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Sherwin-Williams targets coatings arena

By Ray Allegrezza -- Furniture Today, February 17, 2002

Building on brand recognition
Inherent strengths

CLEVELAND — The Sherwin-Williams Co. is throwing its paintbrush into the ring in a bid to become a strong No. 3 supplier of finishes and chemical coatings to residential furniture manufacturers.

The company seeks to win a share of a U.S. market valued at $450 million annually, and also to build its business with furniture makers in Canada, Mexico and Asia.

While Sherwin-Williams long has offered chemical coatings, it opted, as part of the new initiative, to establish the Chemical Coatings Division as a standalone unit on Jan. 1. The division already is doing business with a number of U.S. furniture manufacturers and is in extensive tests with others.

Spearheading the initiative is a group of seasoned industry veterans, including Robert Taylor, president and general manager of the division. Taylor came to Sherwin-Williams from Lilly Inds., where he was president and chief operating officer from April 1999 until Valspar acquired Lilly in December 2000.

"We are confident we have a strong team," said John Draughn, color and design director. "Not only have most of us lived in the Far East and know the idiosyncrasies of conducting business in that part of the world, but we all have strong backgrounds in the chemical coating business for residential furniture."

Also on board is John Million as vice president, Asia Pacific.

Robert Harms, market development director, residential furniture, said that while more than 30 suppliers provide finishes and chemical coatings to residential furniture makers globally, "there are currently really only two large suppliers. We think the time is right for another large player to throw a hat into this arena and solidify the No. 3 slot.

Building on brand recognition

"We are going up against industry leaders Valspar and Akzo, both well-known makers of coatings," Harms said. "But even so, I don't believe either company has the brand recognition that Sherwin-Williams has."

However, while planning to capitalize on the Sherwin-Williams name — the company operates some 2,500 of its own specialty paint stores — Harms and his colleagues know that brand recognition is just one ingredient in a recipe for success. The division also intends to score by helping its customers increase sales, by forecasting and tracking color trends and by directing customers to the division's proprietary new color management system.

Draughn described the as-yet unreleased system as a process that blends Web-color management and photo imaging. The process, dubbed Color Creations, will allow any of the company's chemical coatings sites to receive data, enabling the site to produce an exact match, in color and detail, of a sample panel (see story above).

While the division has 92 chemical coating facilities worldwide, much of the Color Creations technology is housed in a new, 12,000-square-foot Global Color and Design Center, part of Sherwin-Williams' Greensboro, N.C., Wood Coatings Complex. The Greensboro site is in the midst of a substantial expansion to support growth.

"In addition to all of the standard, broad-based finishing products, Sherwin-Williams has technical strength in many market areas. We are able to leverage those technologies into residential furniture to provide our customers with many innovative products that will enhance their furniture's value," said David Tesh, technical director, wood furniture.

The group believes it can make a compelling case with the combination of a strong brand, proprietary technology and the ability to offer one-stop shopping for paint, finishes, spraying equipment, sandpaper and other associated products.

But they realize it's not a slam-dunk venture.

"Admittedly, our single biggest challenge right now is establishing credibility in the industry," Harms said.

Taylor added, "We do in fact have many strengths that can rival any competitor, and our facilities network is our key differentiating factor. Our capability to quickly produce small batches of color right in the customer's backyard is a golden resource for all sizes of customers.

Inherent strengths

"As the largest architectural coatings company in the world, Sherwin-Williams has inherent strengths in color science and design. Color also is a primary driver for residential furniture. Our goal is to digitize components of the color development process, speed up the design cycle and commercialize color across the globe accurately and quickly," Taylor said.

"Our strengths as a company in brand awareness, coupled with a broad product offering, and over 1,800 experienced employees in chemical coatings, will provide us the platform to become a preferred supplier. This is a team effort ... with our customers to deliver value."

Taylor

Draughn

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