Real-world case studies and white papers for best practices in durability and lasting protection. For additional stories and information, check out our blog.
The Ford Motor Company of South Africa made history when it invested more than $1 billion to upgrade its manufacturing operations at the Silverton Assembly Plant. New technologies and equipment were installed at the plant, including utilizing PPG's Coatings Services division to operate and maintain the electrocoat lines that are instrumental in the company's plans to expand on-site production of the new Ranger pick-up truck.
The David L. Lawrence Convention Center opened in Pittsburgh in 2003 as the world’s first certified green convention center. Today, it remains one of the largest LEED® Gold-certified buildings in the world. Used inside and outside, PPG coatings and paints were instrumental to the environmental performance of the building. On the exterior metal building panels and skylights, various shades of PPG DURANAR® coatings provide extended durability, which reduced the need for repainting and other kinds of maintenance.
Designed in 1954 as the home to the historic Philadelphia Bulletin newspaper, the Bulletin Building has stood for decades as one of the iconic structures in the city’s booming University City neighborhood. But after the newspaper folded in 1982, the building underwent a series of transformations. Most recently, KieranTimberlake Architects retrofitted the 282,000 square-foot facility into a state-of-the-art laboratory and retail space. As part of the historic renovation, PPG partnered with Spectrum Metal Finishing to develop and apply a customized PPG CORAFLON® powder coating for the structure’s new signature feature, a multistory glass façade on the east elevation. With a glossy “Galaxy Red” PPG Coraflon powder coating formulated exclusively for the project, the new-look Bulletin Building is the main attraction in the city’s new Schuylkill Yards development.
For more than 65 years, O.W. Lee has been a producer of premium, hand-crafted outdoor furniture, and for more than a decade, has relied almost exclusively on PPG powder coatings to provide long-lasting beauty and protection for its products. When the company recently decided to move its operations from California to Texas, which also entailed the construction of a new state-of-art powder coatings line, it expanded its partnership with PPG to include PPG's coatings services business.
For one leading agricultural and construction equipment manufacturer, long-curing times required of ultra- durable, standard bake powder coatings were problematic. The company specified new PPG ENVIROCRON® UltraXTM powder coatings. Envirocron UltraX is an ultra-durable, low-cure polyester powder coating that produces a high quality finish with excellent UV fastness.
For more than five decades, architects have trusted PPG metal coatings to beautify and preserve some of New York’s most prominent landmarks, from cherished classics such as the Empire State Building, Madison Square Garden and the Jacob K. Javitz Center, to more contemporary structures such as Freedom Tower and VIA 57 West. Now the city’s next generation of architectural heritage has emerged at Hudson Yards, the largest private real estate development in U.S. history, and PPG metal coatings are again playing an integral role.
Architects specify rainscreen systems to fulfill two primary functions: the first is to keep moisture from entering a building; the second is to prevent heat from escaping. Thanks to a collaboration between Morphosis Architects, A. Zahner Company and PPG, the rainscreen system on The Bloomberg Center at Cornell Tech does more than serve those purposes – it also works as a color-shifting wall of art. Featuring iradescent, color-shifting PPG DURANAR® VARI-COOL® coatings, the panels were designed by Morphosis with A. Zahner Company to create an artful façade that harmonizes with the local landscape.
Pittsburgh-based corporations PNC Financial Services Group and PPG have played integral roles in the development of sustainable architecture. PNC has more newly constructed LEED®-certified green buildings than any company in the world, while its local neighbor is the only building products company to offer customers such as PNC single-source access to sustainable glass, coatings and paints. Given their proximity and history, it’s no surprise that PPG products have figured prominently in many of PNC’s signature architectural projects, including its boldest yet: The Tower at PNC Plaza.
