PPG's Kevin Braun Shares Insights on the State of Industrial Coatings with Coatings World

PPG's Kevin Braun vice president, global industrial coatings, was one of several thought leaders featured in a recent Coatings World article on the state of the industrial coatings industry, based on a report published by Grand View Research.

According to the report, the global industrial coatings market appears to be emerging from its pandemic slump with a value at more than $87 billion with an anticipated compound annual growth rate of 2.5% until 2023, despite ongoing raw material and supply chain challenges.

In the article, Kevin was quoted: "In the past year, our assessment of the industry was very uneven. We saw continued strength in sub-segments, such as heavy-duty equipment and construction related areas. Alternatively, consumer-driven products took a fairly significant step back from the COVID period highs of late 2020 and 2021. From a regional standpoint, obviously China and Europe were both compromised for different reasons, while our Americas region saw relative strength across the entire general industrial landscape."

One bright spot addressed in the article is the growth of powder coatings, a major technology focus for PPG, which made four strategic acquisitions since 2019 and recently announced $44 million in investments to expand powder production capabilities at seven plants in the US and Latin America.

Beyond the pursuit of protective solutions that offer extreme durability and application efficiency, manufactures are expressing a growing interest in products that reduce environmental impact. This interest is behind a shift from solvent-based coatings to waterborne and powder coating formulations, coatings that reduce energy consumption and solutions that are made with fewer chemicals of concern.

"… We hear exceedingly more about the importance of sustainability, whether it is lower cure products at a customer location, addressing materials of concern, or total life cycle management, all of these are gaining traction in all areas of our business globally," he said.

Several PPG innovations were featured in the article, including new PPG ENVIROCRON® Primeron primer powder and PPG ENVIROCRON® LUM retroreflective powder.

Available in the European market, Envirocron Primeron is a multi-layer system that offers optimal corrosion protection that helps to expand product lifespan and preserve structural integrity of metal substrates like steel, metalized steel and aluminum and hot-dip-galvanized steel.

Patent-pending Envirocron Lum powder is the industry's first commercial retroreflective powder coating, engineered to improve visibility and safety in low light conditions by offering maximum reflectivity. This breakthrough combines the safety-enhancing properties of retroreflection with the benefits of a powder coating.