Auto glass adhesive suppliers are not immune to supply chain challenges.
“Due to challenging domestic and global market conditions in 2021, supplies of raw materials have been constrained over the past several months causing unprecedented supply chain disruptions that impacted many industries,” says Scott Mason, DuPont’s aftermarket industry manager for North America. “Conditions are expected to improve in 2022, and production of DuPont™, BETASEAL™ and BETAPRIME™ adhesive products is occurring at all DuPont manufacturing sites that support the aftermarket business. We are committed to maximizing our ability to meet our customers’ needs in this uncertain and frequently changing demand environment. On behalf of the DuPont team, we thank our valued customers for their continued strong support.”
Eli Grauberger owns Perfect Touch Auto Glass in San Tan Valley, Ariz. A DuPont customer since high school, Grauberger says DuPont’s adhesive is a “quality product.” “I’ve always stood behind DuPont [formerly Dow],” he says. When he opened his shop in 2010, his goal was only to use DuPont products.
Grauberger began noticing supply shortages just after the New Year began. He recently ordered six boxes containing 54 sausages of adhesives. “I hate doing that, because I don’t want to feel like one of the toilet paper hoarders,” he says, referencing when Americans hoarded toilet paper at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. His company needs the adhesive for the four to six windshield installations it performs each day. He says the supply for six boxes will last his technicians about two weeks.
“We have not had any [issues] up until this point,” says Richard Schneider, owner of The Appearance Edge in Wray, Colo. In the auto glass industry since 1984, Schneider started his own company 22 years ago and provides auto glass repair and replacement and other automotive services. Schneider ordered Express 30 and 5504 primer from DuPont three weeks and could only get the supply he needed for two weeks of work. “That’s what I’ve used exclusively since I went out on my own,” Schneider says of DuPont products.
Old habits die hard for Schneider. “It’s what I’ve used for 20-22 years. I’ve never had a problem. So I don’t see a need to change,” he says.
In Goose Creek, S.C., Precision Auto Glass LLC experienced a supply issue with DuPont a month ago. “We had to quit using DuPont and use Sika,” says Lewis Herpolsheimer, a technician. However, the shop heard from its DuPont representative that it could order from DuPont soon. Herpolsheimer says technicians have to use the product the shop already paid for before any DuPont products are ordered.
“I like the way it holds better,” Herpolsheimer says of DuPont’s adhesive products.
