culture, folklore and religion.
"many people may not really realize the importance of paint for brand building, even though it has always been crucial. Cindy Niekamp, PPG's senior vice president of automotive coatings, told reporters, "When we're going to buy a car, the first question we think about is what brand of car to buy, and the second question is often what color car to buy." A survey last year by
PPG found that nearly 60 per cent of consumers see car colour as a major factor in their intention to buy, but the majority (nearly 75 per cent) of cars sold by carmakers are still in traditional colours such as white, black, grey and silver.
The company's color experts every year to a variety of top international fashion and fashion fairs, home fairs, architectural fairs, etc. , from which to capture the trend of color fashion trends and subtle changes in information, and then feedback to automotive paint color research and development.
E. Harrington, color design manager for PPG's automotive coatings business, said: "Our research shows that it is necessary for automakers to use color effects to create a unique visual look for brands and models. The
has been working closely with supercar brand Lamborghini on global automotive color development. Lamborghini's limited edition Murcielago Reventon also authorized PPG to develop a unique matte black coating for it.
2002, the PPG market was dominated by North America. Since 2014, the contribution rate of the Asia-Pacific region has increased rapidly. The Chinese market is the key point of its layout for the future, and it now ranks first in the Chinese car repair paint market.
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