Video Transcript
This article is sponsored by Copps Industries, a company providing customizable epoxy resin and polyurethane solutions to suit the individual requirements of private label customers.
When a company wants to add to its product line but doesn’t want to invest in new equipment, facility space, or in-house trained labor, private labeling is an optimal solution for rapidly bringing a product to market while reducing risk. Private label manufacturers are equipped for scalable production and have extensive experience generating, labeling, and shipping their own products under their customers’ brands.
One such manufacturer, Copps Industries, has been formulating custom epoxy resins, polyurethanes, and related chemical materials since 1979. Its products have industrial and OEM applications in everything from construction, Department of Transportation, and mining projects to electrical, automotive, and appliance components. They serve as adhesives, potting materials, coatings, and protection from abrasion, heat, and moisture, among other uses, based on the needs of the client.
“We always defer to the customer as they’re the expert in their industry. Customers tell us what their epoxy needs to do, and Copps will formulate a product for that application. We’re more than just a product,” explains Greg Palmer, company president. “We’re a service provider, making sure that our clients are successful in their markets. It’s how we differentiate ourselves.”
Serving as either the sole manufacturer for a customer or as an arm of its existing manufacturing operation, Copps also offers in-house prototyping, research and development, and testing. The ISO 9001:2015-certified company ensures that its products and labels comply with industry and safety regulations worldwide.
Greg Palmer (GP): What we provide is a private label service for industrial chemicals, epoxy resins, and polyurethanes. Our team will work with you on formulations based on your intended application and cost targets. Copps has 2,500 formulations available, so we often already have something developed when customers turn to us, but we do have the ability to tweak those formulas or make something brand new.
When a customer brings a new opportunity to us, that’s the exciting part. We offer a complete, turnkey private label service. This involves our chemists formulating a product for the customer, and we work with them from the initial formulation all the way to the final product, which we manufacture and deliver with our customer’s brand name on it.
We ship globally from our location in Mequon, Wisconsin, and all of our products are made in the USA. We can fill and ship containers the size of a small bottle all the way up to a 275-gallon tote, and we use automated filling equipment for efficiency. But it’s the chemistry piece that differentiates us in our market.
GP: We’re focused on our customers’ success, not competing against our customers. Some of our competitors private label but also have their own brand on the market, often undercutting their private label products with pricing. Copps doesn’t do that. We want to make sure customers are happy, profitable, and successful.
Unlike some of our competitors, we don’t come in saying, “We know how to make your product better.” Instead, we ask for their input. “What do you need your epoxy to do? What would work best for you?” A lot of times, we can help them improve their process by, for example, suggesting an epoxy that can cure faster than what they initially planned, dramatically increasing productivity. Customers begin to understand that the cost of the epoxy isn’t the important part. Having the epoxy do what they need it to do, improving their process, is the important part.
They’re often surprised that they have a choice and that they can guide the formulation. Customers can actually talk to our chemists. The term I like to use is Copps is their virtual chemistry department. Most of our customers don’t have a chemistry division, or if they do, they choose to add one of our products onto their product line as it’s a more efficient way to go to market, without any expenditure, R&D, manufacturing, or anything else.
Choosing a private labeling company is a huge leap of faith. You’ve built your brand name, and now you’re giving Copps your name to produce product under and ship it to your customers directly without you ever seeing it. Copps’ honest, open, and transparent approach has really earned a lot of confidence from our customers. Confidentiality is also a big piece of private labeling, and we take that very seriously.
Also, we’re constantly improving our quality and processes because global regulations are always changing. Countries worldwide put new regulations on chemicals almost every few months. If we’re shipping to the European Union, that has a different set of standards than shipping to Japan, so we stay abreast of global regulations so our customer doesn’t have to.
All of this comes with the product. You’re getting that service, that virtual chemistry. Copps is looking out for you, ensuring that you’re offering quality products and making the smartest choices.
GP: One prominent trend is bio-based chemicals, or chemicals that you’re growing rather than taking from a barrel of oil. We’re actively working on expanding bio-based chemistry for our epoxy and polyurethane offerings. The goal is to help our customers understand that their supply chain will benefit if they choose to use this new chemistry and raw material sources that are available. Our customers can then put on their label that they use bio-based chemistry for their epoxy or adhesive. This allows them to differentiate themselves in their market and show their customers that they support sustainability.
Another trend is environmental concerns, and we’re doing our part to demonstrate that we’re serious about greenhouse gases and the environment. Last year, we joined the Science Based Targets initiative. It’s a global organization with chemical companies like us that publicly document their greenhouse gas and carbon footprint reductions. Usually, it’s very large companies, but that doesn’t mean a small company like Copps can’t be committed to the environment, as well.
GP: Recently, we had a client in the epoxy composite market that we helped with private labeling. They take epoxy and saturate carbon fiber fabric to make a structural repair part. They had a customer in the Middle East with an emergency order. That customer’s existing supplier had just dropped them, saying, “We don’t have the material, so we can’t do it. It’s unavailable.” But they had an infrastructure project that needed to be done, and so they needed the material.
Our client came to us asking if there was any way we could fulfill the order with a very short deadline. Luckily, we had an existing formulation and all the raw materials available. From start to finish, we put together a product, labels, and filled containers and got it all out the door in 10 days. This was for a very large composite manufacturer, and they were stunned. Because of that one order, our private label client was able to land a two-year contract to produce their epoxy.
To learn more about the company’s private labeling capabilities, contact Copps Industries today.
