Keynote Case Study: PPG: The Future Of Coatings Was Becoming Digital, Sustainable And Advanced.

Jim Carroll’s keynote for Ppg helped PPG’s leaders think through materials innovation, smart manufacturing, sustainability and market acceleration — turning big trends into practical opportunities for growth.

The keynote, “The Future Of Coatings Was Becoming Digital, Sustainable And Advanced,” laid out the challenge and the path forward.

Coatings and materials companies had to innovate faster while meeting rising performance and sustainability demands at the same time. The old trade-off — better performance or a smaller environmental footprint — was no longer acceptable to customers or regulators. Both were now required, simultaneously, and faster than before.

Six trends are shaping that shift.

• Sustainable Coatings. Lower-VOC, bio-based and more sustainable coatings were delivering high performance with a smaller environmental footprint.
• Advanced Materials. New chemistries and functional materials were enabling greater durability, performance and broader applications.
• AI-Driven Formulation. AI and data analytics were accelerating the discovery, formulation and optimization of next-generation coatings.
• Lightweighting. Coatings and materials were enabling lighter, stronger designs across automotive, aerospace and industrial markets.
• Smart Factories. Digital, connected and automated manufacturing was delivering higher quality, greater flexibility and faster speed to market.
• Circular Manufacturing. Closed-loop systems, recycled feedstocks and coatings designed for recyclability were keeping materials in use longer.

The future of coatings, Jim told PPG’s audience, would be high-performance, lower-impact, science-driven and fast to market.

Materials science rarely gets the spotlight, but it’s often the quiet foundation underneath the biggest industrial transformations. Jim’s take for PPG: the companies that treat coatings and materials as a source of innovation — not just a commodity input — are the ones that will define what’s possible next. Explore more keynote case studies.