What PPG Industries makes

PPG Industries is a global paints, coatings and specialty materials manufacturer, the second-largest coatings company in the world by revenue. As of December 31, 2024 the company reports through three segments: Global Architectural Coatings, Performance Coatings, and Industrial Coatings. Two of those segments serve the vehicle market directly. Industrial Coatings houses PPG's automotive OEM coatings business, and Performance Coatings houses automotive refinish along with aerospace, protective and marine coatings, and traffic solutions.

On the automotive OEM side, PPG supplies the coatings that go onto vehicles during assembly: waterborne and solventborne electrocoat and primer, basecoats, clearcoats, powder primers, and scratch-resistant ceramic clearcoats, plus adhesives and sealants. This is the coatings layer of the vehicle bill of materials, applied on the OEM's own paint lines. On the aftermarket side, PPG's automotive refinish business supplies coatings, solvents, adhesives, sealants, digital color-matching tools, and paint films for collision repair and fleet refurbishing, under brands including PPG, COLAD, FINIXA, SEM, and SPRINT. PPG Coatings Services, built in part from the former MetoKote and Crown Group operations, runs toll electrocoating and powder-coating plants across North America for parts makers that outsource their finishing.

Beyond vehicles, PPG makes architectural and decorative paint, aerospace coatings and transparencies, protective and marine coatings, and a range of specialty materials. The company invests roughly 3% of net sales in research and development each year.

Financial performance

PPG reported net sales of $15.845 billion for fiscal 2024, down about 2% from the prior year, which the company attributed to lower sales volumes and unfavorable foreign-currency translation. Operating income was roughly $1.9 billion and net income was about $1.34 billion, up close to 10% year over year, helped by lower raw-material costs and restructuring savings. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 18.1%, an improvement of about 100 basis points. The company's own materials cite roughly $15.9 billion in sales for 2025 and operations in more than 50 countries.

PPG carries an investment-grade credit profile. S&P Global Ratings affirmed the company at BBB+ with a stable outlook in November 2024. The company ended 2024 with about $1.4 billion in cash and short-term investments and roughly $4.5 billion in net debt, a conservative debt load for a company of its earnings scale. Net debt sits at under two times annual EBITDA.

Ownership and history

PPG was founded in 1883 and is a publicly listed company trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker PPG. Its headquarters is at One PPG Place in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company describes 2023 as its 140th year of color leadership. Employment is in the range of 44,000 to 46,000 people worldwide, depending on the source and year.

Leadership as of 2026: Tim Knavish is chairman and chief executive officer, a role he has held as CEO since January 2023 and as chairman since October 2023. Jamie Beggs is senior vice president and chief financial officer, effective July 6, 2026, succeeding Vince Morales, who retired after a 41-year career with the company. Christine Camsuzou is chief procurement officer and vice president of global procurement, a relevant contact point for suppliers, having held the role since 2023.

Certifications and quality

For its automotive-facing operations, PPG reports IATF 16949:2016 certification, the automotive quality-management standard, at multiple facilities. The company's coatings-services plants list IATF 16949 registrations across sites in the United States, Mexico, and the United Kingdom; the Queretaro, Mexico plant has been IATF-registered since 2014, and the Cleveland/Sheffield Village, Ohio plant has carried automotive quality registration since 2005 under the earlier ISO/TS standard. These are facility-level automotive certifications rather than a single company-wide claim, which is normal for a diversified manufacturer that also serves non-automotive markets. Buyers evaluating a specific plant should confirm the certificate scope and date for that site.

Known customers

PPG supplies automotive OEMs and thousands of collision-repair and fleet shops, but it does not publish a customer roster, and specific program awards for a coatings supplier are rarely disclosed publicly. The honest reading is a sector one: PPG is one of a small handful of global automotive coatings suppliers, alongside its main competitors, and its OEM coatings and refinish products are used across the industry. Rather than name customers that cannot be documented from public sources, the more useful signal for a buyer is PPG's segment structure and its sustained automotive OEM and refinish revenue, both of which the company reports.

Sourcing evidence

PPG's US import record reads like a global coatings maker's inbound supply chain. Its primary US importer entity shows 7,594 sea shipments in customs bill-of-lading records from January 2015 through September 2026, with the most recent shipment logged September 24, 2026 and average volume around 18 TEU per month. Customs-derived estimates put cumulative ocean shipping spend near $10.2 million across the covered records, an order-of-magnitude figure covering about half of shipments rather than an audited number.

The bills of lading name the raw-material and intermediate supply base behind PPG's finished coatings. The most active foreign shippers on record:

Seven shown of the recorded shippers. Several entries are PPG's own overseas plants, such as PPG Hemmelrath in Germany and PPG SSC in South Korea, which is the pattern of a company moving intermediate coatings between its own sites. The named third-party suppliers are chemical and pigment producers, not vehicle parts makers, which fits a coatings manufacturer buying resins, pigments, and silica inputs. By product mix the records lead with coatings under HS 3208 and 3209 and epoxy resins under HS 3907. Top origin countries are Japan, Germany, Taiwan, China, and South Korea. PPG also runs coatings-services plants in Mexico, relevant for buyers weighing nearshoring of finishing operations.

Coverage caveats: these are US ocean-freight records only. Air, truck, and rail movements do not appear; intra-group PPG entities show up as suppliers; and product categories come from declared manifest codes, which are noisy. Absence of a record is not evidence of absence.

Frequently asked questions

What does PPG Industries make?

PPG Industries makes paints, coatings, and specialty materials. For the vehicle market it supplies automotive OEM coatings, electrocoat, primers, basecoats, clearcoats, and powder, applied on assembly lines, and automotive refinish products for collision repair under brands including PPG, SEM, and SPRINT. It also makes aerospace coatings, protective and marine coatings, architectural paint, and industrial coatings.

Who owns PPG Industries?

PPG Industries is a publicly traded company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker PPG. It has no single controlling owner; its shares are held by public and institutional investors. The company was founded in 1883 and is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

What is PPG Industries' annual revenue?

PPG reported net sales of $15.845 billion for fiscal 2024, down about 2% from the prior year, and cites roughly $15.9 billion in sales for 2025. Net income for 2024 was about $1.34 billion. The company holds an investment-grade S&P credit rating of BBB+ with a stable outlook.

Where is PPG Industries headquartered?

PPG Industries is headquartered at One PPG Place in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company operates in more than 50 countries worldwide and employs roughly 44,000 to 46,000 people.

Who are PPG Industries' customers?

PPG supplies automotive OEMs and a large base of collision-repair and fleet shops, along with aerospace, marine, industrial, and construction customers. It does not publish a named customer roster, and specific automotive program awards are rarely disclosed. PPG is one of a small group of global automotive coatings suppliers.

What certifications does PPG Industries hold?

For its automotive operations, PPG reports IATF 16949:2016 certification, the automotive quality-management standard, at multiple facilities in the United States, Mexico, and the United Kingdom. These are facility-level certifications; buyers should confirm the scope and date of the certificate for the specific plant serving them.

Last verified September 28, 2026. Is this your company? Request a correction.