Page 50 - HW October 2020 NEW

glues, sealants & adhesives
Behind the façade with Bostik
The latest addition to Bostik’s Seal n Flex family is Seal n Flex Façade, a premium-quality, weather- resistant expansion sealant for building façade construction joints. Based on the latest hybrid polyurethane technology, this universal, low-modulus formulation is permanently elastic. It does not form bubbles during the curing process and provides excellent adhesion on most surfaces, even damp ones. Seal n Flex Façade is easy to apply and can be painted over with most water-based and two-pack paints. Available in 600mL sausage and 300mL cartridges in grey, black and white.
Bostik Hi Tack H785 is a super-strong MS instant-grab adhesive for professionals, with an extremely high initial tack and strength, which will adhere to heavy materials while curing without mechanical fixing or bracing, providing a long-last hold. Bostik Hi-Tack withstands 450kg/m2 based on initial adhesion and immediate strength, making it ideal to quickly glue items like mirrors or splashbacks. Because it’s MS-based, it will not damage solvent-sensitive substrates. And, being moisture- and weather- resistant, and permanently elastic, it’s ideal for both indoor and outdoor use. Available in a 290mL cartridge, in white.
www.bostik.co.nz
FREIGHT SERVICES STILL FRAGILE
Sika has been taking pains to review its planning regularly this year, but Tony Smith concedes it’s still taking a lot of work to ensure the right products arrive in the right place at the right time.
“The hardest thing has been making sure we’ve got continuity of product supply. Another thing has been disruption to global shipping.
“Lack of capacity can mean having to air freight products and the cost is just ridiculous. And then, you can’t get air freight like you could last year, with guaranteed speed of arrival.
“In some cases, cost of air freight is greater than cost of material, which is crazy!”
Tony describes a worst-case scenario from August that is almost comical for the number of mishaps and wrong turns.
“An example was one container moving from Japan to New Zealand. We had stock that should have arrived on August 10, but it gets caught up in a trans-shipment issue in Singapore, sits on a wharf there for six days before going on another ship, hits a tropical storm so the ship doesn’t move, then meets industrial action when it hits the ports in Australia.
“You miss slots because of Covid, then you miss slots because the ship suffers mechanical failure – and then, tragically, there’s a death at the Port of Auckland 12 hours before the ship is due to port, so it gets diverted to Tauranga.
“You finally see the container three weeks later than you expected. How do you plan for that?”
NEW PRODUCTS FEW AND FAR BETWEEN
Despite strong industry demand, fewer new sealant and adhesive products have come to market this year due to supply constraints and a cautious approach to category expansion.
Bostik however has recently launched a couple of new
products that Paul O’Reilly says are going very well.
“It’s not that often that you get something that’s really new and
really excites you. Both products are additions to our range and they’re relatively new developments for Bostik worldwide that have emerged from our European plant.
“One is a high-strength initial grab adhesive, and the other is Seal n Flex Façade, which fills a gap in our range.
“We’ve been asked for something similar for years and it’s been really well received since launch by the large sealant applicators and major construction companies.” (See above for more detail on these new products.)
“A lot of people who were expecting the last quarter of this year to be bad are now thinking it might be next year when things slow up a little bit”
This month, Selleys is adding a second product to its well- promoted Power Grip range with the introduction of Power Grip All Plastics, an adhesive and primer system that offers a strong bond on all plastics (see page 46).
Soudal has however “pushed the pause button” according to Melanie Reid, “while we focus on Covid, making sure we have good supplies of core products.
“We’ve carried on with Gorilla MS, and that’s gone well for us in a big and important space where we’re now well positioned.
“Other things are pending. We’ll revisit those in Q1 and Q2 next year.”
And while there are no new Sika products to report, Tony
48 NZHJ | OCTOBER 2020
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