The main point-Challenges still exist and will continue in the short term, but the shortage of foam that plagued furniture and bedding manufacturers has shown some signs of relief.

However, there is no immediate relief at this point. After months of tight supply, the allocation of bubbles that restrict manufacturers from catching up to the record-breaking backlog since the fourth quarter of last year should decrease sometime this summer.

This is based on two foam producers, Carpenter Co. and NCFI, who agreed to discuss the pain points of foam supply with HFN’s sister publication "Furniture Today".

According to Michael Faus, senior vice president of Carpenter, chemical producers supplying polyols and TDI (the key raw material for foam) are once again producing products at a high level. Carpenter previously assigned customers to a 70% share, and is now increasing this number.

"We increased (allocation) to 90% last week, and we announced that we will stay at 90% next week," Faus told Furniture Today in mid-April. "We still accept it every week, but when we lift it up, our customers are applauding."

Faus said that the large backlog and material supply are the main reasons for the continued distribution. The huge demand determines the continuous distribution of some bubbles.

"For anyone we supply, the backlog is huge, which is why we can't operate at 100% or even 110% of normal foam production levels," Faus points out. "We expect that 90% (number) may rise sometime in May."

Chris Bradley, executive vice president of consumer products at foam producer NCFI, said the situation is improving, but even if the foam maker resumes full operation, there is still a lot of work to do. NCFI has a 280,000 square foot foam plant in Airy Hills, North Carolina, and has plants in Dalton, Georgia and Houston, Texas.

Bradley predicts that the bubble supply will not return to "completely normal" until July. The problem is that continuing raw material problems, transportation bottlenecks, and retail demand have not weakened.

In other words, NCFI's distribution to customers shows signs of improvement.

"From the first half of April and the second half of March, we are in the 50% range," Bradley said. "From the second half of April to May, our sales will exceed this number, but still less than 100%."

The supply of major chemicals such as polyols and TDI is relatively good, but the problem of raw materials still exists.

"Chemicals have definitely improved, and we are looking for further improvements, but all the focus is on the main chemicals," Bradley said. "Your catalyst may only account for 1% of the volume of the bubble; you buy a few thousand pounds at a time, not hundreds of thousands of pounds, but if you can't buy it, you can't make a bubble."

In addition to foam, other materials used in upholstery and bedding have not received the attention of the bears.

"In the past few weeks, polyester fibers used in items such as cushion packaging and mattress filling have been an issue," Faus said. "That was the early days of the game. It was really unpredictable. I guess this is a short-term problem, not a bubble. This has been a long-term challenge for some time."

For foam resources, logistics is not just a matter of raw material supply.

"The biggest challenge is logistics, transporting chemicals to our factory," Faus said. "We have had problems with railcars and sometimes mistakenly moved vehicles to other places, especially on the West Coast. I don't know if this might be the absolute speed of the business.

“We can manage tank cars more easily,” he continued, “but they don’t have the capacity of rail cars. We have 11 pouring plants in North America, 9 in the United States, and 2 in Canada, so we are scattered of."

Trucking is a challenge for NCFI, and Bradley also believes that logistics issues are more likely to cause bubble bottlenecks than raw material supply at this point. Taking into account the shortage of drivers and the huge demand for road transport services, he believes that this situation will not improve soon.

He said: "Because we couldn't get the truck, we kept returning the deliveries."

As foam producers’ customers face a growing backlog, continued demand for furniture will continue to be under pressure.

"Before we fully produce chemicals for several months in a row, we will catch up," Bradley said, noting that even before the interruption in the fourth quarter of 2020 and the first quarter of this year, the demand for the bubble is greater than the supply. "Before the Texas storm hit this winter, we were already doing (chemical) distribution."

He added that the recent stimulus checks will only increase the demand from NCFI customers.

"Even if everyone returns to 100% bubble production, we still need a few weeks to catch up," Bradley said. "It has definitely improved, but we have not gotten out of the predicament."

Carpenter's Faus pointed out that although bubble supply is affected by a variety of factors, a certain degree of distribution may continue into the mid to late third quarter.

"Much depends on demand," he said. "Demand is still very high, and I haven't seen any changes in any of our categories."

Faus also reported that Carpenter Co. had overcome the malware attack in mid-March, which put additional pressure on the company's ability to serve customers.

"We had to do things manually for a while, a bit like when you and I first entered the industry, but we were still able to launch some products," Faus said. "There are some things that linger because of this, but in most cases, we have recovered."

I am Powell Slaughter, the senior editor of "Furniture/Today". After nine years of articles on furniture retail strategies and best practices in a monthly magazine focused on the home retail business, I returned to the publication in January 2015. Prior to this, I worked at F/T for 10 years, covering wooden furniture, including the last five years as a case product editor. After returning to F/T, I developed reports on logistics and services in the furniture industry, as well as occasional home office and home entertainment categories. In April 2018, I took over the upholstery category and was responsible for covering the fabric and leather fixed and sports upholstery, recliner and massage chair categories.

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