PPG names next CEO

PPG announced that Tim Knavish, chief operating officer, has been named president and chief executive officer (CEO), effective Jan. 1, 2023. Knavish will join the company’s Board of Directors, effective October 20, 2022, said the company.

Knavish, 57, who has served as PPG’s chief operating officer since March, will succeed Chairman and CEO Michael McGarry, 64, in the role of CEO. McGarry, who has served as CEO since September 2015, will become Executive Chairman, effective Jan. 1, 2023. McGarry also has announced to the PPG Board of Directors his intention to retire as Executive Chairman and as a director of the Company, effective October 1, 2023.

McGarry has served as chairman and CEO of PPG since September 2016. During his more than 40 years with PPG, he has served in a variety of key business and functional leadership roles in the U.S., Europe and Asia, and led several strategic actions that transformed PPG’s business portfolio. McGarry currently serves on the board of directors of United States Steel Corporation (NYSE: X), Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd., and the National Association of Manufacturers. He is a former member of the board of Axiall Corporation, and former chairman of the board of directors of The American Coatings Association (ACA).

Knavish joined PPG in 1987 at PPG’s global headquarters in Pittsburgh. He advanced through roles of increasing responsibility in several key businesses and functions, including serving as plant manager for the East Point, Georgia, architectural coatings manufacturing facility. In 2005, Knavish moved to Australia as managing director, Australia and New Zealand coatings, and general manager, automotive refinish. In 2007, Knavish returned to the U.S. where he assumed responsibility for automotive coatings, Americas, and in early 2010, he was named a vice president. In 2012, he was appointed global vice president, protective and marine coatings and in 2016 became senior vice president, automotive coatings.

Knavish was named senior vice president, industrial coatings in 2017. In addition to global leadership of PPG’s industrial coatings, packaging coatings and coatings services businesses, Knavish was responsible for the global procurement function and for PPG’s Asia Pacific region. In January 2019, he was appointed senior vice president, architectural coatings and president, PPG Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Prior to being named chief operating officer, Knavish served as executive vice president beginning in October 2019, where he was responsible for PPG’s global architectural coatings businesses; the global automotive refinish business; the Latin America region; and the digital and information technology functions.

A native of Pittsburgh, Knavish earned both a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and an M.B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh. He currently serves on the board of directors of the United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania.

We remind, PPG will invest USD11 million to double the production capacity of its powder coatings plant in San Juan del Rio, Mexico. The expansion project is expected to be completed by mid-2023 and will allow the plant to meet the expected future demand for powder coatings in Mexico.

PPG is a leading supplier of powder coatings to the automotive, transportation, appliance, furniture and other markets. The company expanded the business with its 2020 acquisition of Alpha Coating Technologies, which manufactures powder coatings for light industrial applications and heat-sensitive substrates, and its 2021 acquisition of Worwag, which makes liquid, powder and film coatings for industrial and automotive applications. PPG recently agreed to acquire the powder coatings business of Arsonsisi, including a manufacturing plant in Verbania, Italy.
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Workers voted to end a strike at TotalEnergies' Donges refinery on Wednesday, bolstering the government's hopes the supply situation at petrol stations around the country will rapidly improve, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

A CGT union representative told Reuters industrial action was continuing at three other TotalEnergies' French refineries - La Mede, Feyzin and Normandy - as well as at the Dunkirk fuel storage site. But, with an eye on the autumn school break that starts at the end of the week, members of the French government, who forced some fuel depot staff to return to work earlier this week, repeated that a back to normal situation was within reach.

TotalEnergies has been hit by strikes at its refinery sites in France for nearly a month, as workers seek higher salary increases they say would better reflect rising inflation. The protests have disrupted the supply of petrol to service stations, leading to long lines of motorists queuing to fill up cars and causing general public anger.

Government spokesperson Olivier Veran said earlier the number of French petrol stations facing supply problems due to the strike was now down to 21% versus almost a third over the weekend. "We are doing everything we can to get back to a normal situation. The way things are evolving these last days suggest that may happen soon," he told reporters after the weekly cabinet meeting.

Energy Transition Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher also pointed at signs of a general improvement in the supply of petrol to service stations in the country but said the situation in the Paris/Ile-de-France area remained difficult. "We are doing all we can to ensure the situation gets better," she told French radio. Energy company EDF, which the French government is in the process of fully nationalizing, has also been affected by strikes at its nuclear reactors.

France's national grid operator RTE warned on Tuesday that those prolonged strikes at EDF could have "heavy consequences" for the country's electricity supplies over the coming winter. Pannier-Runacher said EDF remained in talks with trade unions to try and resolve that dispute.

We remind, the Flemish government recently awarded TotalEnergies the contract to install 1,500 electric vehicle charging points in Antwerp. In the heart of Europe and in Belgium's most populous city, the company is reinforcing its commitment to offering and developing sustainable mobility, with the aim of becoming Belgium's leading company in the public charging market by 2024.

