Barbara Flocchini has travelled the world, visited many of our plants, and shared best practices learned from the teams. With experience in several PPG businesses, she currently serves as the global business director for commercial transparencies in the Aerospace business unit. Through her leadership, Barbara has driven a strong focus on customer collaboration, developing innovative transparency solutions that not only meet the highest safety standards but also protect people. Let’s hear from Barbara about how her team is shaping the future of aerospace transparencies.
Soaring into Aerospace
Barbara began her career with PPG in 2008 as a process engineer in Reno, Nevada. After three years, she moved to Delaware, Ohio, to work as an environmental process engineer at the Automotive Refinish plant, overseeing process safety management and training as a reactor engineer. Two years after that, she became the quality and engineering manager for electrocoat (e-coat) at the Automotive OEM plant in Cleveland, Ohio, traveling globally to standardize manufacturing processes and ensure top-notch product quality across sites.
In 2016, Barbara joined the Aerospace business unit as a market segment manager for commercial OEM transparencies. She explains that her duty was not just in managing the product portfolio but also working directly with customers to understand their needs.
Transparencies, whether they are the flight deck and cabin windows, or
canopies, are a safety-critical component of an airplane. Our windows help ensure that the airplanes, along with the crew and passengers on board, get to wherever they need to go, safely.
For one of Barbara's first projects in the new role, a customer had selected PPG as a supplier for their flight deck windows. A concept and design had already been approved by the customer.
"Transparencies undergo an intensive series of testing to evaluate resilience against impact, pressurization, and other factors. These tests assess the capability of our design and materials under extreme conditions to ensure that even in the most unlikely conditions, the airplane is able to remain in flight and carry the crew and passengers safely."
Safety and Innovation in Commercial Transparencies
Barbara is currently the global business director of commercial transparencies, leading a team that defines and drives the business strategy of commercial transparencies. Together, they are identifying better ways to deploy their product, ensuring that the frontline team has the tools they need to sell and promote the product as required. They are also closely observing customer needs and predicting how they'll evolve.
Whenever we met our customers, we would get lots of questions about UV light passing through windows. We saw a need in the market for enhanced protection and our technical team got right to work to develop a solution.
These direct customer requirements, and the team's ability to listen and respond have led to the creation of a unique product, PPG SOLARON BLUE PROTECTION™, which was launched in 2019.
"It goes beyond just UV protection, as it provides high-energy visible blue light blockage, without compromising optical quality or safety. This level of protection is something no other commercialized product in aerospace offers.”
The demand in the commercial transparencies industry is constantly increasing. It is challenging to keep up with this current demand while also meeting the build rates needed for tomorrow. This requires a great deal of work and passion from every member of the team, and Barbara is there to support them, creating an environment where everyone is motivated to do their best every day.
I feel that it's my duty to ensure that we design and build products that solve our customer's needs and that our talented teams see the value that they provide. We create amazing products that are highly technical and highly desired. Thanks to our transparencies team, people are able to travel the world safely, and pilots are able to see clearly while benefitting from increased comfort and protection.