The largest PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) plant in Asia, PPG Coatings (Tianjin) Co., Ltd., recently celebrated Phase I of the expansion of its waterborne coatings facility. Upon the completion of Phase I of the project, the annual capacity of waterborne automotive and industrial coatings will reach about 4,000 tons. Annual output is expected to increase to about 10,000 tons when Phase II of the project is completed.
Cynthia A. Niekamp, PPG vice president, automotive coatings, said, "With great support from the Tianjin Municipal Government and Binhai New Area, PPG has expanded its waterborne coatings production line and made the most of abundant resources and a unique regional advantage. The expansion is PPG's response to the increasing demand for eco-friendly waterborne products and technologies in the local market, especially for automotive coatings."
According to Viktoras R. Sekmakas, PPG vice president of industrial coatings and president, PPG Asia/Pacific, PPG is "committed to promoting 'green' products and technologies," such as waterborne coatings, low-/zero-volatile organic compound (VOC) coatings and low-emissivity glasses. He said PPG actively answers the call of State Council to conserve energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, minimizing its environmental impact and saving costs for both the company and its customers.
In 2009, more than three percent of PPG's annual sales went toward research and development, and 26.4 percent of PPG's sales were from "green" products. Also in the year, PPG introduced 65 new products, 38 of which were formulated expressly to promote environmental sustainability by reducing energy consumption, VOC emissions and water use. This year, PPG is promoting "EcoLogical Solutions" products on a global scale, incorporating the "green" concept into its core business.
"To meet growing market demands, PPG has continued to increase its investment in China since entering the country," Sekmakas said. "Even with the 2009 financial crisis, we still built PPG Coatings Zhangjiagang Co., Ltd. - the first PPG resin plant in China - and an aerospace support center in Tianjin. Moreover, we launched this expansion project for waterborne coatings."
In April 1994, PPG Tianjin was officially set up in the Tianjin Economic-technological Development Area (TEDA). For more than a decade, PPG has provided high-quality, high-performance coatings to the Chinese market, and the company is dedicated to continuing to develop new products. PPG has maintained double-digit growth in sales turnover each year since entering China. The number of employees at PPG Tianjin has increased from a few dozen to more than 1,000 today.