United StatesChemicals and materials2026 – ongoingPPG Industries
Formulation AI for coatings development and optimization
PPG commercialized an AI-developed clearcoat and optimized 50 existing products
Problem
PPG needed to improve coating performance while controlling formulation costs. It also sought to improve productivity for customers using its automotive refinish coatings.
Approach
PPG developed proprietary formulation AI internally with help from partners. The system used its historical internal formulations to optimize coatings. By January 2026, PPG had commercialized an automotive refinish clearcoat developed using AI and launched optimized versions of existing products.
Results
Takeaway
PPG applied its formulation history to new and existing products. It reported a profit contribution from AI without giving product-level savings or performance measurements.
Categories
- Size
- Large enterprise
- Industry
- Chemicals and materials
- Business function
- IT and R&D
- Innovation type
- Product and service innovationProcess innovation
- AI technology
- Optimization
- Adoption
- Partner co-development
- Evidence
- Company's own claim
Sources
Source summaries
Chief executive Timothy Knavish described proprietary AI trained on PPG's internal formulation history. He reported a commercialized AI-developed refinish clearcoat and 50 existing products optimized for performance and cost.
Full details are in the original sources.
