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PPG Cleveland seeing growth Demand for vehicles, energy-saving paints leading to new jobs By RACHEL ABBEY McCAFFERTY rmccafferty@crain.com
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SCOTT POLLACK
Dramatic, perhaps, but Akron’s health care arena is becoming a bit more cutthroat than it was in the past. Sure, Akron General and Summa Health System always have locked horns, though the rivalry never seemed quite as intense as the one between University Hospitals and the Cleveland Clinic. But now that the Clinic, UH
Products that help automakers save time, energy and money are driving growth at PPG Industries Inc.’s Cleveland plant. The site serves as PPG’s largest automotive coating plant in the United States and its global technical center for automotive coatings, churning out gallons upon gallons of vehicle paint — and plenty of original product ideas — each year. Since 2011, the Cleveland site, at 3800 W. 143rd St., has hired more than 130 employees, said plant manager Keith H. Schneider. After the recession ended, the auto industry “roared back,” Schneider said, noting that even more carmakers turned to the United States after the tsunami in Japan in March 2011. And Schneider expects the growth to continue. The company’s paint products for OEMs might make the manufacturing process simpler for automakers, but there’s a lot of complexity behind the scenes that drives the need for more labor. And, said technical director USCA (U.S./Canada) Keith Johnston, the cars on the road today are more than 10 years old, on average.
A NEW BATTLEFIELD Outside systems investing in Akron hospitals causes worry for some By TIMOTHY MAGAW tmagaw@crain.com
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ver one for hyperbole, Akron mayor Don Plusquellic in April warned that the growing interest of the state’s health care behemoths’ in his city’s hospital systems could turn Akron’s health care industry into a battlefield fit for the Civil War.
“I do not want these outside national interests coming into Akron, the blue coats and the gray coats, with the result that we become a Gettysburg of health care, left to pick up the pieces after the battle is done by shifting health care decisions from local, caring people in white coats, to some executives in 3-piece suits far from Akron,” Plusquellic said during his state of the city address.
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