Coatings World - November 2013

Bridget Klebaur, Associate Editor

The adhesives and sealants market is slowing growing back to pre-recession levels, with the economy stabiliz- ing from the economic devastation of 2008. Despite this, there are still challenges within the market and facing them has been no easy task.

“While there are signs that the market is stabilizing, com-
mercial construction was hit hard by the economic downturn,
and it will be some time before we see construction activity
approaching 2008 levels,” said Charles O. Houk, president,
Tremco Inc. commercial sealants and waterproofing division.
“The past three or four years have been devastating for many
in our industry, but there remain opportunities for those who
have positioned themselves well to grow even in this still chal-
lenging environment.”
Mike Gorman, VP marketing, DAP Products Inc., agreed
that the economy is looking up, especially in terms of the
housing market.

“We’ve seen the highest existing home sales in four years and homebuilders are continuing to hire more workers in anticipation of continued robust housing market,” Gorman said. “An improved housing market could lead to a significant increase in demand across the consumer and commercial markets for adhesives and sealants.” Steve Meenan, business director, 3M Adhesives and Sealants, explained that while the U.S manufacturing sector has enjoyed good growth for adhesives and sealants in 2013, other parts of the world are still struggling. Despite this, the overall long-term outlook for adhesives and sealants is favorable.

“As an example, in transportation markets there is a strong trend for vehicle light weighting to improve fuel economy,” Meenan said. “That is driving the use of new materials such as composites and plastics to replace metals. These new materials have to be bonded in the assembly process instead of welded or mechanically fastened. So we see adhesives growing faster that the general market growth where they are used.”