May 2021 Pulse: Industrial Brush Sector

In our May/June issue of Brushware we took the opportunity to catch up with three key players in the industrial brush industry to get their insights on the sector.

Michelle Swiniarski: Schaefer Brush / Gornell Brush

What has been your best-performing product over the past 12 months?

Product category sales heightened as they related to the cleaning industry. Brushes related to the MRO industrial sector skyrocketed with the increased cleaning practices required during the height of the pandemic. What made this a challenge during the pandemic was securing raw materials, while various businesses were navigating the challenges of being able to operate and ship, while everyone operated under different business operating rules during this past year.

Global PMI: Strong Numbers Continue

Manufacturing PMI numbers across the world pushed up in April with only the US and Germany showing a decline from March. Of course, Germany and the US were still above the 60 percent mark and notably both Italy and the UK also pushed into the 60th percentile as well. Despite issues from COVID-19, Indian manufacturing grew by one-tenth, while China showed a strong bump of 1.3 percent to reach 51.9 for April. All countries reported strong business optimism despite supply-chain issues and COVID-19 concerns in India.