A coatings and specialty products company, PPG Industries, has won a 2012 Automotive News Premier Automotive Suppliers' Contribution to Excellence (PACE) Award for its innovative B1:B2 wet-on-wetcompact paint system.
Automotive News, the Transportation Research Center and by Ernst & Young sponsored the 18th annual PACE awards competition. The company has received this award for the eighth time and the award recognizes automotive suppliers for innovations in products, technologies and manufacturing processes.
The Premium B1:B2 paint system is ideal for automakers and it allows them to minimize the number of steps required for painting a vehicle. It also eliminates the need for a dedicated primer boothand associated processing. Thus, PPG’s system considerably decreases energy consumption and cycle times.In addition, the Premium B1:B2 solution decreases emissions, increases paint shop efficiency and reduces a manufacturer’s footprint for greenfield locations. The system includes two layers (B1 and B2), which are applied through a wet-on-wet processthat reduces the time and energy required for heated dehydration or baking between layer applications in competitive paint systems. The B1 layer offers the primary primer function for durability benefits, while the B2 layer delivers additional durability and color.
The Senior Vice President of PPG’sautomotive OEM coatings, Cynthia Niekamp, stated that the B1:B2 wet-on-wet paint system represents the company’s commitment to improve customers' products and processes, as well as to minimize total costs and environmental impact.