Douglas Fenwick on pandemic response
From Manufacturing Strong with Doug Fenwick · · eLogic
“When the pandemic hit we slowed down our production but certainly our inventory levels got a little bit more normalized than we would normally going into the season and now we're scrambling a little bit in order to meet demand but it's a great problem to have where we're chasing material all over Asia, India right now and even a few domestic suppliers here in the U.S.”
On , Douglas Fenwick, President of Koppers Performance Chemicals at KOPPERS HOLDINGS INC, spoke about pandemic response during Manufacturing Strong with Doug Fenwick on eLogic.
About Douglas Fenwick
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.