There were layoffs at Pittsburgh Paints’ corporate headquarters last week, the end of anticipation for an unlucky few.
Riffed were as many as 130 employees representing an approximate 40% reduction in force at Pittsburgh’s Cranberry HQ. Purged was the director of commercialization, packaging engineers and the fulfillment planning manager, though it’s unclear which other positions have been eliminated.
THE job action is the first indication of American Industrial Partners' intentions as they gnaw at Pittsburgh’s carcass, and our first glimpse into the private equity firm's ethics.
Failure Never Came
It’s been nearly two years since an international manufacturer of paint applicators and sundries sought out my advice as they considered initiating North American operations. Our progress in that time brought us our most significant undertaking to date: an introduction to the US market more than 18-months in the making.
THE client’s products were first shown to independent paint retailers in October of 2023, their feedback positive enough to justify the next step.
With the dealers impressed we engaged more than 50 professional painters to test out their products, dipping their brushes and rollers into American-made coatings for the very first time.
Each product was tested over the country’s climate ranges, seeking failure in high temperatures and humidity known to strain coatings applications.
But those failures never came so our efforts progressed leading ultimately to a need for my clients to experience the market themselves, introducing them to the dealers and distributors I've been updated as we've progressed.
Most of them suffering from years-long margin erosion in this category, seemingly fortuitous timing!
Traveling east to west we made scheduled stops to meet independent paint and hardware retailers with unscheduled stops Home Depot, Lowe’s, Menard's, Sherwin-Williams and Dunn-Edwards stores.
All firsts for my foreigners in tow.
THE odyssey allowed my deepest dive yet into the applicators segment, despite having spent more than 30-years selling them.
Tariffs became a frequent topic of conversation as we perused the arrays noting the preponderance of products made in China, which are now likely to see significant price increases.
In the weeks leading up to the tariffs taking effect there was disagreement over who bears the tax’s burden, with the party in power averring it’s the manufacturing nation who pays for a tariff.
And while the truth about tariffs can be nuanced, that is certainly not it.
Of course manufacturers in affected nations will look at their processes and seek efficiencies which might help offset new tariffs, contributing what they can to mitigate the impact on their sales which inflation will have.
But that effort is not likely to amount to much, unless you believe manufacturers in China care more about how much Americans pay for paint brush than they do their own profit margins.
That leaves the balance and far larger piece to be paid by consumers, with the importers fronting that money until that the final purchase is made.
Making the inflationary impacts of tariffs instantaneous.
Amidst the bustle I found two days for myself, enough time to drive to Vegas in an SUV Tom Cruise would approve of. Enough time to hold a baby, and to take a look in the rear view mirror.
