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Now, they’re all one company. Pin this!
As in so many other industries, the companies who supply us with paints and finishes are consolidating at a rapid rate. When I started in this field 40 years ago, there were all sorts of local and regional suppliers. Every store carried its own unique brands. Minwax was a very small player.
It was just announced that Sherwin-Williams is buying Valspar. In addition to its own brand, Valspar owns Cabot and Guardsman among others. Sherwin-Williams also owns Minwax, Dutch Boy, Krylon and Thompson’s Water Seal.
There seem to be three large global coatings firms slowly buying up everyone else. The largest is AkzoNobel, based in The Netherlands. With the addition of Valspar, Sherwin-Williams, based in Cleveland, will be close behind. The third company, close behind Sherwin-Williams is PPG, based in Pittsburgh.
AkzoNobel owns Cetol, Sikkens, Chemcraft, Dulux, Sadolin (which my shop used in Denmark in the 1970s), Interlux and ITI, among many other companies. PPG owns Glidden, Sico, Olympic and Devoe, in addition to its own PPG brand and many others.
I can understand the business reason for these large coatings suppliers to continue to consolidate, but I don’t think it serves us, the consumer, well. Slowly, formulas and even labels also consolidate to rationalize expenses. The wide variety of products we once had access to shrinks.
Just look at what’s happened in the airline industry in the last decade. Have you flown recently?
Editors note: Bob Flexner’s blog will be on the PWM shop blog until the end of March and will then move to the Flexner on Finishing blog here…
Here are some supplies and tools we find essential in our everyday work around the shop. We may receive a commission from sales referred by our links; however, we have carefully selected these products for their usefulness and quality.
I thought monopolies were illegal in this country, for just this reason.
Valspar is certainly a very large acquisition at $11 billion. Working in the wood coatings industry for 38 years I’ve seen many buyouts. One thing is for certain, people will lose jobs during a process of consolidation aimed at efficiency and cost reduction. Regardless of promises made during the acquisition, plants will close, people will be laid off and products will change.I watched as Lilly Industries purchased Guardsman then as Valspar bought out Lilly Industries. Plant closures, layoffs and product consolidation followed.
SW owns an impressive array of coatings companies aimed at supplying the small and mid-sized shop, The Becker Acroma and ML Campbell brands come to mind, as well as the aforementioned consumer brands. Valspar sells it’s branded product through distribution thus reaching the pro shop market. Valspar also maintains the Guardsman line of wood touch up product.
My hope is that all those working for Valspar are well compensated in the event of a plant closure or downsize.
Is it possible to make any of these finishes from scratch? If so, why not develop and sell some recipes?
Thanks in part to these consolidations, some products that have been mainstays in my workshop are either no longer available or are difficult to find. Case in point: I used to buy Deft Lacquer Sanding Sealer for about $14 a quart at either Lowes or Fleet Farm (a regional farm and home supply). Now the only place I can find it is online and the cost (before shipping) is $22 a quart.
As with everything change is inevitable. The recent consolidations offer an opportunity for consolidated competition which may increase product availability while reducing prices. At the same time it will enable others to create botique companies that continue to produce high quality products and a broader selection. This is the global economy and Information Age! We will have even more access to what we need in the future!☺️
Unfortunately companies these days don’t care about the little guy. It’s all about the bottom line and profits. By consolidating they eliminate competition and prices normally rise.
Fortunately, up here in Central New York, we still have easy access to Bush Products, maker of Bush Oil, which is an oil/varnish wipe-on based upon the older, original formulation of Watco finishes, unlike the diluted versions that are presently offered. So my advice to others is to try and continue to support the smaller, independent companies, even if it means spending a few dollars more. Now more than ever they depend on you. (You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone…)
Does the mean from brand to brand the finish is the same formula? For instance is the SW paint or stain the same as Minwax or Dutch Boy?