PPG close to the challenges facing body shops

Despite facing unprecedented competitive pressure in one of its areas of leadership over the last five years – automated paint preparation – the American manufacturer is nevertheless continuing to make MoonWalk the spearhead of this technology. In the United States, PPG definitively conquered all fift­y states of the union last July, with successive installations in Wyoming and Nebraska. This is the result of a strategy that began in late 2019 in Europe, where the device was co-designed with robotic equipment specialist Corob. In all, more than 2,300 MoonWalk machines have been installed worldwide, mainly through partner paint distributors.

This figure also owes a great deal to the even faster roll-out of PPG Linq, the digital ecosystem that encompasses all the functionalities required by body shops and makes it possible to streamline colour matching, paint mixing and operational processes in body shops. The platform incorporates advanced tools such as PPG DigiMatch, the latest-generation spectrophotometer, VisualizID, a programme that provides a 3D view of scanned colours and the desired eects, and MagicBox, which connects all the equipment in the workshop without the need for a wired link. This enables the person in charge of the paint station to control everything remotely from a touch-screen tablet.

This digital environment supports repairers in improving their productivity – colour accuracy, more reliable repeatability of operations – and reducing their waste. This is essential at a time when corporate social responsibility (CSR) is becoming increasingly important in workshops, driven by the demands of insurance companies obliged to justify their greenhouse gas emissions in ever greater detail.

“MoonWalk has changed the paradigm of how colours are mixed, and PPG Linq will change the paradigm of how colours are identified and applied“, announced Jérôme Zamblera, Vice President of PPG Automotive Refinish EMEA, when the solution was launched in 2023. In just over a year and a half, more than 3,000 workshops have adopted PPG Linq. Proof that digitisation is a valuable for paint manufacturers: more than a third of MoonWalk sales or PPG Linq subscriptions come from new PPG clients. As Jérôme Zamblera recalls: “As soon as you produce five or six shades a day, MoonWalk is worthwhile.”

As for PPG Linq, “the solution is suitable for all types of bodywork, whatever the volume of business. The return on investment is immediate“, adds Sara Fanciano, Business Director EMEA South Automotive Refinish. The judges at the innovation Awards at Automechanika Frankfurt, the world’s leading automotive equipment and aftermarket exhibition, were also impressed. On 11 September, they voted PPG Linq Innovation of the Year in the Body & Paint category. “The PPG Linq digital ecosystem is truly a complete digital solution in a market where optimising the use of materials and efficiency is so important“, said an IBIS Worldwide speaker, member of the judging panel at the awards ceremony.

As a promoter of SMART rapid repair processes that consume less energy and products, PPG has further enhanced its range of offerings over the past year. This includes the launch of a new single-component sprayable UV primer, SPP3007. This product offers energy savings of up to 85% compared with traditional repair methods, with the aim of further reducing the carbon footprint of workshops. With its virtually unlimited pot life, the product symbolises the manufacturer’s desire to reduce waste and product losses in the paint shop.

Initially launched in North America, the reference is now one of the spearheads of PPG’s sustainable product offering in EMEA. “The priority of our products, services and added-value proposition is to improve productivity, profitability and the quality of the working environment. Workshop productivity and sustainability constraints are even greater in Europe than on the other side of the Atlantic“, explains Jérôme Zamblera.

However, there is no point in promoting sustainable solutions if the end users, the body repairers, are not sensitised to market requirements at the earliest possible stage. Hence the strategy of supporting training organisations and vocational schools, which has been stepped up over the last twelve months. In 2023, PPG and the PPG Foundation announced an investment of $2 million to support programmes that provide training, programme development and career preparation resources for students and their teachers. 

In just over six months, PPG reinforced its partnerships in France with GARAC, the national college for automotive and mobility professions, as well as with the Lycée Charles Petiet in Villeneuve-la-Garenne (92) and the apprentice training centre (CFA) of the French bodywork federation (FFC), housed under the same roof. In between, the paint manufacturer inaugurated its brand-new national training centre dedicated to Refinishing, this time for its distributor and repairer customers as well as its own teams. “Training is the single most important challenge shared by every country in Europe, and indeed the world, because it’s the number one concern for all bodywork professionals. It has an impact on their ability to recruit and retain qualified staff“, remarked Jérôme Zamblera at the event.