VIEWPOINT RAW MATERIAL
Merchants can alleviate pressures for clients by sending materials offsite for finishing, says Howard Morris, managing director at Trade Fabrication Systems
THE RECENT government roadmap has given the country a timeframe for achieving a certain level of normality after the last 12 months. However, the construction industry supply chain is expected to continue to feel the effects for quite some time, particularly the timber sector, which is preparing for disruption to continue through this quarter and into the second half of the year.
With this in mind, merchants are tasked with helping their customers to alleviate some of these pressures and find new solutions to bridge the gap. Turning to processing partners, merchants are able to help contractors navigate supply chain challenges by taking finishing, offsite.
Precise is right While merchants are striving to manage supply shortages, when it comes to pre-finished timber solutions, offsite processing can help to minimise these disruptions whilst simultaneously adding value to overall stock inventory. Beginning with raw materials, merchants can work with processing partners to identify
ways in which they can take time- consuming and labour-intensive jobs offsite for pre-finishing. One example of this is machining. As a skilled trade, joinery works on-site come at a cost and require careful site sequencing with follow-on trades. While the work itself can generate high levels of off-cuts, dust and waste, there is also the risk of damage to completed substrates prior to hand-over. In contrast, instructing an offsite processing partner to undertake the machine work to an exact specification, not only saves time but also improves overall quality and accuracy.
Advancements in modern timber technologies also allow the raw substrate to be primed and coated to a factory standard – removing the need for additional tradespeople on-site. Processing partners help merchants to build time back into project timelines for customers by offering a selection of services for offsite completion and delivering a finished product that is ready for immediate installation. Retaining purchasing power of raw materials, merchants can work in close collaboration with
processing partners by sending the raw timber substrates to them for pre-finishing, which can then be shipped directly to site.
Supporting customers to navigate the supply chain pressures, merchants can offer these solutions without impacting on their current inventories – reducing the need to stock more products but still increasing variety. With a wide selection of offsite finishing options that can be applied to timber substrates, merchants can enhance their overall product offering. Giving their customers increased levels of choice, the types of finishing that can be applied offsite, beyond precision machining, include: - *Performance coatings (slip- resistance, wear-resistance) - Decorative coatings (to any RAL colour) - Priming
- BS & Euro Class B Fire Retardant coating process - Bonded films/materials Where offsite machining is concerned, membership to the British Woodworking Federation (BWF) confirms that the processor has gone through stringent codes of conduct to assess the quality of woodwork or joinery services.
This not only gives merchants confidence that the pre-finished substrates will be of high-quality for customers but also, for products like internal fire doors, assurance that they will meet relevant compliance standards BMJ
May 2021
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net
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