Les’s Corner Special Edition Episode: Dealing With the Supply Chain Disruption

By Colin Sheehan, RCS Reporter. 

Join Sascho CEO Les Burch and Matt Risinger of The Build Show as they discuss how supply chain disruptions have affected Sashco and hear their suggestions for sealant substitutions. 

When your business depends on the reputation and quality performance of your projects, it can be unnerving when your go-to product disappears from the shelves. This is exactly what so many contractors are experiencing right now as supply chains continue to falter.  

In order to help contractors find alternative products to support the integrity of their work, Sashco and Matt Risinger from The Build Show put together this special episode of Les’s Corner to review sealant technologies that allow for substitutions as well as the differences you can expect when you make the swap.  

“We’re looking for alternative suppliers and we’re asking [if they] have at least a pallet in the corner or warehouse and somehow we’ve been able to find it and keep going,” said Les.  

From the ongoing Coronavirus to an onslaught of disruptive weather events, supply chains are not smoothly functioning machines anymore. For Sashco, the Texas freeze in February meant six months on 50 percent allocation from some of their main suppliers. 

“That’s not the only thing of course,” added Les. “Everybody’s pretty well aware that [we] have shipping issues [because] we don’t have enough drivers. So, you [may] find the right materials and make [the product] and all of a sudden there’s nobody to pick it up.” 

Manufacturers of building materials and products have been experiencing shortages on raw materials since 2020, and even when those manufacturers attain their raw materials and make their products, sometimes there’s nobody to transport them. This creates a backlog in demand, and makes the manufacturers play a non-stop game of catch up.  

“So you see an empty shelf at Home Depot, well let’s say we get supplied, we then fill our backorders, well then Home Depot brings it in, what’s going to happen to that shelf? It’s going to instantly disappear,” said Les. “So the whole supply chain is going to reorder and we’re looking at September maybe before we think we can actually get a smooth supply.” 

To add to this, Sashco is experiencing issues with attaining cartridges from their supplier in Kentucky, who put Sashco on 90 percent allocation. However, when you are up 20 or so percent in demand, due to a backlog, that 90 percent starts to look more like 70. 

“If you get 10 percent less than you did last year, we could be on a 30 percent shortage of what people want just in cartridges,” said Les. “I think people will be scrambling to package it any way they can, I mean don’t be surprised if you go to the store and you find sealant in brown paper bags.” 

Watch the entire episode for more information and sealant swap solutions. You can also download the technical bulletin for sealant performance and application information discussed in this episode.  

Learn more about Sascho in their RoofersCoffeeShop® Directory or visit www.sashco.com.