Page 24 - HW May 2021

glues, sealants & adhesives
Henkel upgrades Innovation & Application Lab
In February, Henkel Australia officially opened its upgraded Innovation & Application Lab in Sydney. Co-located at Henkel’s adhesive manufacturing
facility, the company says the upgraded lab addresses key growth sectors in Australia and New Zealand, including food and beverage, packaging, engineered wood and general manufacturing and maintenance, as well as enhancing speed to market.
For example, using state-of-the-art equipment, the lab performance can test engineered wood samples against key standards as well as validating the performance of new primer and wood species with Henkel adhesives.
Plus, tapping into its polymerisation capability, the lab is looking into developing customised water-based technologies for the Australian and New Zealand markets.
www.henkel.com.au
L-R: Aamir Qureshi (Ops & Supply Chain Manager) and Stephen Liu (Product Development Chemist) mark the official opening of Henkel’s upgraded Innovation & Application Lab.
CAN DO – BUT AT WHAT COST?
You’d be surprised if Bostik’s Paul O’Reilly hadn’t also been riding this large if precarious wave: “The year has come out of the blocks firing for us and that seems to be continuing at the moment,” he says.
“It started off with a hiss and a roar and it seems to be still following the same track. So it’s so far so good. But for how long who knows seems to be the general sentiment.”
Having overcome some delayed shipments earlier this year, Bostik has like others been stockpiling both finished goods and raw materials.
“We’re keeping much higher levels of stock, and that
has certainly paid off,” says Paul adding that making a good proportion of its products locally has also set the company in good stead.
“It’s been a bit of a godsend. We bring in a lot of raw materials from overseas. But again, we’ve just had to up our inventories of raw materials and packaging to get through it.”
All of this comes at a cost, however: “We’re absorbing huge cost increases on raw materials and packaging almost on a daily basis,” admits Paul O’Reilly.
And, as a result, he says: “You’re definitely going to see increases across the industry, which you can’t blame people for, because shipping costs, raw material costs, packaging costs, everything’s going up.
“Companies won’t be able to absorb the double-digit increases in costs that they’re seeing. So I think this will be passed on to the end user. I guess it’s just a question for the retailers how much they pass along.”
Graeme York at Henkel is one of the few other suppliers to talk candidly about the knock-on effect of the increased cost of doing business right now, admitting that, without implying that Henkel will put prices up, says he could see that price increases “may be passed on down the line.”
Also pulling no punches when he talks about shortages, Graeme agrees that “If you do have stocks, you are definitely in a winning position right now ... If you’ve been able to secure stocks, you definitely have a competitive advantage right now with what’s going on in the marketplace.”
WHAT’S THE OUTLOOK?
It’s a bit mean to ask for an outlook right now but several of our players stuck their necks out.
Melanie Reid at Soudal says: “The market is going really well. There’s lots of momentum, particularly around residential, and the pipeline looks really positive, so we are cautiously optimistic.”
And for the non-residential market? “I think that’s OK also but there’s less confidence the further out you look. I don’t think people are being as bullish as they are about the residential market.”
And in terms of the challenges in and around supply? “I think we’re all hoping it’s a temporary blip. The reality is it might go on for a little while,” adds Melanie, adding a positive spin: “So it’s certainly busy, it’s exciting, and there’s plenty of opportunity out there for us all.”
Selleys’ Darren Newland had this to say about some of the underlying factors in all this: “We are so reliant in New Zealand around the wealth that is coming out of homes and out of real
22 NZHJ | MAY 2021
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