Ivy Wroe, Sales Director of Resin Surfaces (RSL), has spoken for the first time about the impact of becoming part of Sherwin-Williams.
RSL, which celebrates 35 years in business this year, joined the world-leading coatings giant in May last year.
The company will now lead the Sherwin-Williams commercial flooring business in the EMEAI (Europe, Middle East, Africa and India), working alongside a sister business in the US.
The aim is to build a significant global presence in the sector.
Next month (July 2017) RSL will relocate its administrative and manufacturing headquarters from Hazel Grove to Sherwin-Williams’ Bolton operation as the final stage of a merging of people and skills.
Ivy, who has joined the board of Sherwin-Williams EMEAI, commented: “The last 12 months has been an extraordinary journey for us all. “Becoming part of Sherwin-Williams is testament to everyone’s hard work in helping us build a business over three decades which has led the way in resin wall and flooring solutions both in the UK and internationally.
“We now have the opportunity to take our product knowledge and technical expertise to a worldwide audience and lead Sherwin-Williams’ offer, certainly in the EMEAI region, but also wider, in close collaboration with our US counterparts.”
Ian Walker, General Manager for Sherwin-Williams EMEAI, said the deal with RSL reflected its dominance in the resin wall and flooring sector. “We wanted a partner with an established reputation for technical knowhow and new product development to help us build a global presence in what is a new sector for us.
“Ivy’s team showed all the drive and ambition we needed to see to know that a relationship with them would be mutually beneficial. We are already making great progress in introducing their specific skills and experience into our worldwide network of existing contacts and opening up new ones together.”
Sherwin-Williams is a US Fortune 500 company serving the construction, retail, industrial, automotive and marine sectors. It reported $11.8 billion sales revenues to end of 2016 and the company employs over 37,600 people worldwide from its Cleveland HQ.
In an upbeat message to the firm’s wide range of customers Ivy concluded: “We are grateful for all the best wishes we have received in recent months from customers and the UK resin flooring industry as a whole. It’s good news for everyone.
“Being part of a bigger business means better career opportunities for our people, better investment in products and an extended global reach. The future is indeed very bright for resin flooring.”
