Coatings World - March 2009

Auto OEM Coatings: The Road A

In the midst of the global recession, auto sales continue to plummet. This does not bode well for paint suppliers to the auto OEM market. Coatings World spoke with Cynthia Niekamp, PPG’s new vice president of automotive coatings about current and future trends.

BY TIM WRIGHT

EDITOR

Ms. Niekamp, you recently joined PPG’s automotive coatings business at a challenging time. How would you characterize the state of the global automotive OEM coatings market and how is the bad economy affecting PPG’s automotive OEM coatings business? How would you characterize regional markets (NA, Western Europe, EE, Asia, etc.)?

CYNTHIA NIEKAMP

PPG recently named Cynthia Niekamp its new vice president of automotive coatings. Niekamp joins PPG from Borg Warner Inc., where she led the global Torq Transfer Systems business. Niekamp began her career with General Motors, progressing through production supervisory and engineering positions with the Delco Moraine division. She moved to France as resident controller, wheel brake systems, and then returned to the U.S. in 1989 as plant manager, anti-lock braking systems, Delco Moraine division. In 1990, Niekamp joined TRW Automotive Inc., where her last position was as managing director, transportation systems. She then joined Mead Corp. in 1995 as vice president, corporate strategy and planning, and became president, specialty paper division, in 1998. Following the 2002 merger of Mead with Westvaco Corp., Niekamp served as senior vice president, strategy and specialty operations, and then as senior vice president and chief financial officer for Mead Westvaco until 2004.

Yes, it certainly is a challenging time for the auto industry. The automotive sector is clearly one of the hardest hit during this economic crisis, and PPG automotive coatings business has not been immune. Luckily, we have a global presence and a balanced portfolio of customers, so we aren’t as hard hit as many other U.S.-based automotive suppliers. Plus, PPG has taken some very aggressive action to take out cost, including the closing of our Canadian coatings facility and some significant reductions in our workforce worldwide. As you know auto sales in the westernized economies have been falling since the middle of last year, and we have now seen a similar impact in Eastern Europe and Asia. We see China continuing to grow this year, but at a reduced rate.