PPG To Develop Custom Color Coatings In Advanced Settings

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) has expanded its development capabilities for aerospace and military coatings at the Shildon, U.K. facility. The company’s $2-million worth of investment for installation of technologically advanced equipment that evaluates paint characteristics will increase the capabilities of the facility.

The 200-employee facility in Shildon now houses 3,400 additional square feet spread over two stories for two booths. A testing laboratory and the associated rooms occupy what was formerly the spray room.

The new suite of environmentally controlled spray booths will help the company streamline new products launches as well as provide more precise color matches.

One paint spray booth offers variable temperature and humidity settings for product development and training. It can accommodate an aircraft section or a small military vehicle for this purpose. The second booth has a fixed temperature with relative humidity levels and is for the more customized requests of color-matched coatings application to panels.

Further, the expanded testing laboratory, with constant temperature and humidity settings, stands for color mixing. A set of rooms for the full application process, from preparing to drying, with controlled environmental settings have also been developed.

The new development at the facility aims to cater to the growing need for custom color as well as the accelerating demand for commercializing new technologies in the coatings industry in the aerospace sector. Airline liveries and business aircrafts are looking to increase their use of color and PPG aspires to help them achieve this vision.

PPG’s aerospace and military coatings cater to a global customer base. However, the customers are located in varied geographical regions with differing environmental conditions. Replicating these conditions in the new booths, the company can develop coatings specific for each region ranging from the hot and dry Dubai to cold and damp Russia to the humid Singapore.

The shares of PPG Industries rose around 0.9% in the trading session on May 5 and closed the day at $108.58.

PPG Industries currently holds a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Some favorably ranked companies in the chemical space include Akzo Nobel N.V. (OTC:AKZOY) , BASF SE (OTC:BASFY) and Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Co. Ltd. (NYSE:SHI) , all sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).