PPG Industries Research Articles

PPG counts on chemistry to give it an edge

About 20 minutes from PPG Industries’ headquarters in downtown Pittsburgh is the Allison Park Coatings Innovation Center. Set on 175 rolling wooded acres, the glass-clad research facility employs more than 280 synthetic chemists, analytical chemists, formulation experts, and chemical engineers. First opened in 1974, the facility just got a $7.8 million upgrade. The project added robotic paint spray booths that replicate customer manufacturing conditions along with new synthesis labs and equipment to accommodate a growing workforce. “We hired 45 Ph.D.s just in the last five years,” says David Bem, PPG’s chief technology officer. More researchers will be coming to the site soon. In the coming years, he says, the firm plans to hire additional chemists, including those with B.S. and M.S. degrees, as it advances work on new types of coatings. The Allison Park researchers are at the vanguard of a global technology force of 3,500 intended to give PPG

PPG will remove lead from paint

Joining competitor AkzoNobel, paint giant PPG Industries says it will remove lead from its coatings. Although activists are lauding the move, hundreds of paint brands, particularly in developing co...

Green and sustainability corporate initiatives: a case study of goods and services design

Competitive firms have achieved significant success through their product and service design strategies by combining operational lean practices with green-based strategic initiatives. Although lean typically drive green practices, they need not be mutually exclusive. This study showcased three global firms with headquarters in Pittsburgh, PA (e.g., FedEx, H.J. Heinz Company, PPG Industries) that have obtained a competitive advantage with their products and services. Special attention was given to the green production initiatives currently underway inside these organisations. An overview of each firm will be presented as well as specific design methods and techniques used by the firms. A number of research propositions that would be appropriate for further study and research concerning the roles that strategic management, team integration, GSCM-based initiatives, and implementations can play in new product development and corporate sustainability. These initiatives, both in terms of radical and incremental product innovations, are typically based on a leaner and greener supplier partnerships.

Wake-Up Call

The year 2007 marked the end of a tumultuous time in pharmaceutical chemicals. Diversified chemical firms were scrambling to exit the sector, and the field was passing to medium-size specialists with long-standing experience in producing active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and other fine chemicals. Among the players vying for position that year was Zambon, a 100-year-old family-owned drug company located near Milan. Zambon’s first step was to separate its well-established fine chemicals operation from the rest of its business, forming a new company called ZaCh System. It followed up by acquiring plants in La Porte, Texas, and Avrille, France, from PPG Industries for $65 million. The deal marked Zambon’s first significant foray outside of Italy. But for ZaCh the tumult continued. “The acquisition of the PPG plants did not work out as expected,” says Roger LaForce, ZaCh’s chief executive officer for one year now. “Quite a lot of money was lost.” ...

We're Working Hard, but Is It Hardly Working? Why Process Is Critical in the Delivery of Worksite Health Promotion Programs

To evaluate the relationship between the process and outcomes of worksite wellness committees (WWCs) implementing worksite health promotion programs at PPG Industries, Inc. We developed two unique tools to understand how WWCs function and to assess their program implementation. We then analyzed survey data from 65 PPG worksites, measuring process and program implementation. Worksites that scored higher on the process indicator had more robust program implementation. The WWCs need increased attention from researchers and evaluators. Employers should consider administering worksite health promotion structural assessments to identify gaps in management support and program implementation that may influence program effectiveness.

Six-Year Cost Trends at PPG Industries Paralleling the Introduction of Health Promotion Programs Directed at Cardiovascular Disease Prevention

Over the past several years, PPG Industries (PPG) implemented worksite health promotion programs aimed at improving employees' health and reducing overall medical costs as well as those specific to cardiovascular disease. Using medical claims data, we examined trends in these costs among PPG employees for a 6-year period, from 2005 to 2010. Overall medical costs remained relatively flat, increasing by 1.2% compounded annually, unadjusted for inflation, while inflation-adjusted costs declined by 2.9%. Comparing worksites rated "high-high" on both program implementation and leadership support with worksites scoring highly on one or none of those dimensions, the "high-high" group experienced a decreasing cost trend, whereas the "other" group showed an increase. The analysis suggests that PPG's efforts to reconfigure and intensify its wellness program offerings may have resulted lower health care cost trends.

