The irony of the custom mixing world is that the same market headwinds that force rubber companies to seek a custom compound as an alternative to an unavailable standard are the same challenges that make it difficult for custom mixers to obtain raw materials to mix those alternatives.
Couple a pandemic with a volatile raw materials market, lengthy supplier lead times and a stingy labor climate—even a major cold snap in early 2021 in the case of the oil and gas industries, from Texas to the Florida panhandle—and the challenges over the past two years have been consistently chaotic.
Competition is fierce in custom mixing and there is no quarter given by size—all companies are looking to gain market share. That said, value, and not size, is what can push custom compounders to the top.
The value in custom compounding is parsed equally between formulas, customer relationships and the innovative ideas pioneered by chemists and engineers, according to Michael Syroid, value stream manager with Polymerics Inc., a custom compounder with two Ohio facilities—in Cuyahoga Falls and Kent.