Insight

A review and preview of the global fastener market

Named after the Roman god who is often depicted as having two faces – due to its ability to look to the future and to the past – the Janus Perspective is a unique feature that includes a wide cross section of global fastener business leaders, who have all contributed their retrospective of 2019 and thoughts on prospects and challenges for 2020.

Radosław Koelner, CEO

It is obvious for everyone that 2019 has been a great challenge for the entire industry. I am certain that both Rawlplug and the other key manufacturers in the fixings and fasteners sector, were excellently prepared for the constraints and risks predicted in the previous year – related to the unstable political and economic situation in the individual markets.

However, although we were aware of the consequences of phenomena that were dangerous to us, such as the unclear steel price policy, the disrupted seasonality of sales, the unpredictable BREXIT process, the deepening conflicts in the Gulf, and the spectre of the trade war between the USA and China, we all had serious doubts as to how stable the achievement of sales forecasts would be in 2019.

Therefore, we are definitely satisfied to sum it up now, thanking ourselves for the steadfastness and consistency of Rawlplug’s strategy – focusing on internal performance, maintaining the pace of innovation, and sales expansion.

We entered 2019 equipped with solutions and tools that allowed us not only to overcome the obstacles appearing on the way to achieving our goals, but above all to further improve brand awareness and our image as an expert, as well as to increase even more the competitiveness of our offering in the individual markets, and consequently to grow our business among both existing and new customers in Rawlplug’s portfolio.

All this was based, among other things, on a restructured trade offering, focusing on the one hand on reducing the share of imported products and the so-called ‘price driven products’, and on the other hand in investing in the development of existing products, as well as in launching new, high-quality and technologically advanced ones.

We also supplemented our portfolio of professional products with constantly developed specialised technical services and with the innovative Rawlplug Academy® educational programme. This helped us respond to the actual needs of the market, which was expecting a comprehensive offer from a reliable, tried and tested partner.

We combined this with the effects of our huge investments in marketing activities – ranging from distinctive advertising campaigns in traditional and online media, to the RawlTruck mobile training centre, revolutionary in its form, and the Rawlplug Academy Training Centre in Reading.

We also participated at business events important for the sector, such as the French Batimat, Construction Week in the UK and the Big 5 in Dubai. We have been able to capitalise on the optimum efficiency and on the maximum utilisation of the whole Group’s potential, which we have achieved.

This is all the more important for Rawlplug since this year has been very special due to the celebrations of our brand’s 100th anniversary, which ended with the Grand Gala for all our employees in the National Music Forum in Wrocław, Poland, a building of great architectural and cultural significance, in which our fixings were also used. It was a moving experience, full of amazing emotions that complemented our achievements of the last 12 months in a beautiful manner.

We will certainly need the motivation and mobilisation resulting from the activities undertaken in 2019 to be able to approach the challenges of 2020 in a methodical and prudent way, but also with panache. What has been mentioned at the start continues to be important for the condition of the whole industry, but on top of that, there are the increasing labour costs and, especially in Europe, there is the growing need to improve service quality even further and to offer innovative solutions with regard to products and services, as well as to look after sustainable development of the business, inextricably linked with environmental protection and social commitment.

This is why our priority will consist primarily in increasing sales intensively on selected markets, instead of pursuing the extensive growth that could be seen in our strategy in the previous years. Although cost optimisation seems to be a prerequisite for this, we intend to continue to invest in the automation of manufacturing and logistics processes in our plants and distribution centres around the world; in technical and technological solutions to support sales and manage relationships with our customers; as well as in further product and technical consultancy innovation.

In the coming year, we intend to hand over to our customers about a dozen new products in several categories of key importance for the industry, as well as to make available solutions that the market desires within the EasyFix and BIM Rawlplug applications, and invite customers to join a partnership programme that is unique on the market.

Our flagship project in 2020 will involve implementing the Rawlplug Academy® programme among our customers. Its four pillars: The e-learning platform, the mobile and ‘brick and mortar’ educational and training centres, the theoretical and practical training, and the extensive knowledge base. This will provide a solid foundation for further development of the entire sector, as well as an integral element of the process of consolidating Rawlplug’s position as an expert in the field of fixings, fasteners and tools. We are certain that education, and thus industry awareness, is essential for developing our business in a sustainable manner and for influencing the environment in which we operate and which it is our duty and responsibility to support.

In 2020, I wish all our employees, customers, stakeholders and competitors optimism and enthusiasm for the upcoming challenges, perseverance in the pursuit of their goals, as well as respectful and cordial business relationships.