Titanium Dioxide Photocleans Polluted Air

Titanium Dioxide Photocleans Polluted Air

US & Netherlands: PPG Industries – precipitated silica

US & Netherlands: PPG Industries – precipitated silica

The Influence of Worksite Health Promotion Program Management and Implementation Structure Variables on Medical Care Costs at PPG Industries

To evaluate the relationship between critical factors for successful worksite health promotion programs such as management support and program implementation and health care costs at PPG Industries. We analyzed survey data from 37 PPG worksites measuring management support and program implementation. We estimated the relationship between management and implementation scores in 2007 and subsequent health care costs in 2008 using ordinary least squares regression. High program implementation scores were associated with higher health care costs (P < 0.01) as were high management scores (P < 0.05). However, sites with a combination of high management and implementation scores had lower health care costs, while sites with low scores on these dimensions had higher cost trends. Employers should consider administering worksite health promotion structural assessments to identify gaps in management support and program implementation that may influence program effectiveness.

PPG Industries 3Q 2010 net income rises 65%

PPG Industries 3Q 2010 net income rises 65%

CHEMICAL DEMAND REMAINS STRONG

THE THIRD QUARTER is shaping up to be stellar for U.S. and European chemical companies. The industry’s sales and profit gains are building on similar improvements in the second quarter, creating confidence among company executives that the recession is in the rearview mirror. Quarterly sales were up by 10 to 20% year over year at most of the companies reporting so far, and earnings shot up significantly. Results from Air Products & Chemicals, Albemarle, Cabot, Celanese, Cytec Industries, Dow Chemical, W.R. Grace, Lubrizol, Nalco, PPG Industries, and Praxair were almost identical to those of this year’s second quarter, when the industry finally jumped out of the recessionary trough. At Dow, earnings of $705 million were almost double what they were in 2009’s third quarter, thanks to a recovery that started in Asia and is now reaching the economies of the West. In the second quarter of this year, the company racked up a similar ...

PPG Aerospace sees growth in customised sealant technology

PPG Aerospace, part of US-based PPG Industries Inc, is seeing growth in the application of customised sealant technology. It says that custom sealants develop into standard products with additional benefits.

PPG Industries supports China earthquake recovery

PPG Industries supports China earthquake recovery

PPG Industries, Inc.

AbstractChemicals (MIC: SIC: 2851 NAIC: 325510)PPG Industries is comprised of five reportable business segments: Performance Coatings, Industrial Coatings, Optical and Specialty Materials, Commodity Chemicals, and Glass. Through these segments, Co. provides: protective and decorative finishes; factory‐finished aluminum extrusions and steel and aluminum coils; marine and aircraft equipment; automotive original equipment and other industrial and consumer products; architectural, protective, marine and industrial coatings; Transitions® lenses, sunlenses, optical materials and polarized film; amorphous precipitated silicas; Teslin® synthetic printing sheet; chlor‐alkali and derivative products; flat glass; and continuous‐strand fiber glass.

TIDYING UP PAINT

THE ECONOMIC SLOWDOWN has taken its toll on U.S. paint makers. With fewer cars and trucks being built and fewer new buildings under construction, the number of gallons of paint sold in 2007 didn’t budge from the year before. And that’s not all. Paint makers are also plagued with high raw material costs, increasing energy prices, and ever more stringent environmental regulations. Those problems are enough to make paint companies wince. Government statistics show that the 900 or so U.S. paint makers sold $20.1 billion worth of paints last year, up 4% from 2006 but almost flat when inflation is taken into account. Paint makers also shipped roughly the same number of gallons in 2007—1.3 billion—as they did in 2006. Operating margins in the first quarter of this year for paint makers such as Valspar and PPG Industries are down from the year-earlier period. Raw material suppliers from the chemical industry say that they ...

PPG Industries, Inc.

AbstractChemicals (MIC: SIC: 2851 NAIC: 325510)PPG Industries is comprised of five reportable business segments: Performance Coatings, Industrial Coatings, Optical and Specialty Materials, Commodity Chemicals, and Glass. Through these segments, Co. provides: protective and decorative finishes; factory‐finished aluminum extrusions and steel and aluminum coils; marine and aircraft equipment; automotive original equipment and other industrial and consumer products; architectural, protective, marine and industrial coatings; Transitions® lenses, sunlenses, optical materials and polarized film; amorphous precipitated silicas; Teslin® synthetic printing sheet; chlor‐alkali and derivative products; flat glass; and continuous‐strand fiber glass.

The Effects of Health Plan Copayments on Adherence to Oral Diabetes Medication and Health Resource Utilization

To assess the effects of copayments on oral diabetes medication adherence, health resource utilization, and expenditure. Retrospective, observational analysis of medical and pharmacy claims data from PPG Industries employees, retirees, and dependents (2003-2005). Average monthly copayments were stratified low (US$0-9), medium (US$10-19), or high (US$20+). In 2052 individuals, adherence to oral diabetes medication was highest for the low copayment group for both age groups >or=65 years; 84% low, 77% medium, 64% high (P < 0.0001) and <65 years; 74% low, 71% medium, 55% high (P < 0.0001). For patients <65 years, total health care expenditure was 22% lower in the low versus high copayment group (P = 0.024), resulting in average savings of US $3116 per patient per year. Risk of hospitalization was significantly lower in the low versus the high copayment group for patients >or=65 years of age. High copayments were associated with lower adherence to oral diabetes medications for all patients and higher total health care costs for patients less than 65.

