Friday, March 29th, 2024
CECR

“Indian Standards Are The Area Where The Industry Should Focus On And That Will Allow Quality Products…”

 

Mr. Amit Malhotra
Leader, McCoy Group
Managing Director, McCoy Soudal

 

McCoy Soudal is one of the largest manufacturers of Sealants, Adhesives and Polyurethane (PU) Foams in India. McCoy Soudal is a JV between McCoy Group India and Soudal NV Belgium. Soudal NV is one of the world’s largest players in this field, with 19 manufacturing plants, 65 subsidiaries across the globe and product availability in more than 138 countries. Mr. Amit Malhotra, Leader, McCoy Group and Managing Director, McCoy Soudal, in conversation with CE&CR, shares his views on the progress of the adhesives and sealants industry, the current trends in the market, the impact of COVID-19, and more.

 

Civil Engineering and Construction Review: Innovation in the construction chemicals sector is thriving. Which new technologies have been adopted in the adhesives and sealants segment?

Amit Malhotra: A variety of chemicals and advanced materials — ranging from elastic adhesives to polymer composite — are increasingly being used in the buildings and construction industry. Many benefits, including enhanced strength and integrity, and overall systems cost reduction accrue to a construction or building project by using these materials. So, it is not surprising that the future growth rate for construction chemicals is expected to show the most incremental growth emanating from the Asia-Pacific region. An uptick of construction and building activity driven by rapid urbanisation and growing population is expected to be a major impetus behind this impressive growth.

New technologies are coming in the Indian construction sector for fast and quick work. Post COVID-19, Indian consumers are also focusing on DIY (Do-It-Yourself ) concept. McCoy Soudal offers many DIY products for end-users for gap filling, sealing and bonding applications. McCoy Soudal Fix ALL High Tack is a high quality, one-component adhesive sealant based on SMXpolymer with a very high initial tack for sealing and bonding. It can be applied in the building and construction industry, which includes elastic bonding of panels, profiles, and other pieces on the most common substrates (wood, MDF, chipboard, etc). It can also be applied on elastic structural bonding for the car and container industry, joints in bathrooms and kitchens, underwater applications, mirror bonding, etc.

For insulations and gap-filling applications, McCoy Soudal offers polyurethane foam. Soudafoam Pro with CFC-free propellant is onecomponent, self-expanding, and ready to use polyurethane foam. It contains CFC-free propellants, which are completely harmless to the ozone layer. It has excellent adhesion on most substrates such as concrete, wood, PVC, and aluminium.

PU foam offers high thermal and acoustical insulation properties and has very good filling capacities. There are many areas where you can apply PU foams, like installation of the windows and doorframes, filling of cavities, sealing of all openings in roof constructions, creation of a soundproof screen, mounting and sealing of window- and doorframes, connecting of insulation materials and roof constructions, application of a soundproofing layer on motors, improving thermal isolation in cooling systems, among others.

 

CE&CR: People are inclined towards cheaper construction adhesive and sealant options over superior quality products. How do the companies with quality work survive in this mixed market?

Amit Malhotra: In the construction industry, awareness of highquality elastic adhesives and sealants are still in progress. As one of the pioneers in the sealant industry, we believe in the quality of products. Our service to the customers makes our products more trustworthy. We not only supply products to our customers but we provide end-to-end solutions to customers which is the key factor for a high-quality product company like ours. We have to provide customer experience, and not just deliver the product.

 

CE&CR: How crucial is the availability of trained applicators in ensuring product benefits? What is the company’s approach to skill development?

Amit Malhotra: Elastic adhesives and sealants has always been a great challenge to engineers and specifiers. With the increased complexity of structural movements, a growing concern for leakages in the concrete structures has carved the needs for diverse technologies for ages. Numerous technologies have emerged since then, but many went into oblivion, obviously because of the field failures.

In India, new technologies fail due to unskilled applicators. It is reported that 60-70% of adhesive and sealant failures are due to application errors, which implies the significance of the role of applicators. Surface preparation is very vital in achieving the optimum performance of the sealants and quite similarly, parameters like selecting the right products, sufficient induction time, and the right mode of application to achieve the desired output are all very significant. We at McCoy Soudal, conduct ‘Applicator Training Seminars’ regularly at our training centre, inviting applicators from every corner of the country. As a manufacturing and an innovative company, we focus on awareness programs of technologies, and provide trained applicators to customers. We run training programs to develop trained applicators and provide supply–apply solutions to our customers. We also provide application guidelines and videos of applications to customers and applicators on regular basis to stay updated with new technologies.

 

CE&CR: What are the factors driving the demand for adhesives and sealants? What is the market share of adhesives and sealants in the construction chemicals segment?

Amit Malhotra: The elastic adhesives and sealants market is projected to grow from USD 16.4 billion in 2019 to USD 22.3 billion by 2024, at a CAGR of 6.3% between 2019 and 2024. The growth of end-user industries such as construction, industrial, and automotive and transportation as well as the growing demand for silicone and SMP adhesives are the key factors driving the elastic adhesives and sealants market. Elastic adhesives and sealants provide improved aesthetics in various applications such as windows, consumer durables, and glazing by limiting the use of screws, nails, fillet bonders, and lightweight fittings. These are widely used in applications such as glazing, flooring, and assembling.

There is an increasing demand for adhesives and sealants in the glazing and window panel applications. The glazing and window panels in many new high-rise buildings are not only attached with screws but are bonded with adhesives, as they provide better joining properties, aesthetics, and longer bond life. These buildings have improved aesthetics and provide outstanding UV and weathering resistance. Bonding window panes and window panels using elastic adhesives and sealants offer several advantages such as vibration dampening, lesser assembly time, excellent finish quality, and lower requirement for cold-conducting metal frames in panes and panels. The developed infrastructural designs, architectural setups, and the advantages of glazing are majorly driving the demand for elastic adhesives and sealants.

However, the rate of acceptance of elastic sealants is still low from end-users. This low acceptance rate may be due to the lack of awareness about the availability of elastic adhesives and sealants, or the end-user preference to use conventional sealants. End users are satisfied with results obtained from the conventional adhesives and sealants even though these lack the advantages of elastic sealants but serve the purpose of bonding substrates together. To maintain the lower costs of end-products, manufacturers still neglect additional benefits such as improved flexibility/elongation, impact/thermal cycling resistance, peel strength, and long-term durability, which can be obtained by using elastic adhesives and sealants.

 

CE&CR: Do you perceive the entry of small-scale industries in the specialised construction chemicals area as a threat?

Amit Malhotra: Any small scale or big scale company that comes into the market helps the industry to grow, and spreads awareness of using the right product or solution for the problem. The current issue is the lack of awareness of applications and selecting the right products. 

The current threat for the whole segment is price-cutting and not giving right solution to the customers. Indian standards are the area where the industry should focus on and that will allow quality products in the market to grow

 

CE&CR: What according to you will be the emerging trends in the construction chemicals industry, post COVID-19?

Amit Malhotra: COVID-19 did impact the industry. The small scale material import cut-down will help the “GO LOCAL BE VOCAL” campaign in India. Also, Indian consumers are focusing on DIY (Do-It-Yourself) concept due to safety measures. McCoy Soudal offers many DIY products for end-users for gap filling, sealing, and bonding applications. Also, our products are available online on various e-commerce websites like www.mccoymart.com, where customers can directly place an order without any problems.

For further inquiries and applications, kindly check our website:
www.mccoysoudal.com and MCCOYSOUDAL youtube channel. 

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