Manufacturers that adapted through the pandemic are finding that opportunities abound. Is now the time for caution, as this could perhaps be the eye of the storm? Or for boldness?
Our panelists in "Manufacturing in 2021: The Pandemic Shift" weighed in on how they're capitalizing on adjustments they've made and the opportunities ahead.
Shift still has legs
Iv Culp, president and CEO of Culp Inc.: Not trying to compare furniture fabrics or furniture industry to criticalness of food, but through the pandemic, there was such a focus on home and home being a safe place. And so we had a really strong surge of business, trying to deliver as consumers decided home was a safe place. Rather than travel, they’ll stay at home and rather than eat out, they’ll entertain at home. So there was a lot of remodeling and that's been really strong for the business. So our question is how we can we sustain that growth.
My opinion is that shift has some legs, and that home will continue to be a safe place. I think younger people want bigger, more sustainable homes now versus some of the disposable furniture that may have been in the past, so I'm optimistic that we have some tailwind for the industry. If you combine that with good companies with growing market share, which I believe we are, I think there's a very positive outlook for sales.
Geoff Foster, president and CEO of Core Technology: Two years ago we were 5% medical device or biological pharmaceutical and because we’ve grown to 60% (bio-pharm), we’re looking at having a whole facility just for biological pharmaceutical. It's not just Covid, but now we're focused on vaccines that you've heard about for 50 years — chickenpox, measles, mumps and rubella, shingles — those are where we are seeing the growth. We were focused on automotive at one time, and now we've really shifted gears where we're seeing triple-digit growth.
We are going to still be automotive. One of our newest customers is heavy trucks right here in the Triad, so we're very excited to be a tier one supplier to Volvo Trucks and Mack Trucks. So we will still be very involved with BMW’s X3 and X4.
Phil Kosak, CEO of Carolina Fine Snacks: Everything is heading north for us. We’re as busy as we can be, and can take in as much as we can handle. However, we're not out of a storm yet. We might be in the eye of it now. There are a lot of obstacles ahead us particularly for smaller manufacturers in logistics and materials, etc., so we find ourselves taking lots of risks. I think it's decision-making time for a lot of companies that survive this. You absolutely have to be calculated in what you do, but you cannot sit back. if you sit back and just take it in, you're going to get eaten alive again by the giants as they start to wake up and get back into play in our world. So while we're in play, we have to really work.
On growth opportunities going forward
Culp: We're a B-to-B company primarily, but we have learned and we're learning from our young people that having the right stories, the right branding, the right marketing is really important. I think you're seeing it and I think there's a lot of work we can do, educating on trends and and sustainability. That will be picked up by our customers and I do think it's going to certainly help us sell more products.
Foster: We'll definitely need additional space over the next six to nine months, just with a bio-pharm piece where we're adding clean rooms. In the next six to nine months we'll have to add on to our existing building, and in the next 12 to 24 months, a completely different building hopefully on the campus of Gateway Research Park. We see a lot of value, a lot of synergies on that campus where we're working very closely with the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering, where they're actually helping us identify materials to make the parts lighter and stronger. That’s very interesting to the automotive industry, and especially aerospace with HAECO as one of our largest customers. So, we're going to see some additional buildings that we're going to have to add in the next 12 to 24 months.
Kosak: Our company has grown four- or five-fold over the last six months. Fortunately we know how to scale and make that happen. There is a real interesting character to this area that makes it very attractive for food manufacturers. We are on east-west corridors. We’re within a 500-mile radius of maybe two-thirds of the population of the U.S., and with all the complications in distribution, timing and delivery systems, this is an ideal spot to be. We can catch lanes going north, south, east and west within minutes, and many manufacturers are not in good areas for growth. This area is absolutely primed for more food business opportunity and is growing in the small and medium-size sectors.
The big guys have choked out. They’re at the top of their game and can't expand. They’re not getting more space in stores and it's going back to what it was in the ’70s and ’80s with a lot more medium-size manufacturers coming back into play. I see the Triad being a huge part of that gain.
