Topps Products: We are being pulled into India due to Market & Customers’ Demand
Could you please enlighten us about your company, Topps Products, its core competencies and growth story by touching upon its important milestones that have made it reach to the current stature?
Topps Products, Inc., is a leading manufacturer of 100% rubber, elastomeric, high performance protective roof coatings, evolved from a long history of roofing products,dating back to the 1970's. Our product line, these days, is well-known for energy efficient roof coatings and cements that exceed all U.S. standards. These standards include the venerable U.S. Environmental Protective Agency's achievements for Energy Star® with our flagship coating Topps Seal®, and the Miami-Dade County (Florida) certification for performance in hot, humid, and tropical climates. Tropical climates are known to be the graveyard of protective coatings. Our products not only exceed commercial standards in all areas, but retain those features longer – creating value and performance for the commercial and industrial markets that we serve. We subject our company to rigorous evaluation. Our product line uniquely undergoes regular 3rd party independent inspections, as part of our program to maintain high product standards and complement our quality assurance program.
What is your global reach?
Topps® services industrial and commercial facilities of all sizes across all continents including the Antarctic and is active in over 35 counties.
Please tell us about the USPs of your offerings in terms of sustainability, environment and user-friendly features, and so forth. Would you please outline the Green initiatives taken up by the company ensuring long-term environment protection?
Topps® systems are designed to maintain and sustain existing installed roofing, which, if left alone, would most likely end up in landfills after less than 20 years. Thus we conserve resources while saving the facility owner's substantial sums through the service life extension of roofs that are well preserved. Metal roofs can uniquely be sustained indefinitely with proper care using our system. All the while, utility savings can be realized immediately upon installation. The savings of this partnership, provide unique synergy of benefit to building owners and society.
In addition, our company is careful to produce no by-products or waste associated with production. The modicum of waste, we do encounter, is associated with the packaging of raw materials received. Those, however, are reused to the greatest extent possible, as recycled packaging used in shipping. Steel containers are recycled, as are cardboard, paper bags, stretch wrap, plastic and wood pallets. A conscious effort involving waste stream is incorporated into our process for re-use. When product is shipped in 55 gallon barrels, removable polypropylene liners are the only thing left for disposal, leaving steel barrels ready for reuse or recycling.
Product use, by design and standards, saves energy by reducing temperatures inside the building. The high and constant reflectivity reduces the urban heat island effect. This reduces the demand for electricity by both the building owner and the area at large.
Product packaging includes recycled steel drums and pails, regrind plastic pails, and recycled pallets - both wood and plastic.
How do you see the market of waterproofing and coating in India and technological development taking place in the commercial & industrial roofs waterproofing systems?
We are pleased to enter dynamic, growing, and forward thinking markets such as India. Economic challenges are where Topps® is attracted. Stronger climatic conditions demand better performing products to maintain business and industry competitiveness. This creates a natural channel for our systems. Sound facility maintenance practices result in greater cost efficiencies and pair perfectly with Topps®. We see India as a very strong, viable, and important market.
But if building owners and facility managers do not demand better products and think about the long-term costs of deferring maintenance, it will make our entry into the market slower.
What are the products initially introduced by Topps Products in the country? Kindly expatiate on the public awareness progammes for promoting your energy-efficient and non-toxic products? A word about your applicators' training program?
Topps® has entered into the market with the full range of its protective coatings, from its flagship Topps Seal® …to TS Commercial™, a coating for the most economical oriented buyer, both with physical properties that will far exceed those of competitive products at similar costs. The company maintains a web-based certification program, available 24/7, for installer training and reference, as well as staffing very familiar with international needs and differences.
Do you think that product innovation and R&D are vital to ensure that the product offer is in line with market needs? A word about your R&D wings.
R&D is very important for organization's survival. Our chemists have always focused on producing a product system that is one-step, requires no mixing, and can be easily applied, yet remains durable. We have specifically chosen to be a water-free coating. Our mission is to protect your roof and the contents within your building from water damage first, and then, if chosen, help you achieve some energy savings. Our customers continuously provide us feedback on other products they have seen in the market. We generally have these products independently tested against ours.
How do you see the future prospects of your business and what are your plans for the country?
We are being pulled into India due to market demand. I believe building owners have become frustrated and the word 'waterproofing' has a negative connotation. Our office continuously receives enquiries from India. As for the future, we do intend on opening an office in India and setting up training centers in Mumbai and Delhi.
NBM&CW July 2015
