Mike Davis, managing director Axalta Coating Systems UK
Limited, said, “We are delighted
to continue the excellent relationship our three global brands have
with GM UK, now under the Axalta
name. By renewing this agreement, GM
not only demonstrates the trust it has in
our brands’ products and services, but
also confirms our status as one of the
market leaders. Our technical know-how
and professionalism will drive GM’s UK
bodyshops to perform even better.”
AkzoNobel Doubles
Capacity at Industrial
Coatings Site in China
AkzoNobel has completed the expansion
of its Industrial Coatings site in Songjiang
near Shanghai in China, doubling annual
production capacity and creating the
company’s biggest plant for packaging
coatings in the world.
Work started in 2012, when approximately €14 million was invested
in the facility to add production lines
for packaging coatings and epoxy and
polyester resins. Now the largest site
of its kind in the region, Songjiang will
serve growing consumer demand from a
number of key markets.
“China remains one of our most
important growth markets,” explained
Conrad Keijzer, member of AkzoNobel’s
Executive Committee responsible for
Performance Coatings. “By expanding
capacity at our Songjiang site, we are
well positioned to capture the ongoing
demand from consumer and construc-
tion markets.”
Added AB Ghosh, managing director
of AkzoNobel’s Industrial Coatings busi-
ness: “We are very pleased to have started
commercial production at the expanded
Songjiang site. The extended capabilities
and new product lines will not only help
us to better serve customers in the coun-
try, but will also allow us to supply resins
for our own local production of coil and
packaging coatings.”
The Songjiang facility employs close
to 300 people and houses AkzoNobel’s
largest research and development center
in China. The company is also expand-
ing its activities in other parts of the
country, with work ongoing at sites for
Powder Coatings and Decorative Paints
in Chengdu, a combined investment of
€ 50 million in one of the fastest grow-
ing regions in China. In addition, a new
regional office for western China is be-
ing inaugurated in Chengdu this, which
will house employees from several coat-
ings businesses.
AkzoNobel currently employs more
than 7,400 people in China, including
500 in research and development. In
2013, the company generated revenues of
€ 1. 6 billion, the majority coming from local demand.
PPG Donates $52,000 to
Educational Programs in
Pittsburgh Area
The PPG Industries Foundation recently
donated more than $52,000 to seven
organizations for education-related initiatives in the Greater Pittsburgh area,
where the company maintains its global
headquarters and several facilities. The
grants highlight PPG Industries’ commitment to supporting its local communities and align with the PPG Industries
Foundation’s priority of increasing educational opportunities.
The recent grants funded: National
Museum of Education … In Partnership
for America’s Future Inc. providing 42
public schools in suburban Pittsburgh
with the Science Screen Report (SSR)
DVD series; PGSS Campaign Inc. for
the Pennsylvania Governor’s School
for the Sciences summer program at
Carnegie Mellon University; Reading Is
FUNdamental Pittsburgh continuing the
Books for Keeps Science Program in the
Wilkinsburg School District; Keystone
Science School’s Students for Sustainable
Cities program for educators; Girl
Scouts of Western Pennsylvania’s participation in National Girl Scout Cookie
Weekend with events in Pittsburgh
and Erie, PA; Springdale Free Public
Library’s participation in the Library
Place at Pittsburgh Mills, which it operates with the Community Library of
Allegheny Valley and Carnegie Library
of Pittsburgh (CLP) programs for CLP -
Books and More! (CLP-BAM!) and CLP
Teen Services Outreach.
“We’re happy to support these national and locally-based organizations
in bringing positive impact to education in the Pittsburgh region,” said Sue
Sloan, executive director, PPG Industries
Foundation. “Supporting access to programs and resources such as these for
students, teachers and the general community will help provide children in the
community with better, more engaging
learning experiences.”
Abakan’s MesoCoat
Receives Funds to Increase
Production of PComP
Nanocomposite Coating
Abakan Inc. announced that its subsidiary, MesoCoat, Inc., was awarded a $1.5
million loan from the Ohio Department
of Development’s Ohio Third Frontier
Commission to scale up PComP production and expand PComP coating services.
“Our PComP current powder production expansion plan is ramping up annual
production to 18 tons increasing sales to
$240,000 per month,” said Robert Miller,
Abakan, Inc.’s CEO. “The $1.5 million loan
will assist MesoCoat to increase the scale
up of PComP production from 18 tons to
160 tons per year increasing projected powder sales revenues to $1,600,000 per month
and thermal spray revenues of $1,000,000
per month, over the next few years. We anticipate that the PComP production ramp
up will result in an average annual growth
rate of approximately 75 percent over three
years from our fiscal year end May 2015 to
May 2018.”
MesoCoat’s PComP product lines
(cement’s fabricated into a hierarchical
structure, using a patented process to
engineer particle sizes down to the na-no-scale) serve the thermal spray coating industry, which is currently a $10
billion industry globally, catering to the
oil and gas, mining, aerospace and defense, automotive, infrastructure, heavy
equipment, chemical, and processing industries. The PComP family of coatings
is positioned to replace the very expensive tungsten carbide coatings and toxic
electrolytic chrome plating, the company stated. PComP nanocomposite
metal-ceramic coatings offer the wear
and corrosion resistance of ceramic
