President of Koppers Performance Chemicals, Koppers Holdings
Search every verified Douglas Fenwick interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. In a September 2020 interview, Fenwick stated that Koppers Performance Chemicals was experiencing "historical demand" from home improvement retailers such as Home Depot, Lowe's, and Menards, which he attributed to an increase in do-it-yourself projects during the COVID-19 pandemic. He noted that treated lumber was the second-best-selling product at Home Depot at the time, behind paint. Fenwick described the company's supply chain as "tight" and said that while production was fine due to prior capital investments, the company was "scrambling" to meet demand and sourcing materials from Asia, India, and domestic suppliers. Fenwick also commented on the shift to remote work, saying that communication had "never been better" due to the adoption of Microsoft Teams. He described a work-from-home environment where multitasking was common, citing an instance where a participant on a call was heard casting a fishing line, which he characterized as a lighthearted moment.
“One of the silver linings for Koppers has been during this pandemic it's placed a lot more people at home and within their own living quarters and there's a lot of make-work projects that are going on right now. Our company makes chemicals for the wood preservation industry and that business has never been stronger.”
“We're actually seeing historical demand right now from all the box stores, Home Depot, Lowe's, Menards, 84 lumber, etc. Many unique building supply distributors across the United States right now and record back orders and demand on materials.”
“Home Depot tracks their products, as an example, in comparative store sales and the top three products in Home Depot for the last two months. They've been tracking paint number one, treated lumber number two and outdoor living number three and that's about the same across the board from all these box stores.”
“Supply chain is tight right now. Production's fine. We put a lot of capex into our manufacturing facilities over the last several years so we're in good shape that way. We're vertically integrated in making our own copper products and our northern Michigan facility.”
On the 21st episode of Manufacturing Strong, Doug Fenwick, president of Koppers Performance Chemicals, discusses historical ...
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