PPG Recognized for Two Innovations in Auto Coatings.

Business Editors, Automotive Writers

DEARBORN, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 7, 2000

PPG Industries was recognized for two significant innovations in automotive coatings as it won a prestigious PACE Award for the world's first commercially successful powder clear coat -- the final finish that protects and adds luster to the color coat on new cars. Awards to eight companies were announced Monday night at the Henry Ford Museum.

Pittsburgh-based PPG is the first coatings maker to capture a PACE Award, and the only one to be a PACE finalist, since the program was established in 1995 by Automotive News magazine and Ernst & Young LLP. The program recognizes and encourages supplier excellence in process and product innovation and management, with winners chosen by an independent panel of judges from industry, academia and business.

Full commercial production with Enviracryl powder clear coat at BMW's Dingolfing, Germany, plant followed comprehensive pilot-line operations. More than 300,000 BMW 5- and 7-series autos have been finished with the PPG coating, cited by R&D magazine for its technological significance.

"We are gratified to receive this important recognition as the auto industry's most innovative coatings supplier, and with our outstanding accomplishment of being a double finalist in the PACE Award competition," said PPG Executive Vice President Kears Pollock.

"For more than a generation we have been at the forefront of strategic innovation of automotive coatings systems, delivering successful new products, processes, services and concepts meeting our customers' requirements for constant quality, efficiency and environmental improvement in manufacturing autos, as well as their customers' product performance expectations," Pollock said.

PPG was also a PACE finalist for the Power-Prime two-bath automotive rust-preventive and primer-surfacer electrocoat process it introduced last year. With two nominations, PPG was the only coatings producer among 21 developers of 24 PACE finalist products and systems.

Enviracryl powder clear coat is environmentally benign, can accelerate production rates and improves finish quality by eliminating blemishes that may occur with liquid coatings, and is also resistant to stone-chipping. Solvent-free, the coating essentially eliminates emissions of volatile organic compounds during electrostatic spray application and baking, as well as hazardous air pollutants and waste; over-spray can be reused.

Ongoing development seeks to further enhance performance and reduce cost for automotive powder clear coats. PPG is also working with the Low Emission Paint Consortium's evaluation of powder clear coats for North American automakers.

In the Power-Prime e-coat process for which PPG was also a PACE finalist, each of two coatings is applied by immersing negatively-charged vehicle bodies in positively-charged coatings. The first bath applies a lead-free corrosion-inhibiting primer. The second applies the world's first full-body anti-chip primer-surfacer, eliminating conventional spray coatings.

It improves coating application uniformity and performance with less cost and environmental effect. Installation and operating costs are significantly lower than for a conventional system. Application efficiency is nearly 100 percent with virtually no waste, and the two-coat system generates virtually no volatile organic compounds.

PPG, rated "best of the best" supplier of auto coatings and glass in annual surveys by Automotive Industry magazine, has about 120 plants in 23 countries. With 1999 sales of $7.8 billion, the company is the world's largest producer of transportation coatings and a leading maker of industrial, packaging and decorative coatings, as well as flat and fabricated glass, fiber glass and chemicals.