PPG Industries, Inc.

One PPG Place
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15272
U.S.A.
(412)434-3131

Public Company
Incorporated: 1883 as Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company
Employees: 35,500
Sales: $5.73 billion
Stock Exchanges: New York Pacific Philadelphia Tokyo

PPG Industries is a global producer of flat glass, fiber glass, coatings and resins, chemicals, and medical electronics. It is the world’s third-largest manufacturer of flat glass, the second-largest maker of continuous-strand fiber glass, and the world’s largest producer of automotive and industrial coatings. It operates about 60 production facilities in the United States, supports 11 research-and-development facilities, and has more than 100 operations worldwide.

PPG is a leading supplier of products for manufacturing, building, processing, and numerous other industries. Its major markets are chemical processing and petroleum refining, commercial and residential construction, and transportation—both original equipment and replacement equipment. PPG is also a major North American producer of chlorine. It sells nearly two-thirds of its yearly output to other industrial processors for use in the manufacture of paper and textiles. PPG has grown from the dream of two men into a global corporation.

Captain John B. Ford and John Pitcairn created the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company (PPG) in 1883. The first financially successful U.S. plate glass manufacturer was located in Creighton, Pennsylvania, northeast of Pittsburgh. It moved its headquarters to Pittsburgh in 1895. Prior to the 1880s over a dozen plate glass makers had tried unsuccessfully to compete with their European counterparts. Despite U.S. technical ability, plate glass for America’s growing cities continued to be imported from Belgium, England, France, and Germany.

Manufacturing profits on glass were inconsistent partly due to the independents who controlled glass distribution. In 1896 Pitcairn established a commercial department and PPG became its own warehouser and distributor. Due to disagreements with Pitcairn regarding distribution, John Ford’s sons sold their PPG interests and the Edward Ford Plate Glass Company then was founded near Toledo, Ohio. During the Depression Ford merged with Libbey-Owens Sheet Glass to form Libbey-Owens-Ford Glass Company, now known as TRINOVA Corporation.

Pitcairn became president of PPG, and in 1899 he built the Columbia Chemical Company at Barbeton, Ohio. This independent company produced soda ash, a major raw material used in making glass. This plant was a forerunner of PPG’s Chemical Group. By the following year PPG was selling 13 million square feet of plate glass a year and had become the nation’s most successful plate glass maker.

Pitcairn continued to expand PPG’s product line. Because paints and brushes were distributed through the same channels as glass, they were a logical addition to the company. By the end of 1900 PPG had acquired a major interest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based Patton Paint Company, the precursor to PPG’s current coatings and resins group.

In the early years PPG had manufactured only plate glass. It marketed but did not produce window glass, or sheet glass. In 1907, however, the first window-glass factory was added to company operations, in Mount Vernon, Ohio. In 1915 a second plant was opened in Clarksburg, West Virginia. Pitcairn’s strong interest in innovation and diversification led to the opening of the company’s first research-and-development facility in 1910.

The first stage of PPG’s development came to an end in 1916 with Pitcairn’s death. In 33 years he had led the company through economic panics, foreign competition, and restrictive distribution channels to become the nation’s largest plate glass manufacturer. He was also the force behind diversification of the company’s product line as well as the development of raw material sources and expansion of marketing outlets for its many products.

In 1919 subsidiaries yielded more than 50% of net return for the year. In November 1920 PPG stockholders voted unanimously to fold the company’s subsidiaries into the parent company, making them divisions.

The 1920s were prosperous for PPG. As steel-cage and concrete-reinforced construction became the standard for building, architects were able to design structures with larger window units, and glass consumption reached record levels in the United States. During this decade, the automobile industry also began consuming more glass. The switch from the open touring car to the sedan caused an expanded need for glass, and PPG met the demand.

PPG also made several technological innovations during the 1920s. In 1924 the company switched from the batch method of making plate glass to the ribbon method. Molten glass from a constantly replenished melting furnace flowed through water-cooled shaping rollers. The glass was then cooled and eat into large plates.

In 1928 PPG first mass-produced sheet glass, using the Pittsburgh Process, which improved quality and sped production. For the first time PPG was a major supplier of window glass. The Pittsburgh Process, invented by PPG, involves drawing a continuous sheet of molten glass from a tank vertically up a four-story forming-and-cooling line. In 1928 the Creighton Process was developed. An economical process for laminating glass for automobile windshields, PPG introduced Duplate laminated safety glass through a glass-plastic unit.

In 1924 PPG produced its first auto lacquer. PPG marketed auto lacquers in a number of conservative colors. By 1929 PPG supplied “no less than 500 harmonious hues” to 40 automakers. The company had also begun using a long-lasting, fast-drying finish that Ditzler Color Company, acquired in 1928, had developed

Always seeking to diversify, in 1923 PPG began to use limestone screening, a waste product of soda ash, to manufacture Portland cement. During the Depression, PPG developed new paint and glass products. In the 1930s the company developed titanium dioxide pigments, which greatly increased the opacity of light colors. It also created fast-drying Wallhide flat paint, which made it possible to apply two coats of paint in one day. In 1934 PPG introduced Solex heat-absorbing glass. Also in 1934, it perfected a glass-bending technique which made the production of car windshields easier. In 1938 PPG introduced Herculite tempered glass. Herculite glass was several times stronger and more shatter resistant than ordinary plate glass.

Diversification paid off again during World War II for PPG. In 1940, the year before Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the glass division had developed Flexseal laminated aircraft glass. During the war, production of automobiles was temporarily halted and building was curtailed, and PPG converted much of its production into materials for military use. Due to the shortage of raw materials during the war, PPG worked hard to develop synthetic resins, which inspired the development of plastics and high-performance paints and industrial coatings.

