One mouldings producer said that there was less time for the sexy stuff in 2021. New products were launched and investment projects went ahead. A common comment from suppliers, however, was that the focus needed to meet surging demand, while facing raw materials supply stress left less time to expend on range and market development.
“Because of our involvement in supplying RMI and the contract housebuilding business, we saw sustained high demand over the last 12 months,” said SAM Mouldings sales director Gerrard Wilson. “Combine a very high level of order book and personnel absences due to Covid and there were times when it was manic.
“So there was less time for people to sit down and have proper diligent strategic discussion on the longer term. But SAM’s reputation didn’t suffer as we just recognised this was the moment to look after our partners and keep their shelves and racks well-stocked. Pre-Covid capacity investment left us well placed to consistently give customers what they wanted, when they wanted it. Consequently sales grew very, very healthily.”
Brooks Bros (BBUK) also reported high levels of activity through 2021.
“We were very busy in 2020, servicing door manufacturers in particular who were working on NHS projects; supplying the mouldings for door sets, plus associated skirtings and architraves,” said mill hardwood sales manager John Symmons.
“Then in 2021 we saw private building projects put on hold in 2020 being released. The home improvement boom also drove business. On virtually every street you saw scaffolding and skips. There was no incentive for consumers to invest money saved on holidays as interest was so low. Instead they added value to their properties. Mouldings sales benefited from that. Everything was on the hurry up and for a period delivery times were out a lot because of demand levels.”
James Latham’s healthy pre-Covid business supplying mouldings to the pub and wider hospitality sector was hit by the health crisis.
“Office and shop fit outs were also affected and are still not really happening,” said timber director Andy Duffin. “But mouldings benefited from the RMI surge and we saw a big sales increase to consumers via Dresser Mouldings’ internet offer. Consumers are the most difficult customer to serve as they don’t always know what they want, or what they’re going to get. Moving timber via courier is also an expensive approach. Get it wrong and you lose money. But that’s why we’ve invested in latest picking systems.”
Cheshire Mouldings has also been and continues to be busy, said national sales manager Jacquie Capper. “Sales grew significantly in all sectors and the trend looks set to continue in 2022,” she said. “Freight has been an issue, both in terms of cost and in [raw material] delays. But we worked on higher raw material stocks and maintained very high OTIF rates for customers.”
W Howard Group, like SAM an MDF specialist, reports rising demand across its customer base of merchants and distributors.
“The mouldings market definitely benefited from the home improvement boom,” said group marketing manager Emma Harmer. “Even households who weren’t looking to do large renovations, such as extensions, often decided to update old, worn skirting, and our new Wall Panelling Kit had a great reception as it gave homeowners and builders an easy way to renovate a tired kitchen, bathroom or living space.”
Mouldings producers’ description of the raw materials supply situation and price inflation in 2021 ranged from “stressful” to “a headache”.
“Like most of the timber market, W Howard experienced rises in freight costs and challenges around stock availability,” said Ms Harmer. “But we limited customers’ exposure to price rises wherever we could. We also worked with our wide range of suppliers to keep stock issues to a minimum.”
For a while, said Mr Wilson at SAM, the role of sales staff was focused almost exclusively on keeping customers informed on price and providing assurance that the company could deliver product.
“But there was little push back on price. Customers accepted MDF was among a crowd of construction materials seeing regular increases,” he said. “The reaction was generally ‘send through the new price and let us know you can keep up with our requirements’. And because of our supply chain focus, we kept up with demand. We heard some producers introduced allocation, but we didn’t, although we did deliver the occasional polite ‘no’ to new customer enquiries. The priority was looking after customers who look after us.”
BBUK also saw little price resistance.
“Customers accepted the situation provided you maintained standards and reliability,” said Mr Symmons. “Ultimately the proof of the pudding was that we had record year.”
Ms Capper said price rises were inevitable due to the “massive hike in raw materials”. “But this was in line with other sectors and, while some went on to monthly price changes, we’ve kept ours to a minimum.”
