Hello to all! Thanks for joining us for another edition of our Everkem Caulk Talk newsletter. In this issue, we’ll update you on the ongoing material shortages and price increases in the chemical industry and share with you how they have impacted the costs of our various product chemistries in our Industry Advisory. Our product spotlight will dive into silicones, where we’ll elaborate on the NSF-51 certification and what it means to you and answer some commonly asked silicone questions. Finally, we’ll update you on the cancer recovery progress of our Production Manager, Bobby Hamm, while shining the light on the man who has stepped up to fill his shoes, Ivan Sanchez.
These adjustments, while helpful, are not nearly enough to offset the increases we’ve received and have served to enable us to pass less of the costs onto our customers through price increases.
As we set an accelerated pace in Q2, we are thankful for your patience and continued support as we try to find balance with inconsistent supply, material shortages, and extended lead times. We have been fortunate to add some new team members in production and have made some critical investments in our team new equipment that should help us to lower lead times and meet rising demand. Our team is constantly searching for new raw material suppliers. Our chemist has stayed busy cross-referencing chemicals and QA testing to ensure compatibility and compliance with our quality standards.
Even still, market conditions remain difficult. Difficult to predict, difficult to plan for, and difficult to respond to. Some materials are becoming more available while new ones show signs of tightening. While some costs go down, new ones begin to climb.
On the flip side, these challenging times have led us to broaden our supply chain partnerships and add new personnel. We have improved our workflow by implementing new systems that have allowed our team to be more productive and efficient, increasing throughput and working overtime shifts. We have expanded our versatility for workable formulations that no longer depend on one particular brand-name chemical that may be in short supply.
We appreciate your patience while we continue to work towards fulfilling our present demand. Your loyalty and understanding mean the world to us and enable us to continue providing for ourselves and our families.
