Skip to content
Tiatra, LLCTiatra, LLC
Tiatra, LLC
Information Technology Solutions for Washington, DC Government Agencies
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Services
    • IT Engineering and Support
    • Software Development
    • Information Assurance and Testing
    • Project and Program Management
  • Clients & Partners
  • Careers
  • News
  • Contact
 
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Services
    • IT Engineering and Support
    • Software Development
    • Information Assurance and Testing
    • Project and Program Management
  • Clients & Partners
  • Careers
  • News
  • Contact

AI/ML at scale: The next horizon for PPG’s data strategy

Jeff Lipniskis describes his role at PPG as having line-of-business IT responsibilities. As global director information technology, architectural coatings & Latin America, he reports to the corporate CIO and has accountability for IT globally in the company’s architectural coatings business, leads IT for its protective and marine coatings, and has oversight for IT within the company’s research and development organization.

A 21-year veteran at PPG, Lipniskis has experienced a significant portfolio transformation and globalization of the company. In his two decades at PPG, the company has made over 60 acquisitions and has roughly doubled in size in terms of sales. Today, PPG is the world’s largest manufacturer of paints and coatings, operating in 65 countries around the world.

IDG’s Derek Hulitzky sat down with Lipniskis at IDG’s Data and Analytics Summit to discuss how data enables business strategy at PPG.

Following are edited excerpts of that conversation. Watch the full video of the conference session for more insights.

#id61dfa5583ed38 .jw-wrapper::before { content: “How PPG’s business outcome data strategy adapts to growth across 60 acquisitions” !important; }

On balancing standardization and flexibility:

Jeff Lipniskis: [A]s you look at a transformation built around acquisition, you have a lot of infrastructure diversity, different ERP platforms, a more complex application portfolio.  And most importantly, a lot of variation in business process, as you bring these organizations together.  And it is at that business process level where data intersects, where our data is generated, where it’s managed.  So we, as an organization, are spending a lot of time focusing on standardization.

And if I continue on that journey, to think about how do we optimize that supply base as we bring organizations together?  How do we optimize our manufacturing and lab footprint and consolidate that and have it at the right size?  How do we create a customer experience that never feels like you’re doing business with sixty companies that came through acquisition, but you deal with one PPG.  And data is a key part of that, that drives that experience.

But, at the end of the day, we need to be flexible on the IT side, to be sure we’re hitting the mark on these business outcomes.

On good governance:

The core for us starts around governance and governance globally, having a good master data management and data enrichment program and process standardization and continuing to evolve that. 

Then we looked at the next pillar of that strategy, which is around that data architecture development, getting to a common view of data and definition, while you have sources across disparate systems.  How do you tie that together, and across multiple lines of business? 

On the right tool(s) for the job:

We, as a Microsoft client within Azure, we’ve worked with Microsoft toolsets around reporting and analytics and so forth.  But then, as you move to the AI/ML world, what you will see, from our perspective anyway, is you’ll start to see some variation, because it becomes more fit for purpose than one size fits all.  I mean it’s about what is the most ready model or most ready tool.  And that can get you into a multitude of different suppliers and sometimes you’re connecting multiple clouds here, multiple solutions to build out that model or capability. 

On investing in data architecture:

I would be the first to say we came from a very low level of maturity, and we arrived at the current architecture by bringing in outside expertise to assist us.  Our architecture continues to evolve.  We are building internal talents and capabilities today, so we’re continuing to keep that architecture current and grow it.  I will say if we could turn back the clock, investing more up front in architecture would have helped us in the long term.

On data readiness:

We’re really focusing on all new system implementations, to be sure we’re not creating more data and more legacy that’s not AI ready.  And you need to create data quality metrics, you need to do audits, and validate from day one, that even if you aren’t putting the data in a model, it will get you to where you want to go, in one year, two years, three years, so you don’t get a bad surprise down the road. 

On what’s next for PPG’s data strategy For us it’s going to be one of continuing to mature the foundation that we have in place, and I think we have a good base to build upon.  And building upon this by learning and adapting and continuing to be flexible.  But if I look on that horizon, we will definitely increase the focus and see more impact from AI and machine learning, and we’ll see that continuing to grow rapidly, if not, I’ll even use the word “exponentially,” as we have more data readiness.  I think really that’s the next horizon is AI/ML at scale.


