Valspar drops wood coatings in Mexico
Powell Slaughter -- Furniture Today, February 15, 2004
HIGH POINT — Finish supplier Valspar has almost completely pulled out of the Mexican market for wood furniture coatings.
Valspar will continue to produce industrial coatings for coil, powder finishes, and automobiles and heavy equipment at its plant near Monterrey, Mexico,
Ralph Sheppard, former wood coatings sales manager for Mexico, has been assigned to Valspar's Shanghai-area operation for northern China as an account executive/technical specialist.
"We have customers in Honduras who are doing very well, and we still work with Muebles Dixy in Mexico City, but we're shipping them out of High Point," said Mike Hodges, international sales and marketing manager for Valspar.
Lilly Inds. — later acquired by Valspar — bought the Monterrey plant in December 1998 and tripled its size to 72,100 square feet, adding a color lab and technical support center.
The company expected the move would help build business among Mexican furniture manufacturers, since the plant could make coatings in Monterrey instead of importing them from the United States, allowing manufacturers to buy in smaller quantities with quicker service.
Early last year, Valspar stopped producing wood coatings in Monterrey and instead set up a distribution operation and color lab in Delicias, a furniture manufacturing center in northern Mexico. That location received finishes from Valspar's Montebello, Calif., plant. Valspar said the move was in response to increased regulation of chemical production in Mexico that made it more economical to import the finishes.
"The decision was made that our efforts (in furniture coatings in Mexico) weren't paying off," Hodges said.
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Valspar taking new approach in Mexico
Mar 31, 2003
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