Page 32 - HW May-June 2020

glues, sealants & llers
“During Level 3 we focused on team connection and engagement, rolling out regular team meetings, training and wellness initiatives for our team,” says Melanie Reid at Soudal.
“Communication has been paramount with all of our team working remotely and it has been encouraging to see the team adapt to utilising IT, working paperless and connecting to each other and the wider team via Microsoft Teams throughout out this period.
Having said this, he doesn’t think remote working is the new normal for businesses: “I think it’s valuable to have face-to-face interactions and conversations and I think people like to interact and have contact as well.
“So, I think there may be changes that do come from this.
I don’t see a revolution happening, but I think we can look at [business] completely di erently from a exibility perspective and make things work a lot more e ciently.
“Maybe that is one of the good things that does come from all this.”
What about reconsidering one’s supply chain as a result of all this? Darren Newland for one is certainly open to exploring locally manufactured products as part of Selleys’ offering.
“We’re going to have to support local business because a lot of them are struggling,” he says.
“So some things may cost a little bit more. But, in the long run, if we can help support and keep businesses going in New Zealand and keep people employed in New Zealand that’s got to be a good thing.”
“We’ve also increased our customer communication, ensuring their needs were being met as providers of ‘essential services’ and as they prepared to return to work.”
And in terms of retailers and merchants adapting (some at speed!) to Level 3’s online- only regime?
“There’s enough building work out there that that it will probably get busy quite quickly. I think the next few months actually look quite positive”
“Delays within the freight network due to the
volume of consumer online shopping [were] a
bit more challenging than we anticipated,” says Melanie, adding that Soudal has since been working through those issues “with robust communication between our carrier and customers.”
LOCKDOWN LESSONS TO LEARN?
What positives and lessons have we learned from the Levels 3 & 4 lockdown period?
Do our glues & sealants pundits buy into the “new normal” workplace vibe that’s around the traps?
Over at Soudal, Melanie Reid explains the sales and marketing team “collectively developed and executed some great initiatives around better supporting our end user customers post-Level
4. is has been really well received by the tradies and we will continue to build on this initiative with them over the coming months.”
Plus, she says: “As a business we have discovered e ciencies that we will carry forward into the post-lockdown world.”
Selleys’ Darren Newland, agrees but quali es: “I think only time will tell. I think what it has highlighted is that actually we are able to look at di erent ways of doing things. As a business we have managed to keep everything moving and working well through technology and online meetings.”
Is this the new normal? “I think it just gives people more options. You can look at things di erently,” says Darren.
LEVEL 2 – WHERE’S THAT PENT-UP DEMAND?
What is the category’s outlook for the next few months? Is there a consensus?
On the whole, although Soudal was “pleasantly surprised” at how quickly sales bounced back in May, Melanie Reid admits to being “realistic that this could just be a ‘bounce’ as everyone completes those pre-lockdown jobs!”
Having said this, “We are cautiously optimistic,” she says.
Tony Smith at Sika agrees that there’s going to be a hell of a lot of pent up demand, albeit with the caveat that demand-as-usual may not return until the end of the year.
Tony’s other quali cation is a question mark around the level of demand for light commercial construction: “I think we’re going to notice work dropping o all of a sudden.”
His reasoning? Working from home: “No-one wants to be building a block of o ces when I bet you there’s a big percentage of the workforce that will continue to want to work at home.
“And companies for their part will look at their operations and think now, with all the technology, that people really can work at home...”
Having said this, Tony Smith remains optimistic overall: “I’d say there’s enough building work out there that that it will probably get busy quite quickly. I think the next few months actually look quite positive.”
30 NZHJ | MAY/JUNE 2020
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