Although mouldings products do not change much, manufacturers can’t be accused of standing still.

With volumes at historically low levels (one contact estimates a 40% fall in UK mouldings sales since 2007), and competition intense, they are having to come up with new ideas, business strategies and products to make a market impact.

New technology investments, launching of online sales and expansion into the exterior and pre-finished product markets are some of the latest moves by major players.

Improved economic forecasts and indications of timber mouldings becoming more fashionable provide grounds for optimism but difficulties clearly remain.

"Margins are still difficult and there is heavy competition," said Jonathan Grant, managing director of W Howard, manufacturer of Primer Mould. "Some companies are still trying to give product away in the market.

"The first quarter was quite tough, I would challenge anyone to deny that. But since then we’ve seen a sustained increase in sales levels. The underlying trend is on the way up. There is more business out there to be won as well."

W Howard’s traditional business is through merchants serving the refurbishment market, typically the small builder "white van" trade.

Mr Grant is in favour of a cut in the VAT rate for RMI work, while he also sees potential in the extension of the government’s Help to Buy scheme to purchases of existing homes.

Cheshire Mouldings, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary, is investing more than £1m in a new moulding mill.

This includes a new moulder with automatic bundling, a cross-cut saw and scanning system, new bar coding equipment and two shrinkwrap lines. Mouldings capacity will effectively be expanded by 25%.

Other investment includes two more trucks and two new storage buildings to stock more products, with an expansion into joinery products such as door casing and pine boards, as a result of customer demand.

Pent-up demand
"There are market opportunities – there is pent-up demand for 1.4 million new houses," said Cheshire Mouldings’ Jacquie Capper. "People are staying at home and doing up their own houses instead of moving."

Cheshire has also launched a new website and a search engine optimisation campaign. "We want to generate leads for our merchant customers," said Ms Capper.

The new website will have a stair planning service, allowing end users to ask questions, with orders being generated for merchant customers.

A new trade section to the website will, for the first time, allow Cheshire’s merchant customers online secure access to prices, purchase history, proof of delivery and an image bank for them to use in brochures.

Cheshire has also appointed Ian Haynes, formerly of Richard Burbidge, as new national accounts manager.

SAM Mouldings recently won a major contract to supply primed, fully-finished and wood-veneered MDF mouldings to Wickes through supplier SCA.

"Since the last quarter of 2012 we have seen an upturn," said Gerard Wilson, SAM Mouldings sales director. "Then 2013 started with a high level of activity. So we are cautiously optimistic.

"We hope we have come away from the massive feast or famine trend seen in the trade in recent times. But there is a need to get value back into MDF mouldings."

Maintaining quality
The low prices in a fiercely competitive environment have, Mr Wilson added, raised the spectre of quality issues in some quarters of the industry, including compromises on sanding finish, primer coverage and general overall quality.

He said the industry had to maintain the high quality aspect of MDF mouldings which has been the bedrock of its success.

Balcas sales director Gary Sowerby also reported an upturn recently but the market was still very price competitive.

He reported that board manufacturers were trying to push price increases but there was nervousness among mouldings manufacturers about passing these on to customers.

"But the price of our product needs to improve," he said.

The company has noticed an upturn in its veneered mouldings offering, so is putting extra promotional work into the product.

"People are doing more repair and maintenance work rather than moving home. And they are investing a little bit more in moulding products, replacing plain white with veneered," said Mr Sowerby.

Balcas’s doorset kits for joinery manufacturers, which help address the lack of site skills in the volume newbuild housing sector, are also doing well.

Meanwhile, architectural mouldings specialist Dresser Mouldings has invested in a Maka 5-axis CNC machining centre and upgraded its coating facilities.

Dresser has recognised the need to develop new business and launched a range of radius fixings and turns to solve the problem of mop-stick or pig’s ear handrails being left cut off or unfinished. These are available in softwood and hardwood timbers.

General manager Bill Gunn said Dresser was targeting kitchen manufacturers and care homes with a range of new products, with the Maka CNC machine able to make curved kitchen cornices and skirtings, eliminating sharp corners for clients.

