Ian Forbes of Sherwin Williams WI Limited receives the National Quality Award for Excellence in Manufacturing from Karlene Francis, director general, Ministry of Industry, Technology, Energy and Commerce in this Gleaner photo taken October 2006. - File

Susan Gordon, Business Reporter

Sherwin Williams (WI) Limited, the local subsidiary of the global paint-manufacturing company is investing $200 million over the next five years to expand its reach into the Caribbean via a new distribution network.

"We are going to be retooling and spreading our wings. It is a process that began some years ago," said managing director Ian Forbes.

"We are in discussion with some external clients."

Looking at other countries

The company started to retool and re-equip its St Catherine plant a few years ago but is now intensifying those efforts, according to Forbes.

He explained that increased competition in the domestic markets helped by the large influx of new paint brand, albeit many of inferior standard, is forcing the local subsidiary tolook to other countries in the region to build its income streams.

"We are looking at further forays into the English-speaking and well as Spanish-speaking Caribbean," he told The Financial Gleaner.

Sherwin Williams is targeting a 15 per cent increase in business from the expansions, though Forbes adds that such projections were difficult.

The paint maker produces and distributes automotive and decorative paints, furniture finishes, and industrial maintenance coatings.

Parent company Sherwin Williams Corporation's annual turnover tops US$7 billion worldwide.

Forbes declined to comment on the Jamaican subsidiary's contribution to the pool, though his efforts at expansion suggest that whatever it is, he believes it can be better.

"With all the efforts one has to look outside for growth as well as for opportunities," he said.

Forbes claims a 'substantial' share of the local paint market - which he estimates well over one million gallons of paint - but said the company was not exporting enough.

Sherwin Williams is in Puerto Rico, Dominica Republic and the US Virgin Islands and distributes in Trinidad through the Jamaican company.

"We are upgrading our facility and I anticipate over the next five years we'd be spending anywhere in the region of J$200 million or more," said Forbes.

He has now joined Berger Paints boss Warren McDonald in a public entreaty to the Bureau of Standards to enforce imports with more rigour.

Pointing out that his company copped local national quality awards for excellence in manufacturing over the last few years, Forbes said it is the consumer who gets burnt in the long run when inferior paints enter the market.

The Sherwin Williams boss said that at his last count, there were over 20 brands of paint on the local market, many of substandard quality.

The influx has brought down the price of local paint, but Forbes said while the market is more crowded, there has been no significant impact on Sherwin Williams' business.

To coincide with its export plan, SherwinWilliams has added new paint mills and filling lines and has expanded the warehouse capacity by about 20 per cent.

Sherwin Williams WI manufactures and distributes 95 per cent of its product from its White Marl, St Catherine base.

The other five per cent of its product line are imported automotive paints.

The company has been in Jamaica for the last 34 years. It has 16 stores island-wide, a substantial number of distributors and employs approximately 200 people locally.

susan.gordon@gleanerjm.com