TIANJIN - PPG Industries, a leading global coatings and specialty-materials manufacturer will expand its Tianjin facility this year, including a waterborne coatings workshop requiring $10 million of investment, and more importantly, an R&D center, Cathy Yan, general manager of government affairs and business development for PPG Asia-Pacific, told China Daily.
"Tianjin is a fledgling but promising land. The Binhai New Area, in particular, is providing enterprises with golden opportunities for further development. That is why we are considering hiking our investment here," Yan commented.
Pointing to a plot of empty land outside her office window, Yan said that there will be a new waterborne coatings facility there later this year.
When PPG first built its facility in the Technological-Economic Development Area of Tianjin Binhai New Area, the company decided to reserve tens of thousands of square meters of land for further expansion.
According to Yan, PPG did so because it had conducted intense research of government planning and policies and its business partners' development blueprints in Tianjin.
Despite the global financial crisis, PPG's Tianjin facility achieved double-digit sales growth and has not laid off any employees.
PPG is committed to marketing and promoting green products and technologies, such as waterborne coatings, low- or non-volatile organic compound paints, and low-emissivity glass in China.
According to Yan, over the past three years, about 3 percent of PPG sales revenues have been reinvested in research and development annually, about 70 percent of which has been spent on the development of energy-efficient and environmentally friendly products and technologies.
"Our businesses benefit a lot from the development of aviation and aerospace, shipbuilding and other industries in Tianjin, especially from the localization of many major and great projects," said Yan, a newly elected deputy to Tianjin Binhai New Area People's Congress.