15 October 1998: According to a recent report, packaging coatings (PC) has been separated from US-based PPG Industries“ (PPG) industrial coatings unit as the company“s 15th strategic business unit, …
15 October 1998: According to a recent report, packaging coatings (PC) has been separated from US-based PPG Industries“ (PPG) industrial coatings unit as the company“s 15th strategic business unit, reflecting PPG“s emergence during 1997, largely through acquisitions, as a global, full-line supplier of specialized coatings for all types of packaging. The company has quickly built a presence in the sector through a series of acquisitions in the past 12 months. It swapped its surfactants business for BASF“s packaging coatings business last November and recently agreed to buy the packaging coatings operations of Courtaulds from Akzo Nobel, which is acquiring Courtaulds. The addition of Courtaulds“s operation will make PPG the second-largest worldwide producer of packaging coatings, behind Valspar. Donald Bogus will head the unit as vice president of packaging coatings; Michael Ludlow succeeds him as vice president of industrial coatings. Margaret McGrath, previously president of PPG Canada, replaces Ludlow as vice president of corporate purchasing and distribution. Meanwhile, the company has completed the transfer of its Asia-Pacific regional business development and coordination headquarters from Tokyo to Hong Kong to be more centrally and strategically located in relationship to the company“s interests in the region. Arend W. D. Vos, president, Asia/Pacific, PPG Industries International Inc., said gradual relocation of regional management functions to offices in Hong Kong“s Cityplaza One began more than a year ago. “PPG now conducts business in most countries of the Asia-Pacific region,” Vos said. “Tokyo best suited our needs when we established regional headquarters 12 years ago. Now Hong Kong, another key regional centre of international commerce, is the location from which we can more efficiently meet strategic and management requirements of our geographic expansion.”