PITTSBURGH – PPG Industries’ industrial coatings business has announced the opening of the Shmaze Color Design Studio sponsored by PPG Trendcast, a facility near Irvine, CA, devoted to helping manufacturers and industrial designers accelerate color design and prototype development.

 

Richard Zoulek, PPG General Manager for Strategic Markets, said the Shmaze Color Design Studio expands PPG’s resources as a premier coatings supplier by uniting it with the hands-on application expertise of a world-class production team.

 

“This new facility enables manufacturers and industrial designers from around the world to come into our workshop and walk out with production-ready parts and coatings that can run almost anywhere in the world,” Zoulek said. “For design-intensive organizations like consumer-electronics companies, that process can take three-to-six months due to logistical challenges. When you work with PPG, it can be reduced to days.”

 

Michael Shamassian, Principal of the Shmaze Color Design Studio, said the facility’s core mission is problem solving. “Lots of companies have design studios like ours, but no one has the equipment and on-site production expertise that we do, all under one roof,” he explained. “We have a full-service production line with robots, tooling, molders and other equipment that enables us to work through production and quality issues in real time, and to prove the viability of a coating in a matter of hours or days.”

 

Shamassian said the color design studio also helps designers to be more effective. “Our hands-on approach enables designers to walk out of our sessions with a much fuller understanding of the color design process,” he explained. “When they’re done here, they know how colors are made and formulated and how that formulation affects how they appear on the production line and the finished product.”

 

The Shmaze Color Design Studio was created to serve manufacturers and industrial designers in industries such as consumer electronics, automotive parts and accessories, beauty products, appliances, sports and recreation equipment, and aerospace. For more information, visit www.ppgindustrialcoatings.com.