PPG talks industry trends, challenges and customer service

April 11, 2017
PPG’s John Outcalt, global VP for Automotive Refinish, and Bill Shaw, director of marketing, sat down with ABRN to discuss industry insights and what the company is doing to ensure its customers continue to succeed.

PPG’s John Outcalt, global VP for Automotive Refinish, and Bill Shaw, director of marketing, sat down with ABRN to discuss industry insights and what the company is doing to ensure its customers continue to succeed.

John Outcalt

ABRN: What do you see happening in the industry over the next three years?
JO: “The major trend continues to be shop consolidation in the collision side of the business, and it’s a trend that will remain with us. But it’s important to point out that a shop doesn’t necessarily have to be big or part of a network to be successful. Being the best in their market is what’s important.  That’s why we encourage our customers, large or small, to take advantage of services offered through our MVP Business Solutions and Platinum Distributor programs.

Now, another trend of significance to our industry is autonomous vehicles. If you talk to some about this technology, you would think the collision world is coming to an end. Yes, it is a relevant and important conversation, but if you look at the average age of vehicles on the road—roughly 12 years—it’ll be quite some time before the autonomous vehicle has any major impact on collision. To put it in perspective, the accidents that drive our business occur primarily in the city, not on the highway where autonomous technology will have the greatest impact. It will be a greater challenge for this technology to be successful in a city environment. Frankly, there are more pressing issues facing our industry.”

Bill Shaw

ABRN: You mentioned the MVP Business Solutions and Platinum Distributor programs—how are these initiatives helping your customers succeed?
BS: “We have a whole host of business training programs within the MVP Business Solutions program. We trained over 5,800 students on business-related topics last year, with a major emphasis on the practical application of Lean Six Sigma to collision repair. . It is a significant area of training, given the pressure insurance companies are placing on severity, cost, cycle time, etc., and their impact on the length of the car rental and overall customer satisfaction. With DRP programs, insurers are driving larger volume to fewer shops.

So our business training is about learning how to improve your individual shop metrics and performance. For example, once production begins, lean practices are extremely important for maximizing cycle time of the repair, with  touch time an important metric. How many hours a day are you touching one vehicle versus others? Ideally, shops need to start production and work continuously until a repair is completed. With training such as our X-Ray Repair Planning® and Green Belt programs, our Business Solutions team teaches all aspects of what it takes for a shop to maximize its performance and raise the level of customer satisfaction. With regards to paint booth performance, we continually work on advancing technology to drive out wasteful steps in paint products, such as improving how fast products dry as well as providing the tools and training for achieving an accurate color match.. PPG looks at all of this to help our clients understand those pressures and how to manage them.”

JO: “We are focused on how we can make color easier for our customers, along with other things that make the business better on a day-to-day basis. Our MVP Business Solutions program launched in 1997. We have continued to build that and enhance it. Granted, some collision shops are willing to stand pat, but for those wishing to grow and enhance their success, we are committed to provide a variety of products, tools and training to assist in their efforts, whether the shop is large or small.

Something else that has been very valuable for us as a company is our Platinum Distributor Program, which is made up of distributors who carry only PPG paint lines. It provides our customers with people who wake up every day and only focus on servicing and supporting our products. It is a big advantage for us.”

ABRN: What is the biggest challenge you see in the market today?
BS: “We have more companies delivering products from overseas into the market now than ever before; it is probably the most aggressively competitive market that we’ve seen in our career. Our challenge is knock-off products from companies that offer no training and no level of warranty in an attempt to undermine legitimate companies that have invested heavily in technology, color and value-added services. It is not good for the industry as a whole.”

JO: “This is something we monitor continuously because it downgrades our value when customers use a combination of PPG products with other unwarranted products. To combat this, we continue to reinvest in our color tools and provide support to the Society of Collision Repair Specialists, SkillsUSA, and more.”

ABRN: How does PPG differentiate itself in the market?
BS: “Our pillars of success are stability and consistency. Our strategy has been the same for 15 years. We continue to invest in our distribution network and body shops. We make sure we can better train and equip our customers to be successful. If shop and distributors who partner with PPG are successful, we too are going to be successful. We have not deviated from this strategy.

Our color matching initiatives are also unrivaled. We are an OEM market leader, and these relationships with OEMs help us understand pigments and variances that can exist because of the different standards and equipment used. We are in a market leadership role today in color tools. We want to build on our successes and set the stage for what the future will look like. Our overriding aim is “the right color, the first time.” After all, the painter is not paid to find the right color, but to paint the car. So, we pride ourselves on providing the workflow and tools to get it right the first time.”

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