As its partnerships with major vehicle Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) continue to go from strength to strength, PPG has announced a significant investment of more than US$10 million to expand production of automotive OEM coatings at its site in Weingarten, Germany. The project comes on the back of a series of investments the company is making to strengthen European production capabilities. This includes increased basecoat production at PPG’s site in Valladolid, Spain, and the recently announced additions to PPG clearcoat production facility in Erlenbach, Germany.
Together, these projects will enhance PPG’s European production capabilities for sustainable, waterborne basecoat technology. This technology replaces the solvents found in traditional basecoats with distilled water, thus producing less odour, along with improved air quality in the work environment, for both PPG and its customers.
These investments will help PPG lower its operational carbon footprint in total by more than 1,000 metric tons of CO2 equivalent per year.
Expected to be complete in the second quarter 2022, the 10,000 square foot addition to the existing Weingarten facility will give it the capacity to produce more than 5,000 metric tons of waterborne basecoats per year. Weingarten is a particularly strategic site due to its proximity to several of PPG’s key German OEM customers, said Roald Johannsen, PPG Vice President, Automotive OEM Coatings, Europe, Middle East and Africa. “This is an important investment to strengthen our production capabilities in Europe and to ensure that we are leveraging our industry-leading waterborne technology to drive downstream sustainability, helping our customers meet their sustainability goals. PPG has a long history of providing paints and coatings to help automotive manufacturers protect and beautify vehicles. These investments in capabilities to produce more sustainable products, together with our focus on coatings for the next generation of electric vehicles, will ensure that we continue to create value for our automotive customers in the future.”