PPG Industries, an American chemical company that opened a factory in Tianjin in 1994, will open a coatings development and application center.

The company held a ceremony on Tuesday to announce the opening of the new center.

The facility is the first of its kind locally, and it will focus on the development of automotive coatings.

The ceremony also celebrated the opening of PPG Coatings (Tianjin) Co Ltd’s new waterborne coatings manufacturing facility. The Tianjin plant is PPG’s largest coatings manufacturing facility globally.

Almost 400 out of the 500 leading global companies have opened research centers in China, according to government statistics.

Founded in 1883, PPG has its global headquarters in Pittsburgh and operates in nearly 70 countries around the world.