Page 22 - HW May 2021

glues, sealants & adhesives
WITHOUT BEATING AROUND the bush, all the players in glues, sealants & adhesives have been doing the mahi recently, expending high levels of resource and energy trying to resolve unforeseen shortfalls in products and key components.
These guys aren’t by any means unique or even on their own in this.
More than a few other key product categories have been challenged one way or another by an inconsistent supply chain, high demand for products here and elsewhere in the world and the inability to suddenly come up with solutions to unexpected shortfalls in supply.
Without apportioning blame, it’s clear that the retailer/ merchant side of the equation has been using all its systems, smarts, and wiles to prevent gaps appearing on shelves and this has been adding to the pressure on suppliers.
Talking with Andrea Scown, in March, the new Mitre 10 NZ CEO admits to “throwing gas on the fire”, in doing everything possible to ensure consistency of supply to the co-op’s members and their customers.
“I’m literally playing the game that I’m seeing unfolding in
front of me, like any other retailer out there,” she says.
As a result, she states candidly: “We’re doing the same damage
as everyone else in terms of increasing safety stock – that’s the only thing you can do as a retailer when you’re worried about continuity.”
She adds: “When it comes to supply chain, you know, it is ironic that all those things that we’ve celebrated historically, this Just-In-Time efficiency, would then be the thing that would bite us in the bottom through Covid.”
PERFECT WAVE OR PERFECT STORM?
The glues, sealants & adhesives suppliers are also throwing lots of resource at mitigating these current pinch points and among them, I hear no blame being attached to retailers and merchants who’ve been doing their utmost to do better business in difficult circumstances.
Selleys’ Darren Newland for one makes no bones about it when he says: “If you’re a retailer, then you do whatever you can do to secure your supply chain or your line of products getting into your stores; that’s a significant advantage, in this market in particular.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s a food retailer or clothing retailer or hardware retailer – if you if you haven’t got stock to sell, you’re in trouble.”
Stockpiling is one approach to this but giving in to FOMO is quite another. One supplier who preferred not to be named, and not talking specifically about retailers and merchants, confides: “We are really fighting hard right now to control panic buying.”
Sika’s Tony Smith sums up the situation thus: “There’s two things happening at the moment, one is sales and the other is logistics – one is fantastic and the other one is ****.”
To get a balanced outcome for everyone, he says: “We’ve just tried to work really closely with customers,” adding that although Sika has been seeking additional resource to apply to the current situation, it has struggled to get the right people.
“We need more resources right across the businesses for the upsurge [so] we’re putting more people on the ground, putting more resources into the business,” says Tony.
“It’s hard to say something that doesn’t sound negative but, from a positive side, I can say that we as a business are working so hard to try and make sure that we keep our supply going. It may not be to the level of DIFOT we’d like, but it’s pretty close.
“We’re trying to be really upfront and transparent. We’re trying to keep to a no-surprises policy. It doesn’t always work, but we try to have no surprises.”
How has the supply chain been treating Soudal? “It’s taking a lot of management. It’s challenging, but we’re OK,” says Melanie Reid.
“We’ve got all the same challenges as everyone else, which starts at raw materials, production capacity through to particularly shipping – that’s where we are feeling it most [but] we are managing it.
“We don’t have any serious out of stocks, but it’s taking a lot of work for our inventory team to keep on top of the moving parts and on top of the changing arrival dates of all of our products.”
New (and greener)
products coming soon?
While supply chain and other disruptions have forced some product delays, there is a smattering of new and greener glues, sealants and adhesives products promised for later this year from some of the major players...
Selleys’ Darren Newland for one says he’s looking forward to a “quite significant product launch” in the construction adhesives space in coming months.
Tony Smith shares that Sika too has a new product launch planned later this year.“We’re trying to keep some innovation going with new products coming up later on in the year that are virtually isocyanate free.”
In this respect, Tony and Sika have their eyes on extending the positive effects of the EU’s R.E.A.C.H regime closer to our market.
In terms of this space, Melanie Reid and Soudal are also “watching with interest”, adding that even if local builders may not yet be prioritising greener products, Government is, and will take a lead in this respect.
20 NZHJ | MAY 2021
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