"You have to find new ideas because there is not enough market share for the traditional products," he said.

Online ordering
It has also launched a web shop after noticing a lack of visible online prices meant a high customer visitor rate was not converting into sales. The shop, aimed at end users, receives largely low volume and short length product orders and is backed by national customer service and two to three days’ delivery.

The public now makes up about 60% of Dresser’s business, a shift away from the fitout contractor trade which traditionally comprised the bulk of its business.

"We have definitely tried to grow business to end users because prices in the trade are bad. There are an awful lot of products we sell in the London area. They want traditional skirtings and fancy architraves," said Mr Gunn.

Metsä Wood, which produces graded and planed solid pine and MDF mouldings, also cited the difficult market conditions, characterised by oversupply, price pressure and increased costs.

Darren Pack, Metsä Wood’s head of merchant sales, estimated the UK mouldings market has shrunk by 40% since 2007. At the same time customers had become more selective and critical of product quality, as they have more time, with jobs being fewer and less rushed.

Against this background, Metsä examined its mouldings operation at the end of 2012 and decided to further improve quality, involving its wood raw material, production processes, product handling and launch of a shrink-wrapping operation to protect the mouldings.

With smaller orders, Metsä was handling the product more, including with mechanical handling, so timber bearer sizes were increased to give fork lifts more space and reduced chance of friction. Strapping was removed from bundles and replaced with shrink-wrapping, solving issues with strap tensions biting into the product.

Shrink-wrapping is designed to extend product shelf-life and bolster customers’ stock confidence.

"It looks like a more quality product," said Mr Pack. "I think it will change the culture of how people view mouldings."

Meanwhile, Mr Pack detected a swing back to wood mouldings following several years of being out of fashion because of the minimalistic interiors trend.

"If you flick through homes magazines, the interiors shots show picture rails are back in. If you look at John Lewis, Next and M&S, their room dressings show backdrops of colour-washed timbers and cladding/wainscot. I see timber making a comeback."

Metsä has released some contemporary styled new mouldings, featuring shadow lines and grooved sections.

Richard Burbidge is upgrading mouldings displays nationally, including new point of sale displays in response to consumers becoming more discerning.

"As the market is becoming more selective, we are also increasing the types of timbers and finishes available in our ranges. To improve consumer choice even further we have so far launched over 20 new decorative mouldings this year," the company said.

"As consumers become more focused on quality yet simplistic finishes, we are seeing a definite trend towards oak as a finish of choice. Consumers in general are getting smarter, digitally savvy, and ready to use all the tools at their disposal to get the best deal."

Burbidge group company Masons Timber Products Ltd has reduced bundle sizes to its mouldings and PSE range as a result of customer feedback. This allows improved stock turn while maintaining a good range of products in store.

It is also gradually changing packing of pine mouldings and a small section of PSEs to spiral wrapping of bundles to ensure they are clean and protected.

New products
SAM Mouldings said the lower volumes in the traditional mouldings market had prompted manufacturers to look at new products.

For SAM this includes an expansion into the exterior products market, thanks to use of Medite Tricoya modified wood MDF.

SAM is using the material to produce TRI-MAX exterior products, including soffits, fascias and cladding, with promising sales and interest reported so far in the UK and mainland Europe.

W Howard’s own Medite Tricoya MDF moulding – Profyl extreme MDF – was going very well after being launched at last year’s Timber Expo.

"We have supplied the product as soffits and fascias and are able to prime and fully finish," said W Howard’s Jonathan Grant.

"More and more people don’t like the look of plastic products. It goes hand-in-hand with the rising popularity of wood windows." W Howard can also make window beading from Profyl.

Meanwhile, Fibrecill has diversified into real wood veneered MDF stair handrails as an addition to its DWM range of wrapped MDF profiles. Fibrecill says the product is an alternative to solid hardwood.

The range, aimed at staircase manufacturers, builders’ merchants, construction companies and retailers, includes handrails, baserails and infills, purchased individually or as a set.