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Business Restructuring
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2019
Restructuring and Related Activities [Abstract]  
Business Restructuring Business Restructuring
The Company records restructuring liabilities that represent charges incurred in connection with consolidations of certain operations, including operations from acquisitions, as well as headcount reduction programs. These charges consist primarily of severance and other cash costs. As a result of these programs, the Company will also incur incremental non-cash accelerated depreciation expense for certain assets due to their reduced expected asset life. These charges are not allocated to the Company’s reportable business segments. Refer to Note 21, “Reportable Business Segment Information” for additional information.
2019 Restructuring Program
In June 2019, the Company approved a business restructuring plan which included actions to reduce its global cost structure. The program is the result of a comprehensive internal operational assessment to identify further opportunities to improve the profitability of the overall business portfolio. This program includes further manufacturing optimization; targeted pruning of low-profit business in certain regions; exiting certain smaller product lines that are not meeting profitability objectives; reorganization of certain business unit cost structures based on the current economic climate; and certain redundancy actions related to recent acquisitions.
A pretax restructuring charge of $184 million was recorded in PPG's second quarter 2019 financial results. In the third quarter of 2019, additional programs were approved by management and charges of $10 million were recorded in PPG's financial results. These charges represent employee severance and certain other cash costs. The majority of restructuring actions are expected to be completed by the end of the fourth quarter 2020 with the remainder of the actions expected to be completed in 2022.
2018 Restructuring Program
In April 2018, the Company approved a business restructuring plan which included actions to reduce its global cost structure. The program was in response to the impacts of customer assortment changes in our U.S. architectural coatings business during the first quarter 2018 and sustained, elevated raw material inflation. The program aims to further right-size employee
headcount and production capacity in certain businesses based on product demand, as well as reductions in various global functional and administrative costs.
A pretax restructuring charge of $83 million was recorded in PPG's second quarter 2018 financial results, of which $80 million represented employee severance and other cash costs. The majority of restructuring actions are expected to be completed by the end of the second quarter of 2020.
Other Adjustments
In 2019 and 2018, adjustments were recorded to reduce the remaining restructuring reserves established under previously approved programs to reflect the current estimate of the costs to complete these actions of approximately $18 million and $49 million, respectively. These amounts are recorded in Business restructuring, net in the consolidated statement of income.
The reserve activity for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, was as follows:
Restructuring Reserve Activity
($ in millions)
Total Reserve

December 31, 2017

$102

Total 2018 restructuring charge
83

Additional actions approved
32

Release of prior reserves and other adjustments
(49
)
Cash payments
(66
)
Foreign currency impact
(4
)
Other
12

December 31, 2018

$110

2019 restructuring charges
194

Release of prior reserves and other adjustments
(18
)
Cash payments
(58
)
Foreign currency impact
(4
)
December 31, 2019

$224