As for moulding materials, SAM’s customer feedback indicates MDF “continuing its journey to a heavier share of the market”. And within MDF mouldings, fully-finished painted and veneer- and paper-wrapped products continue to make headway.
“It’s about speed and ease of installation – and avoiding getting down on your hands and knees to paint skirting,” said Mr Wilson.
However, the general market growth has benefited solid timber mouldings too. While Lathams has access to pre-made MDF mouldings, most of its business is in softwoods and hardwoods, including grandis, American oak and sapele. Both saw strong growth.
BBUK also reports buoyant times for softwood and hardwoods, in part due to rising MDF prices. Sapele remains its lead hardwood overall, but door makers have favoured beech mouldings, while American ash and oak products have also figured, and tulipwood for painting products.
Meanwhile, Cheshire Mouldings sees primed softwoods as the biggest growth area going forward.
Internet sales of mouldings is clearly a growth area, although, like other producers, Cheshire sees it as the preserve of its merchant distributor and retail customers, who, said Ms Capper, have seen “massive growth in online offerings”.
As mentioned, Lathams is developing its online moulding presence via Dresser Mouldings, which it acquired in 2019. As it develops its mouldings capacity it may also take a fresh look at new build construction.
“Our mouldings business is generally in the joinery sector, which supplies construction, and you have to be sensitive as to who your customer is,” said Mr Duffin. “But as we invest more in production, we may approach the market slightly differently.”
Those new mouldings products which did come to market in a hectic 2021 included, as mentioned, W Howard’s Wall Panelling Kits.
“These create the look of traditional T&G panelling and can be installed quickly and easily,” said Ms Harmer. “Each kit includes primed MDF beaded panels, primed skirting board and dado rail. Once fitted, using either adhesive and mitre glue, or pins, they can be painted any colour.”
In response to demand, Cheshire Mouldings introduced new ranges of primed products. Following the launch of its customer newsletter in 2020, the company also added another marketing communications channel last year in the form of a new trade app, in conjunction with desktop ordering to “streamline the process for trade partners”.
“It allows customers to build lists and conveniently forward plan stock,” said Ms Capper. “They can also access exclusive app discounts.”
Among production developments, Cheshire invested a further £1.8m in machinery, with a further £500,000 to come in 2022.
Lathams has also directed a “healthy budget” at developing Dresser Mouldings’ capabilities, boosting its capacity by 50% to date, with a new Weinig Profimat the latest investment. While integrated into the group – it’s doubled Lathams’ cladding sales – Dresser also continues to operate as a stand-alone business, said Mr Duffin, and for added flexibility, the group continues to use some external mills to supply mouldings to individual branches.
BBUK has also installed a new moulder at its Skelmersdale site.
Among purchases in W Howard’s “continual schedule of investment” is a 3D printer. “This allows us to make complex templates of any shape or size faster than traditional manufacturing methods so customers can see and touch bespoke mouldings before purchasing,” said Ms Harmer.
Despite the intensity of business in 2021, SAM Mouldings also continued its rolling spending programme and has “exciting plans” for 2022.
As for the business outlook for this year, the consensus among suppliers is that the market won’t run as hot as it did in 2021, with inflation cooling consumer spending somewhat. But they anticipate sales increasing regardless.
“There’s a lot of finger in the air going on, but the expectation from customers is growth – perhaps more at the level that will leave greater time for thinking about longer term business development,” said Mr Wilson. “Certainly, we’ve got plans for further value addition to our range.”
Both Lathams and BBUK are also taking a positive outlook after a buoyant start to the year, while W Howard is looking at a strong 12 months ahead, with product availability issues more settled, “a strong housing market and the nation’s love of home renovation continuing”.
Cheshire believes 2022 may produce some challenges.
“But we love a challenge,” said Ms Capper. “We have new products to launch and aim to help customers maximise sales from their mouldings box, which will deliver the best per square foot gross profit in their store or branch.”
