Pump industry expert Todd Loudin—head of Neles USA Inc. Maryland Flowrox business, head of sales and service North and South America, mining and metals Flowrox business—spoke with Pumps & Systems on the state of the industry as 2022 begins.
What are your thoughts regarding COVID-19 vaccines for employees? Has your company instituted a mandate?
We mandated that traveling employees need to have their COVID vaccine. Our customers are restricting access to their sites without verified vaccines. We have not mandated that all of our employees get vaccinated. We have encouraged all to do so and even given extra time off to get their vaccines but it is still no mandatory except for traveling individuals.
How have any price increases of products or materials impacted you or your company?
Yes, packaging material and raw materials have both increased. In July we had a price increase to our customers to offset these cost increase.
What needs to happen in regards to industry improvements?
There are talks of glocalization, which means that manufacturers continue to work with offshore suppliers but have local suppliers to take up the slack when the global supply chain cannot meet the business requirements.
What issues have you seen with any material shortages or supply chain issues?
Initially supply chain was impacted by COVID and deliveries by sea freight could take six to seven weeks versus three to four weeks normally. The situation improved toward the end of 2020 and into early 2021. But now with the harbor issues everywhere we are back into that very long time for sea freight. Also, with more travelers on the airlines and also more companies switching to air freight due to poor sea freight, normally one to two weeks is now three to five weeks by air.
What industry trends are you seeing as we go into 2022?
There are good signs the pandemic is ending. Hopefully no new variants derail the progress. There is a backlog of projects planned that have been delayed now for many years. If all of those projects are released the winner will be those organizations that can deliver. Increasing inventories may be a very good play for 2022.
What’s on your mind?
The pandemic changed the world. I pray for all the people who lost loved ones during the pandemic. But the pandemic had some good points. Organizations of all types worked remotely. This has set the stage for a type of hybrid work environment for employees and employers going forward. Many companies are looking at two to three days in the office and a couple of days work from home. This has many advantages for the environment, employees and employers. Less office space is required, less carbon emissions, better work life for employees and such. Although all acknowledge face-to-face has its value.
What keeps you up at night?
COVID 19 needs to be in our rear view mirror. Everyone in the world needs a vacation on a beach or other. Every person has their own experiences but overall it has not been pleasant and has gone on for far too long. All that are unvaccinated need to get vaccinated. Ninety-eight percent of all hospitalizations now are from the unvaccinated. It is pretty clear that the vaccination works and is safe.