Read More from This Article: AI/ML at scale: The next horizon for PPG’s data strategy
Source: News

Category: NewsJanuary 12, 2022
Tags: art

Post navigation

PreviousPrevious post:When Constrained—InnovateNextNext post:Top Middle East tech conferences for 2022

Related posts

휴먼컨설팅그룹, HR 솔루션 ‘휴넬’ 업그레이드 발표
May 9, 2025
Epicor expands AI offerings, launches new green initiative
May 9, 2025
MS도 합류··· 구글의 A2A 프로토콜, AI 에이전트 분야의 공용어 될까?
May 9, 2025
오픈AI, 아시아 4국에 데이터 레지던시 도입··· 한국 기업 데이터는 한국 서버에 저장
May 9, 2025
SAS supercharges Viya platform with AI agents, copilots, and synthetic data tools
May 8, 2025
IBM aims to set industry standard for enterprise AI with ITBench SaaS launch
May 8, 2025
Recent Posts
  • 휴먼컨설팅그룹, HR 솔루션 ‘휴넬’ 업그레이드 발표
  • Epicor expands AI offerings, launches new green initiative
  • MS도 합류··· 구글의 A2A 프로토콜, AI 에이전트 분야의 공용어 될까?
  • 오픈AI, 아시아 4국에 데이터 레지던시 도입··· 한국 기업 데이터는 한국 서버에 저장
  • SAS supercharges Viya platform with AI agents, copilots, and synthetic data tools
Recent Comments
    Archives
    • May 2025
    • April 2025
    • March 2025
    • February 2025
    • January 2025
    • December 2024
    • November 2024
    • October 2024
    • September 2024
    • August 2024
    • July 2024
    • June 2024
    • May 2024
    • April 2024
    • March 2024
    • February 2024
    • January 2024
    • December 2023
    • November 2023
    • October 2023
    • September 2023
    • August 2023
    • July 2023
    • June 2023
    • May 2023
    • April 2023
    • March 2023
    • February 2023
    • January 2023
    • December 2022
    • November 2022
    • October 2022
    • September 2022
    • August 2022
    • July 2022
    • June 2022
    • May 2022
    • April 2022
    • March 2022
    • February 2022
    • January 2022
    • December 2021
    • November 2021
    • October 2021
    • September 2021
    • August 2021
    • July 2021
    • June 2021
    • May 2021
    • April 2021
    • March 2021
    • February 2021
    • January 2021
    • December 2020
    • November 2020
    • October 2020
    • September 2020
    • August 2020
    • July 2020
    • June 2020
    • May 2020
    • April 2020
    • January 2020
    • December 2019
    • November 2019
    • October 2019
    • September 2019
    • August 2019
    • July 2019
    • June 2019
    • May 2019
    • April 2019
    • March 2019
    • February 2019
    • January 2019
    • December 2018
    • November 2018
    • October 2018
    • September 2018
    • August 2018
    • July 2018
    • June 2018
    • May 2018
    • April 2018
    • March 2018
    • February 2018
    • January 2018
    • December 2017
    • November 2017
    • October 2017
    • September 2017
    • August 2017
    • July 2017
    • June 2017
    • May 2017
    • April 2017
    • March 2017
    • February 2017
    • January 2017
    Categories
    • News
    Meta
    • Log in
    • Entries feed
    • Comments feed
    • WordPress.org
    Tiatra LLC.

    Tiatra, LLC, based in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, proudly serves federal government agencies, organizations that work with the government and other commercial businesses and organizations. Tiatra specializes in a broad range of information technology (IT) development and management services incorporating solid engineering, attention to client needs, and meeting or exceeding any security parameters required. Our small yet innovative company is structured with a full complement of the necessary technical experts, working with hands-on management, to provide a high level of service and competitive pricing for your systems and engineering requirements.

    Find us on:

    FacebookTwitterLinkedin

    Submitclear

    Tiatra, LLC
    Copyright 2016. All rights reserved.