PPG (Pittsburgh, Pa.; www.ppg.com) today opened a $3 million state-of-the-art liquid coatings application development center at its Oak Creek, Wisconsin, plant. The new center includes advanced equipment that helps simulate industrial coatings customers’ manufacturing environments to ensure PPG coatings will be properly and consistently applied during their production processes. (Additional materials related to the Oak Creek liquid coatings application development center are available at newsroom.ppg.com/oakcreek.)
The new coatings application development center houses multiple curing ovens, robotic paint applicators and spray booths with temperature and humidity controls to mimic a wide range of liquid coatings application conditions. These capabilities will further enhance the product launch process and application validation capabilities of PPG’s industrial coatings business.
“It’s important to our customers to have liquid coatings products that work well in specific climates and environments,” explained Steve Wirtz, PPG liquid application manager, industrial coatings. “If they’re applying liquid coatings in the searing heat of summer with high humidity, or in cold-weather environments, we can simulate those conditions in our climate-controlled coating rooms to ensure that PPG products will perform as desired. The abilities to mimic actual production conditions and to test coatings applications on large and complex shapes and parts will enable our technical experts to work more closely with customers during development, offering new opportunities for identifying and addressing potential problems and for coatings application training.”
PPG offers a comprehensive array of powder, electrocoat, pretreatment and liquid products for metal finishing to manufacturers in numerous industries. In addition to providing a broad range of coatings and a full spectrum of color choices, PPG backs its products with 50 years of experience in industrial coatings and technical expertise delivered through an international customer support network to help solve tough coatings challenges.