Sector Focus: Moulders & Mouldings | 45
RMI REBOUND RIDING THE
After the initial impact of the pandemic, the mouldings market turned around and the challenge for manufacturers has been keeping up with demand. Mike Jeffree reports
SUMMARY
■ Mouldings manufacturers have been investing in machinery
■ The RMI sector has been busy, boosting demand for mouldings
■ Manufacturers have stepped up merchant support
■ Supplies of raw material are tight
In a sign of the times in the mouldings sector, DW Mouldings is discussing purchasing a high output Weinig Powermat 3000. This follows recent installation of a Weinig Cube four-side planer and Hofmann spindle moulder.
Cheshire Mouldings has been investing too, bringing two new Weinig production lines on stream last year. These, said national sales manager Jacquie Capper, have been kept more than occupied ever since.
In short, moulder manufacturers are busy. “With Brexit and the pandemic, we anticipated a pretty dead year,” said DW Mouldings managing director David Howard. “But after the first lockdown, every month’s been a new record.”
Above: SAM Zero fully finished moulding in production
Cheshire Mouldings reports a similar experience. “As the UK’s only manufacturer of small section pine mouldings, we’ve seen a huge surge in demand,” said Ms Capper. Producers were impacted by the first shock of pandemic as the range of moulder customers, from merchants, to joinery producers and builders, drew down the blinds, or severely curtailed activity. “We stayed open to do our bit and support customers who continued operating,” said Mr Howard. “What initially kept us going to a significant extent was coffin mouldings, as makers pre-empted rising demand.” At W Howard, the year started well. “Then Covid hit and we saw a huge decline in April,” said group commercial director Simon Fleet. SAM also reported a “period of real concern”. “There was huge uncertainty,” said sales director Gerard Wilson. “It was a case of fearing the worst, but hoping for the best.” As lockdown relaxed, however, manufacturers quite soon saw the market stirring back to life. “Our route to market for mouldings is through resellers, merchants and DIY outlets, and after the initial challenges due to customer closures, business has been positive, with demand remaining consistent since,” said Archwood head of marketing and business development Craig Holt.
W Howard saw the market turning around from April. “After that, the floodgates opened for the rest of the year,” said Mr Fleet. SAM said it was helped in getting production moving by its customer base coming back on stream in stages. “Whatever the pressure to increase manufacturing, we were determined to do it in a safe way, and the fact we had this staggered return to activity, rather than facing a sudden tsunami of orders helped,” said Mr Wilson. “First we had the RMI sector and DIY outlets increasingly busy, in-store and online, and needing material. Then from June we saw the resurrection of house building.” A key factor in the mouldings market turnaround has been the upturn in DIY and home refurbishment and remodelling triggered by lockdown and remote working. “Consumers clearly have more money to spend on the home as they haven’t been going out or taking holidays. They’re also remodelling to create a living/work space,” said Mr Howard.
“It became clear pretty quickly that people
in lockdown were starting to do things around the house,” agreed Mr Wilson. “And we’ve seen our merchant customers adapt to this to take their share of the market, to capture the range of customers, from the white van guys to the couple doing up their living room. While house building is now back, many merchants have been intent on keeping their presence in this market, so they’ve now got a nice spread of business. We’ve focused on helping them in this with marketing support.” Archwood too has reacted to the evolving
market, and helped customers respond to it, with “service innovation”. “Part of this is helping to communicate how to utilise mouldings better and demonstrate what can be achieved with different products,” said Mr Holt. “We’ve produced ‘How to’ guides to underline the opportunities they provide. Mouldings offer endless possibilities. They can be a starting point for reinvigorating a property.” One W Howard product which has clearly tapped the surge in DIY has been its new Wall Panelling kit, reported to be a “huge success”. The company has also responded to ►
www.ttjonline.com | March/April 2021 | TTJ
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