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Distributors are strategically leveraging artificial intelligence, advanced technologies, and predictive analytics to navigate emerging risks, capitalize on new opportunities, and drive sustained business performance and profitability.

KPIs are important gauges of a company’s productivity and efficiency, but simply having KPIs does not guarantee success. This column explores how to improve the KPI process. 

This issue of ASI features the annual raw materials and chemicals overview from the experts at ChemQuest. 

As geopolitical unrest, natural disasters, and shifting trade policies upend global logistics, resilient companies are transforming their supply chains to gain competitive advantage and ensure growth.

This column provides a current snapshot of PFAS regulatory action in the United States using recent actions in the states of New Mexico, Maine, and Minnesota.

If I were to sum up the general vibe experienced in the world over the last five-plus years in one word, the word I would choose is uncertainty. 

Like almost every manufacturing sector, the building and construction products industry generally worked through their backlog, focused on margins, and experienced an overall drop in customer demand last year, yet expect a positive year ahead. 

I am not going to sugar coat it, working for a publication dedicated to adhesives and sealants has generated not an insignificant amount of gentle ribbing from people in my life. And the longer I do this job, the less patience I have for the puns and jokes and the more apt I am to respond with a bit of a lecture about how important adhesives and sealants are to all of our lives.

2025 is shaping up to be a year of potentially big change in many areas, including within the chemical industry and the manufacturing industry.

The specialty materials sector, including adhesives and sealants, is constantly evolving with new ideas, products, and markets. As a result, professionals face the ongoing challenge of determining where to allocate their time, resources, and efforts.