Paint Shortage 2022: When will the Paint Shortage End?
Paint Shortage Insights: What to Expect in 2022
Kevin Robbins offers a professional outlook for the paint industry in 2022.
With 2021 behind us, it’s time to look to what 2022 will hold for the paint industry’s future. A&K Painting president, Kevin Robbins, filled us in on what he predicts for the ongoing paint shortage in 2022 and what the impact will ultimately be on the commercial painting industry.
Paint Shortage: What to Watch for in 2022
Gradual Shortage Improvements
Despite both PPG Industries and Sherwin-Williams reporting record-low Q4 profits in 2021 citing both labor and supply shortages as the main reasons for these losses. While we won’t see the shortage come to an end, gradual improvements are expected in the new year.
“We can expect the biggest jump to happen at the end of the first quarter,” explains Robbins. “As demand from the Northeast slows down, inventory needs will flatten, allowing plants to catch up on current shortages.”
Consolidation of SKUs
Slowing inventory needs will work well with suppliers’ current plans to consolidate SKUs. By eliminating duplicate or similar products, plants will have an even better chance at catching up on raw materials needed to keep popular paints in production. As companies make additional moves to remove niche products from their lineup, this will also help ease the burden on plants as they work to supply raw materials.
With companies making tough choices when it comes to their product lineup, Robbins predicts limited variety — particularly when it comes to quality selection.
“No longer will there be multiple varieties of coating options,” he says. “Instead, choices will be more clearly defined as good, better, or best, making paint selections more simplified.”
Hybrid Paint Products
While consolidation might lead some to believe that their favorite paint products will be disappearing, Robbins believes that companies will use this opportunity to innovate instead.
“If two products have similar applications, companies will combine these paints through new technology into one hybrid option,” Robbins explains. This innovation could end up bringing significant updates to paints that haven’t seen a transformation in quite some time.
Nixing Regional Products
In some cases, a paint manufacturer might have a regional distribution center, offering a product through that center only to that specific region. According to Robbins, this practice will be going away in 2022 with distribution centers expanding rapidly.
“Rather than wasting resources on creating a product that’s just distributed in one region, warehouses and distribution centers will expand to serve larger areas,” predicts Robbins.
This will help paint manufacturers improve efficiencies while also allowing them to stick to their plan of eliminating niche product offerings as a way to compensate for supply shortages.
A&K Painting Will See You Through 2022
Whatever 2022 holds for the commercial painting industry, A&K Painting will be there to see you through it. Our commercial painters & industrial coating contractors have lived through the U.S.’s economic ebb and flow for decades, and we understand how to help companies prepare for the impact that supply chain disruptions can have on their painting plans. Allow our team to help you strategize and take advantage of current supply by requesting a commercial painting quote online today!