Permeation of gases through microporous silica hollow-fiber membranes: Application of the transition-site model

In a previous paper [P. Molyneux, “Transition-site” model for the permeation of gases and vapors through compact films of polymers, J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 79 (2001) 981–1024] a transition-site model (TSM) for the activated permeation of gases through compact amorphous solids was developed and applied to organic polymers; the present paper examines the applicability of the TSM to permeation through microporous silica. The basis of the TSM theory for amorphous solids in general is outlined; the present extension to inorganic glasses has revealed that the transition sites (TS) of this theory, which are the three-dimensional saddle-points critical in the molecular sieving action, equate to the doorways long recognized in permeation through amorphous silica and other inorganic glasses. The TSM, which views permeation as a primary process, is contrasted with the conventional sorption–diffusion model (SDM) for permeation. It is pointed out that in the SDM, the widely accepted analysis into two apparently distinct factors – sorption (equilibrium) and diffusion (kinetic) – has the fundamental flaw that these factors are not independent, since both involve the sorbed state. By contrast, the TSM focuses on the permeant molecule in only two states: as the free gas, and as inserted in a doorway D; hence the characteristics of these doorways – (unperturbed) diameter σ D, spacing λ, and the thermodynamic parameters θ (force constant) and ν (entropy increment) for the insertion process – can be evaluated. The theory is applied to literature data [J.D. Way, D.L. Roberts, Hollow fiber inorganic membranes for gas separations, Sep. Sci. Technol. 27 (1992) 29–41; J.D. Way, A mechanistic study of molecular sieving inorganic membranes for gas separations, Final Report submitted to U.S. Department of Energy under contract DE-FG06-92-ER14290, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO, 1993, www.osti.gov/bridge/servlets/purl/10118702-ZAx4Au/native/1011872.pdf; M.H. Hassan, J.D. Way, P.M. Thoen, A.C. Dillon, Single component and mixed gas transport in silica hollow fiber membrane, J. Membr. Sci. 104 (1995) 27–42] on the permeation through microporous silica hollow-fiber membranes (developed by PPG Industries Inc.) of the nine gases: Ar, He, H 2, N 2, O 2, CO, CO 2, CH 4 and C 2H 4, over the temperature range 25–200 °C. The derived Arrhenius parameters for the permeation of these gases (excepting He) lead to estimates of the four doorway-parameters: σ D, 125 pm; λ, ca. 30 nm; θ, 0.43 nN; ν, 1.7 pN K −1; these values lie within the ranges of those obtained with the glassy organic polymers. Some “secondary effects”, shown particularly by CO and CO 2, are interpreted as host–guest interactions at the doorway. The behavior of He is anomalous, the permeation rising linearly with temperature. This study confirms that the TSM may be applied to gas permeation by activated molecular sieving for this type of inorganic membrane.

PPG Industries, Inc.

AbstractChemicals (MIC: 11.1 SIC: 2851 NAIC: 325510)PPG Industries is comprised of five reportable business segments: Performance Coatings, Industrial Coatings, Optical and Specialty Materials, Commodity Chemicals and Glass. Within these business segments, Co. has focused resources on industrial, aerospace, packaging, architectural, automotive original and refinish coatings; flat glass, automotive original and replacement glass, and continuous‐strand fiber glass; and chlor‐alkali and specialty chemicals. Co.'s coatings and chemicals businesses operate production facilities around the world. Co.'s principal glass production facilities are in North America and Europe.

PPG Industries, Inc.

AbstractChemicals (MIC: 11.1 SIC: 2851 NAIC: 325510)PPG Industries is comprised of five reportable business segments: Industrial Coatings, Performance and Applied Coatings, Optical and Specialty Materials, Commodity Chemicals and Glass. Within these business segments, Co. has focused resources on industrial, aerospace, packaging, architectural, automotive original and refinish coatings; flat glass, automotive original and replacement glass, and continuous‐strand fiber glass; and chlor‐alkali and specialty chemicals. Co.'s coatings businesses operate production facilities around the world. Co.'s principal glass production facilities are in North America and Europe. Co.'s chemicals businesses operate production facilities around the world.