PPG Industries Inc. of Pittsburgh has acquired transparency maker Sierracin Corp. of Sylmar, Calif., PPG said Sept. 20. Terms were not disclosed.
Sierracin employs about 600 at its 300,000-square-foot plant. It manufactures glass, acrylic, polycarbonate and advanced composite transparencies for military, commercial, regional and general aviation aircraft.
PPG's aerospace business also supplies those market segments with aircraft windshields and windows, primarily of glass.
Sierracin's Sylmar brand covers production, repair and overhaul of aircraft transparencies, and its Transtech brand deals with marine, architectural and security windows; armored transparencies and specialty polyurethane materials.
Sierracin was founded in 1952 and claims military firsts, among others, for an electrically defogged plastic laminate for the F-106 interceptor in 1959; all-plastic heated cockpit side panels for the EA-6B electronic warfare aircraft in 1965; the polycarbonate bubble canopy for the F-16 fighter in 1973; and the electrically heated all-PC windshield for the RAH-66 helicopter in 1997.
PPG has a historical perspective on composite aircraft windows. A decade ago, PPG's aircraft products division in Huntsville, Ala., pursued work with a modified SolGard polysiloxane abrasion/environmental window coating and a glass-faced acrylic window.
PPG employed 30,800 as of Dec. 31 and reported 2005 profit of $596 million on sales of $10.2 billion.