Kickstart: Building for a COVID economy

Over the past week or so, you may have seen stories on plasticsnews.com about vinyl building product companies expanding. I understand if you got confused and thought we posted the same story twice. It was actually two different companies growing thanks to the demand for decks, fences and other outdoor home projects.

For Utah's National Vinyl Products, its $20 million investment in Dover, Del., will not only create 100 jobs and double production capacity, but it will also aid its growth in the Eastern U.S.

Homeland Vinyl Products Inc. will invest at its existing site in Surgoinsville, Tenn., with $2.2 million to add 38,000 square feet of production space and 55 employees for new fence, deck and rail extrusion and assembly capabilities.

"People aren't going on vacation as much and they're making their space an outdoor oasis," NVP Chief Operating Officer Zack Clark told Plastics News' Catherine Kavanaugh. "Outdoor living areas are now a bigger part of our life than ever before."

Dow Inc. escaped damage from flooding when a dam in Edenville, Mich., burst in May, but the water that swept through homes and businesses in the area destroyed many buildings in the town of Sanford, which sat between Edenville and Dow's hometown of Midland, Mich.

Dow employees are putting their cleanup skills to work around Sanford, collecting all kinds of plastics left in the storm debris.

"There's a lot of waste out here," Rebecca Bentley, vice president of global public affairs, says in a video posted on the Twitter stream for Dow's packaging unit. "When the dams failed, it was literally homes that got washed away, so you're finding everything that you would find in a home."

The volunteers also found chemicals used by garages and small manufacturing facilities.

"All of that has got to get out of the environment," she said.

Everyone knows by now that the U.S. supply of ventilators, N95 masks and other personal protective equipment were in short supply early in the pandemic. (And some items, like N95 masks, still are.)

But so are other items Americans have wanted, like refrigerators, trucks, outdoor furniture and even bicycles.

All those shortages point to one central tenant of manufacturing that, until this year, seemed like a no-brainer. Why spend money on warehouse storage? Just-in-time manufacturing was the answer to reducing cost.

Until, of course, you can't get what you want, when you want it.

Steve Toloken brings up the stockpile question in his story looking at the issues for federal officials who are balancing tariffs to protect industries and the need for PPE supplies.

"Does just-in-time make sense in these sorts of circumstances? I think we're still digesting the situation and talking to manufacturers and hospitals," Abby Pratt, AdvaMed's vice president of global strategy and analysis and chair of its COVID-19 Supply Chain Task Force, said. "I think there will be some soul searching around stockpiling and inventory management."