‘Cross-Country Collaboration Leads to Innovation’
Alexander Blom, PPG international category and innovation manager, Architectural Coatings Region North, was at the very heart of this collaboration. He explains how teamwork makes the dream work.
Collaboration is definitely the right way to go! Advantages include internally sharing and ‘stealing with pride’. It reduces complexity and allows us to focus on bigger projects and innovations, especially when the whole region is involved!
The picture shows the first common field test with all the countries from Region North.
The Innovative Product
Alexander has been with PPG for three years. He’s extremely proud of the new products which both contain our Quick Rain Resistance technology.
This is a completely new product and innovation; it sets PPG apart.
The coatings’ rain-resistant formula allows painters to apply the exterior paint to surfaces when it rains at short notice – with no effect to the end result! It’s currently available to customers in the Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Scandinavia and Italy, and is expected to be rolled out to other European countries later this year.
A Collaborative Culture
As part of his role, Alexander is responsible for driving the innovation strategy with the international marketing team for Region North in Europe. He and the team manage multiple innovation projects. He’s proud of the growing collaborative culture:
Synergy and alignment are the key factors for this project. We can save cost and complexity by getting all countries and regions aligned. Something we are very proud of!
Alexander saw specialists from various backgrounds working together. The team consisted of technical product managers, local marketing teams, supply and planning, the packaging department, the legal department, international communication and strong overall support from R&D.
One PPG Process – Benefits for Customers
The synergistic and One PPG process started a few years ago after extensive market research revealed the need for a durable, rain-resistant exterior paint. Soon after, PPG’s research and development teams from France and the UK started to work together on a coatings solution that would provide significant value to customers in Europe.
As the product developed, teams continued to work across departments and geographic boundaries to move it forward. To facilitate a multi-regional launch, required significant collaboration between regions to ensure local customer needs were fully understood.
Everyone has their parts in the play in project and I try to highlight the team effort! So, we basically manage the process from A to Z.
Alexander also has thoughts on how the internal collaborative approach benefits customers:
From a customer point of view, they will profit from our ongoing innovations. We want to be leading and driving innovation, by listening to our customers and delivering products that will really benefit them.