During the 1950s car production and construction of new homes and glass-and-steel buildings exploded. PPG stepped up production to meet demand, and continued to diversify. Fiber glass had been a laboratory novelty until the 1930s. By 1950, however, it was being used in decorative fabrics and for insulation. In 1952 PPG opened its fiber glass business, making both textiles and reinforcements.

Also during the 1950s, PPG developed lead-free house paints. In 1951, it created the first latex-based interior paint. Three years later it brought a latex exterior house paint to the market. PPG was also one of the first companies to produce a no-wax car finish, and its chemical division introduced several new products, including a swimming pool purifier.

In 1955 PPG’s sales topped $500 million. It employed 33,000 people in seven glass plants, three glass-fabricating plants, two speciality plants, two fiber glass plants, 17 coating and resins plants, and five chemical plants. In the early 1960s PPG produced materials for the building, transportation, appliance, container, boating, textile, paper, television, and chemicals industries. In 1963 it became the first U.S. company to manufacture float glass, used in place of plate glass by architects.

During the early part of the 1960s a heavy capital-investment program moved the company toward $1 billion in sales, a goal it reached in 1968. In 1968 the company also changed its name to PPG Industries, to reflect its size, diversification, and global presence. In 1963 PPG introduced Herculite K, glass three to five times more shatter resistant than ordinary window glass. Herculite K became popular for residential storm- and sliding-door units because of its low cost.

During the mid-1960s the company developed a coating process called electrodeposition. Electrodeposition involves submerging positively charged metal parts in a tank containing negatively charged paint particles suspended in water. The opposite charges attract each other, and the metal is coated more uniformly than if it had been sprayed or dipped. In 1969 the Chemicals Group won the Kirkpatrick Chemical Engineering Achievement Award for developing a process for the simultaneous production of perchloroethylene, widely used in dry-cleaning, and trichloroethylene, a degreaser.

The oil embargo; the increased price of oil, natural gas, and electricity; and the dwindling production of fuels in the United States revived interest in solar energy in the 1970s. PPG was the first major corporation to develop a flat-plate solar collector, a unit first marketed in 1975. PPG has also continued to work on high-luster, long-life automotive finishes. It improved its acrylic lacquers and developed acrylic dispersion topcoat finishes with lower solvent emissions during baking, which are less harmful to the environment. In the early 1970s more Americans began to repair and refinish automobiles in order to extend a car’s lifespan. PPG’s Ditzler refinishes group developed easy-to-apply primers and top-coats that matched factory-applied coatings in performance and apperance.

During the 1970s tinted, insulated, and reflective plate and float glasses came to be known as “performance” glass, or “environmental” glass, and glass became the preferred material for curtain walls because it was more energy efficient and more attractive. In 1973 the last plate glass production line was phased out and was replaced by the float glass production method. Also in 1973, Wallhide Microflo consumer paints were introduced. The Microflo process created air pockets in paint films that helped reflect light more efficiently; it also produced easy-to-apply paint with a smooth, washable surface. In 1975 PPG continued to broaden its color line by introducing a new custom-tinting system for consumer paints called the DesignaColor System.

In 1975 PPG established a fifth division, plastic fabricating, and closed several outmoded plants. The corporation also restructured its marketing organization—disbanding the merchandising division established by John Pitcairn in 1896—and continued to develop high-performance glasses, coatings, and fiber glass products. In 1976 PPG reached $2 billion dollars in sales.

PPG’s biomedical systems division was established in 1986 and 1987 with the acquisition of medical-electronics operations from Honeywell, Litton Industries, and Allegheny International. The group produced computer-assisted cardiac recording equipment, patient-monitoring systems, electrocardiogram instruments, defibrillators, and related products for the health-care industry.

The drop in the U.S. auto and construction markets during the late 1980s hurt PPG’s sales. Auto makers are PPG’s largest customers, and fluctuations in that market reduced the company’s profits. In 1989 the company’s earnings dropped 1%, interrupting a six-year upward trend. Nevertheless, Vincent A. Sarni, chairman and chief executive officer of PPG Industries, felt PPG was making progress toward goals set for the ten years 1985 to 1994. On February 26, 1990, Barron’s, reported that “The company has stayed consistently ahead of a goal to show an average annual return on equity of 18%.” Sarni believed that by 1994 PPG would reach targeted annual sales of $8 billion even without acquisitions.

In 1989 PPG acquired Olympic stains and paints and Lucite paints to expand significantly its standing as a leading producer of architectural finishes. In 1990 the company acquired its partners’ interests in Silenka, a Dutch fiber glass producer. PPG has planned for sustained growth. The company had placed a continuing emphasis on the development of high-technology products and processes, investment in manufacturing facilities, and global expansion.

Principal Subsidiaries

Chemfill Corp.; PPG Biomedical Systems, Inc.; PPG Industries (UK) Ltd.; Silenka B.V. (Netherlands); PPG Industries (France) S.A.; PPG Vermante Pennitalia, S.p.A. (Italy); PPG Industries (Deutschland) GmbH (Germany); Transistions Optical, Inc. (51%); PPG Industries (Europe), Inc.; PPG Industries International, Inc.; PPG Canada, Inc.; Ampaspace S.R.L. (Italy, 80%); Boussois S.A. (France); Industrie Vernici Italiane S.p.A. (Italy, 65.6%); PPG Glass Fibres Ltd. (U.K.); PPG Hellige GmbH (Germany); PPG Iberica S.A. (Spain, 60%); PPG Industries Asia Pacific Ltd. (Japan); PPG Industries Taiwan Ltd. (55%); Taiwan Chlorine Industries Ltd. (60%).

Further Reading

A Concern for the Future: A History of PPG Industries, Inc., Pittsburgh, PPG Industries, [1976].

—Virginia L. Smiley