“We’ve inherited a lot of brands
and we aim to keep them all alive and
well,” Jean-Marie Greindl, president
PPG Europe, Middle East and Africa
(EMEA) and senior vice president,
PPG Architectural Coatings, told
European journalists at a briefing in
Amsterdam, mostly devoted to R&D
and new products.
Over the last 10 years the Pittsburgh-based company has moved out of glass
and chemicals to concentrate on building up its core coatings operation into a
business with annual sales of $14 billion.
Around 45 percent s of these came from
the construction sector, with OEM and
the car aftermarket accounting for 33
percent, aerospace and marine 8 percent
and general industrial 14 percent.
The U.S. and Canada made up 46
percent of sales in 2015, with EMEA
accounting for 28 percent, Asia Pacific
16 percent and Latin America. 10 percent. In all of its major global segments, the company has a No. 1 or 2
position, with the exception of protective and marine coatings.
“Our leadership positions can be
linked to operational excellence and research innovation,” said Greindl.
In Europe the company has nine laboratories for architectural coatings, while
protective and marine coatings with its
need for more customization has 40 in
the whole EMEA area. R&D activities in
Europe are supported by central laboratories in Allison Park and East Point in
the U.S. and a third in Mexico City.
PPG has gradually built up a system
which ensures close co-ordination of the
activities of its R&D and technical staff
across the world, particularly on both
sides of the Atlantic.
The importance of this wide network
becomes evident when ideas for potential
innovations are sifted and priorities set
for which ones will be researched and developed for eventual commercialisation.
In architectural coatings a total of approximately 150 new product ideas is
generated each year. These come from a
variety of sources – such as marketing
surveys, direct suggestions from customers and the need to respond to new regulations and standards. Another fount of
ideas is PPG’s own road mapping and
benchmarking of technologies and collaborative programmes with universities
and raw material suppliers.
“Ideas for further research are selected centrally but only after input
from local staff,” said Philippe Hosotte,
global technical director for architectural coatings, in an interview separate
from the briefing.
“We have strongly embedded techni-
cal groups locally who keep themselves
up to date with what are the factors
driving the local market,” he explained.
“There is a regular interaction between
the center and local R&D and technical
people. We’ve a good global communica-
tions system so no one is isolated and we
can response quickly to market opportu-
nities, if necessary.”
However, the need to take into account
local conditions can result in roll-outs
of new products being a relatively slow
procedure. A grease and dirt repellent
kitchen coatings called Sigma LTA for li-
pophobic technology for acrylics was, for
example, launched in the Netherlands in
late 2014 and then neighboring Belgium
and Germany last year while its intro-
duction in France is planned for the end
of this year.
“A one-and- half-year roll-out in
Europe is fairly typical,” said Hosotte.
“For more specialist products it would
be longer.”
A heat-resistant external coating
called Sigma Ultra Cool with a high
level of total solar reflectance (TSR) has
taken time to be fully commercialised in
Europe. It was originally introduced in
France in 2011 to help builders and ar-
chitects use dark external colors to com-
ply with new French building regulations
banning coatings with low TSR levels. Its
launch in other countries has depended
on the availability of the right tinting sys-
tems and the degree of need for regula-
tory compliance.
When an idea for new products is
strongly backed by an PPG operation
in one European country it will attract support in others in the region.
Innovations which are in line with
mega trends such as those which promote ease of use, application productivity and energy savings will be endorsed
across the Atlantic as well.
Any differences in approach to innovations between European countries
tends to depend on the strength and position of brands. Formulations may have
to be adjusted to make new products
consistent with the characteristics of local brands.
“We have to be careful in everything
we do with the positions of our brands in
Europe,” said Hosotte. “Often they have
been acquired at a high price so that their
value needs to be protected.”
The need to focus on the strength
of local brands is much greater in
Europe than elsewhere. In regions like
North America and Asia Pacific there
are fewer of them. For PPG in Europe
the task of keeping a balance between
the global and local, at least in the ar-
chitectural coatings sector, is far more
complex. CW
“Despite the existence of the European
Union’s single market, Europe remains a
relatively fragmented market. Variations of
local market conditions have to be taken
into account when commercializing new
products and technologies.”
