Meet Pedro Paredes, Bostik’s Global Training and Technical Support Manager, Wall & Floor
First, thank you for your time, Pedro. Please tell us about yourself. What is your technical background? What brought you to Bostik?
I come from a chemistry background. My first job was working in the R&D space in California for about 14 years. Then I worked as a technical manager for a raw materials supplier, selling into manufacturers. In that position, I was able to work alongside Bostik, as well as Bostik’s competitors, and learn from all of them. I did that for 5 years, covering the Americas. That was very interesting for me.
Then, the opportunity with Bostik came up to help the Construction team launch a training center – The Bostik Academy. I was captivated by this new opportunity and took the challenge to join Bostik remotely and launch BOSTIK ACADEMY with the entire team. We completed this project in just 5 months at the end of 2020.
And your career at Bostik? Please give us a picture of where you’ve worked, what projects you have been involved in, and perhaps two or three of your Bostik career highlights. And what keeps you busy in your roles in Global Training and as a Technical Support Manager?
We launched the Bostik Academy during COVID times. I was in California, and they were over here [Paris]. It was a challenge working in different places, across different time zones. We worked on curating the themes for the Academy, the landing page, and the website, getting the countries involved.
Since I joined Bostik, we have developed many resources: product videos; improved technical data sheets; how-to videos; and webinars. I was one of the handful of founders of the Academy.
Bostik originally did not have much history in the construction area. They were more of an adhesive company, known only for things like Blu-Tack and glues. Now, Bostik has moved into a wider spectrum of the construction world. They are much more involved with key solutions and always seek to provide full-system solutions, which is ideal for customers as they can then count on a single supplier for all their needs.
The Academy was launched in January 2021 after about five months of preparation. What we did was nothing new. Every competitor has its academy. But we learned from our competitors and developed what we think is a state-of-the-art concept.
The biggest Bostik highlight for me, is the community that we’ve created behind the Academy. It’s a strong global technical network now. We share our failures, our successes, our tools. If we have a problem somewhere in the world, there will always be global input to its solution. We have gone from having only regional experts to global experts.
The third highlight for me was the production of videos. We now have 170 videos in English and over 900 product videos adapted to different languages. We created the content in HQ, alongside the countries, then worked with other countries to adapt them to their specific requirements.
When I joined, Bostik had no videos. Yes, we have been very busy!
We develop the videos with support from our local technical teams, rather than making them in one location. The next video will be shot at our Malaysian facility. Doing it this way spreads the excitement amongst the people at Bostik’s various offices.
Tell us about some of the innovations and trends in the area of adhesive technology that Bostik has driven in the past.
The global team works with R&D. We have developed new and improved adhesives. For example, for LVT we produced an adhesive that locks the planks in place during the installation because current products did not set quickly enough to stop the planks from moving around.
We develop new adhesives to tackle specific pain points as we become aware of them. For example, the performance of adhesives in large temperature ranges. Due to buildings being designed with large areas of glazing, flooring is often exposed to extreme variations in temperature due to being in direct sunlight for longer durations.
Can you tell us about any new developments to emerge in adhesives that you are working on?
Our patented R3BOND SYSTEM (Remove, Re-cover, Recycle) is a removable permanent adhesive solution.
With this innovation, replacing a floor won’t necessitate destroying the subfloor or throwing the flooring into a landfill. Thus, there will be savings on CO2 emissions, and renovation projects will be a lot quicker.
R3BOND is for high-traffic floors (e.g. hospitals, commercial buildings, supermarkets) where replacement is usually required after, say, 10 to 15 years. The flooring will be removed by cutting it into strips. The flooring can be pulled out without the adhesive attached to it. The mesh holding the adhesive can be pulled up, leaving the subfloor untouched.
Remove the flooring; Re-cover the floor; Recycle what you have removed. A rolling global launch begins in June 2024. It will be a global hit, focusing on renovations. The unique ability to rapidly apply a new covering over a subfloor that remains in place after the old covering has been removed will provide a sustainable touch, with a look ahead to our future.
Please give us an overview of the Bostik Academy. What is it all about? What is its purpose, and who is it aimed at?
We are using the Academy to get close to the contractors. Contractors prefer video information. They will Google for solutions on their phones, and our product videos will pop up. People still use the TDSs, but the videos help them to know if they’re looking at the appropriate products for their requirements.
None of the videos are longer than two minutes. The videos can be easily adapted for use on social media such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. In Asia-Pacific, they use TikTok, too.
We measure the number of video views to monitor their reach and effectiveness. In Year Zero, there were zero views. In the first year of the Academy, we got 20–22,000 views. And in the second year, we got close to 40,000 views.
How does Bostik use the Academy to highlight aspects such as innovation in adhesives, as well as sustainability and quality?
We launched 18 new Academy facilities from 2021 to 2023.
The Academy is a valuable resource for brand awareness. People will come in to learn about a particular product and leave knowing about 3 or 4 other Bostik products and with a greater appreciation that Bostik can be a credible partner in the construction space.
Quality is a crucial aspect of the Bostik brand, and the Academy aims to communicate our commitment to quality in all that we do. Sustainability applies also to our training centres.
Moving away from one-time use boards. Plywood with polyethylene sheets allows us to reuse the plywood boards once the sample work has been ripped off. Biodegradable gloves.
Are there any new developments that users of the Academy can expect to see there in the near future?
The Academy has online and offline resources. As an example of an offline resource, If contractors can’t come to our site, we will go to them. For example, we have Bostik Smart Vans that we drive to construction sites so that our technical staff can provide training on-site. There are countries where this sort of training makes better sense logistically for our customers. Two such vans were launched in South Africa in February 2024.
The 3D interactive house is one of our online Academy resources. It currently showcases waterproofing, repair mortars, primers, sheet membranes… More products will be added over time. This tool is aimed mainly at professional applicators, but it is useful also for specifiers and even DIYers.
Thank you so much, Pedro, for giving us an insight into what’s happening in your part of the Bostik world and for explaining the value of the Bostik Academy. We wish you all the best!