TotalEnergies is a global multi-energy company that produces and markets energies: oil and biofuels, natural gas and green gases, renewables and electricity. Our more than 100,000 employees are committed to energy that is ever more affordable, cleaner, more reliable and accessible to as many people as possible.
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INEOS Enterprises has announced an agreement to acquire ASHTA Chemicals Inc, from Bigshire Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V. The deal, which consists of a 100ktpa Potassium Hydroxide (KOH)/65 ktpa Chlorine plant, is targeted to close before the end of 2022, subject to regulatory approvals, said the company.

ASHTA Chemicals manufacture and market chlorine and a range of potassium-based chemicals to a wide variety of end use markets including liquid fertilizers, runway de-icers, food ingredients, pharmaceuticals, and agricultural applications. The business employs around 110 people at its site in Ashtabula, Ohio, close to the INEOS Pigments operations, from where it operates a recently commissioned membrane cell technology chlor-alkali unit.

Commenting on the agreement, Ashley Reed, CEO INEOS Enterprises said “Once completed we believe the deal presents an excellent strategic fit for the long-term local supply and use of chlorine between ASHTA and INEOS Pigments. In addition, ASHTA Chemicals will bring a well-established and respected North American potassium hydroxide business into the INEOS Enterprises portfolio."

Ruy Zavala, CFO of Bigshire Mexico said “ASHTA has undergone significant investments in the past few years under Bigshire’s ownership, most notably the construction and commissioning of a modern membrane cell chlor-alkali plant which utilizes INEOS’ BichlorTM technology. We believe the next phase of ASHTA’s development can be well progressed under INEOS ownership and the complementary strategic fit that will be created will further improve the long-term sustainability of the company and its employees."

We remind, INEOS O&P Europe has announced today a EUR30 MM investment in the conversion of its plant in Lillo, at the Port of Antwerp, to enable its existing capacity to produce either monomodal or bi-modal grades of high-density polyethylene (HDPE). This will allow INEOS to meet the strong demand for durable high-end applications such as cable ducts and pipes used to transport green energy sources such as renewable power and hydrogen, whilst enabling the business to follow market trends as society reduces single use packaging.

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Japan's chemical exports rose by 4.8% year on year to Yen (Y) 957.3bn in September, supporting the overall rise in shipments abroad, official data showed.

Exports of organic chemicals fell by 1.7% year on year to Y170.9bn in September while shipments of plastic materials were up by 0.3% at Y251.7bn. On a volume basis, exports of plastic materials fell by 18% year on year to 412,012 tonnes in September.

The country's total exports rose by 28.9% year on year to Y8,819bn in September, while imports were up by 45.9% at Y10,912bn.This resulted in a trade deficit of Y2,094bn in September.

Overall shipments to China, Japan's largest export destination, rose by 17.1% year on year in September. Exports to the US rose by 45.2% year on year while those to western Europe were up by 32.1%.

We remind, Neste, Idemitsu Kosan, CHIMEI and Mitsubishi Corporation have agreed to build a renewable plastics supply chain utilizing bio-based hydrocarbons (Neste RE) for the production of styrene monomer (i.e. bio-SM), and its mass balanced renewable plastics derivatives including acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (i.e. bio-ABS). The bio-SM production in Japan and the renewable plastics production in Taiwan will mark the first of such production in each country, and they are planned to take place in the first half of 2023.

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Borealis is designing a first-of-its-kind commercial-scale advanced mechanical recycling plant to be located in Schwechat, Austria, said the company.

The plant will be based on Borealis’ own Borcycle™ M technology, which transforms polyolefin-based post-consumer waste into high-performance polymers suitable for demanding applications. This represents another tangible step forward on Borealis’ path to net zero.

The new plant will have capacity to produce over 60 kilotonnes of advanced mechanical recycled polyolefin solutions and compounds per year. For customers and end-consumers, this will mean an increase in the availability of high-quality recycled plastic products.

The decision was based on positive feedback from the market on recycled polyolefins delivered by a demonstration plant based on the same technology. This plant was located in Lahnstein, Germany, and operated by Borealis, Tomra and Zimmerman.

Mechanical recycling plays a key role in Borealis’ approach to achieving circularity, as shown in the integrated cascade model. The new plant will expand Borealis’ capabilities in this area, following on from the acquisitions of plastic recyclers mtm plastics in 2016, and Ecoplast Kunstoffrecycling in 2018.

We remind, following a standstill for 80% of the construction works in the Kallo PDH project, Borealis carried out a re-tendering process for the Mechanical and Piping construction works. After careful consideration, Borealis has now granted a majority of these works to the contractor Ponticelli. Works on the construction site will now further gradually increase as of 3 October 2022. The prolonged standstill and gradual re-start of the project has consequences for the timeline of the project. Borealis expects start-up of the new PDH plant during the second half of 2024.

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