Putting Customers First During Uncertain Times

By Yvette Cruz. 

Principal values of USG result in innovative measures taken to survive a global pandemic. 

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused significant disruptions around the world. The repercussions that it brought lead to shortages of staff, material and business overall. USG Securock®, a building materials manufacture, has been in business for over a hundred and twenty years and took many innovative steps to remain prosperous during those uncertain times. In this episode of Roofing Road Trips, Heidi J. Ellsworth discusses with Derrick Hutchinson and Srinivas Veeramasuneni, also known as “Dr. Vas,” how the company pivoted during those uncertain times.  

When the pandemic first hit, many factories shut down, materials were on back order, and there was a large cut in labor and staffing. Not to mention that the United States was facing weather warnings, which lead to dangerous driving conditions. 

It was one obstacle after another and Dr. Vas stated, “All combination of these challenges coming at one point made it very tough for us to have the right raw materials available and to be able to make the product and meet the customer needs. But this is what the resiliency and the team and the collaboration and the great values of USG actually come to the one point where the team's customer service, innovation and manufacturing.” 

As bleak as things seemed, USG never gave up. “Every decade this company has come out with breakthrough or transformational solutions for the industry. And in the last decade, we focused on the lightweight technology platform,” says Dr. Vas.  

The readiness of their products also allows for safer working environments. Derrick adds, “Our lightweight cover boards are 18% lighter than the competitive products. What they do is they allow the crew to work safer, faster and drive efficiency on the job site. In addition, we can fit more product on a truck. It's less trucks on site, less crane time, less time unloading the product.” 

As problems rose due to the pandemic, USG found more and more solutions. The company trained new contractors, keeping in mind ways to make their jobs easier and safer. It all came down to “just having them know and understand how to use our products, how to install our products, basically leading to just an overall quality roof,” Derrick says.  

Focusing on USG’s core values such as safety and service, created a customer experience that kept their business booming. Getting customer reviews helped solidify every choice that was made. Derrick beams, “USG did a great job with everything that was going on in the industry surrounding raw material shortages and how to service the industry. I'm proud to say that we did a phenomenal job servicing the industry during that time.”  

Learn more about USG Securock® in their Coffee Shop Directory, or visit www.usg.com. 

Listen to the entire conversation to hear more about the innovative steps USG is taking to work towards sustainability.