PPG Industries ( ) is a global supplier of paints,
coatings, optical products, specialty materials, chemicals, glass
and fiber glass. The company has more than 140 manufacturing
facilities and equity affiliates and operates in more than 60
countries. Sales in 2008 were $15.8 billion. PPG is also the
world's third largest producer of
chlorine
and
caustic soda (used in a wide
variety of industrial applications),
vinyl chloride (for use in polyvinyl chloride
resins), and chlorinated
solvents.
It is
headquartered in PPG
Place
, a popular office and retail complex known for its
striking glass facade designed by Philip
Johnson. Founded in 1883 by Captain John Baptiste Ford and John Pitcairn as the Pittsburgh
Plate Glass Company at Creighton
, Pennsylvania
; the company changed its name to PPG
Industries, Inc. on 19 December 1968 to show its diverse
offerings. On 2 January 2008, PPG acquired the SigmaKalon
Group of companies from private investment firm
Bain Capital, strongly increasing its paint and
specialty coatings business.
Business units
PPG's business units include:
- Aerospace: Leading supplier of
sealants, coatings, aircraft maintenance chemicals, transparent
armor, transparencies and application systems, serving original
equipment manufacturers and maintenance providers for the
commercial, military, regional jet and general aviation industries.
Services include chemicals management.
- Architectural Coatings: Under the Pittsburgh Paints, Olympic,
Porter, Monarch, Lucite and PPG HPC (High Performance Coatings)
brands, this unit produces paints, stains and specialty coatings
for commercial, maintenance and residential markets. PPG also has
many known sales managers; the most known is probably under the
name Bill Shaw.
Pittsburgh Paints -
Porter Paints -
Olympic Paints and
Stains -
- Architectural Coatings EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa):
Producer of Sigma, Seigneurie, Johnstone's and other brands of
residential and commercial paints for Europe, the Middle East,
Africa and French Overseas.
- Automotive Coatings: Global supplier of automotive coatings and
services to auto and light truck manufacturers. Products include
electrocoats, primer surfacers, base coats, clearcoats,
pretreatment chemicals, adhesives and sealants.
- Automotive Refinish: Produces and markets a full line of
coatings products and related services for automotive and fleet
repair and refurbishing, light industrial coatings and specialty
coatings for signs. Also created and manages CertifiedFirst
Network, PPG’s premier collision-shop alliance.
- Chlor-Alkali and Derivatives: Producer of chlorine, caustic
soda and related chemicals for use in chemical manufacturing, pulp
and paper production, water treatment, plastics production,
agricultural products and many other applications.
- Fiber Glass: Maker of fiber glass yarn for use in electronics,
especially printed circuit boards, and specialty materials, such as
insect screening, medical casting and filtration fabrics. Also
maker of fiber glass chopped strands, rovings and mat products used
as reinforcing agents in thermoset and thermoplastic composite
applications.
- Industrial Coatings: Produces coatings for appliances,
agricultural and construction equipment, consumer products,
electronics, heavy-duty trucks, automotive parts and accessories,
residential and commercial construction, coil, extrusions, wood
flooring, kitchen cabinets and other finished products.
- Optical Products: Produces optical monomers, including CR-39
and Trivex lens materials, photochromic dyes, Transitions
(http://www.transitions.com) photochromic ophthalmic plastic lenses
and polarized film. For product information, visit
http://corporateportal.ppg.com/NA/Chemicals/Optical.
- Packaging Coatings: Global supplier of coatings, inks,
compounds, pretreatment chemicals and lubricants for metal, glass
and plastic containers for the beverage, food, general line and
specialty packaging industries.
- Performance Glazings: Produces glass that is fabricated into
products primarily for commercial construction and residential
markets, as well as the appliance, mirror and transportation
industries. For commercial glass and architectural finishes, visit
http://www.ppgIdeascapes.com. For residential glass products, visit
http://corporateportal.ppg.com/NA/Glass/ResidentialGlass.
- Protective and Marine Coatings: Leading global supplier of
corrosion-resistant, appearance-enhancing coatings for the marine,
infrastructure, chemical processing, oil and gas, and power
industries.
- Silicas: Produces amorphous precipitated silicas used to
improve strength and durability of tires and other rubber products,
reduce gloss and viscosity of paints and varnishes, and enhance
free-flow characteristics of powdered food ingredients. Products
are also used in battery separator applications. Also manufactures
Teslin synthetic printing sheet used in applications such as radio
frequency identification (RFID) tags and labels, e-passports,
driver's licenses and identification cards.
Former business units
industries also once included:
- Biomedical Systems: created by the purchase (in 1986 and 1987)
of the medical electronics divisions of Honeywell, Litton
Industries, and Allegheny
International. The biomedical systems division manufactured
cardiac recording equipment, patient-monitoring systems,
electrocardiogram instruments, defibrillators, and other products.
The division lost money, in part because of high research and
development costs, and was split up and sold to several companies
during 1993–1995.
- Automotive Glass and Replacement Glass and Services: Fabricated
and distributed replacement windshields and auto glass as well as
original equipment automotive glass. Provided software and services
linking the automotive aftermarket, insurance and fleet industries.
Included LYNX Services claims-management solutions, PPG PROSTARS
retail auto glass marketing alliance and Aquapel . This business unit was
divested in 2007.
- Fine Chemicals: Produced advanced intermediates and bulk active
ingredients for the pharmaceutical industry, and phosgene
derivatives used in plastics, agricultural, pharmaceutical and
other industries. This business unit was divested in 2007.
Environmental record
With average more than of air pollution release, PPG Industries is
ranked among the biggest air polluters in the nation by The
University of Massachusetts study.
Lime Lake Reclamation Project of PPG Industries (Barberton, OH)
received special awards in the National Beneficial Use of Biosolids
Program from
Environmental
Protection Agency’s (EPA) region 5 in 1998. However, the same
facility was accused by EPA of clean-air violations later, in 2006.
According to the agency’s report PPG failed to comply with a
1-pound per hour permitted emission limit on volatile organic
compounds. The tests done in January and February of the same year
showed
VOC emissions as
high as 8.8 pounds per hour.
Emitting more than of production-related waste every year,
Barberton is just fifth among the most polluting PPG facilities and
counts for only 6% of overall company’s pollution production.
See also
References
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