When Kari Yuers took on the CEO role at Kryton International, she saw an opportunity for a risky, strategic pivot.
As a family-owned manufacturer of innovative products for concrete waterproofing and durability, Kryton had a wide range of technical products. But in 2005, Yuers overhauled its entire business, eliminating most of their product line to focus on just 12 products. And it paid off.
The Vancouver-based company’s growth has only picked up speed. Yuers spoke with Chief Executive to share Kryton’s journey, her experience as CEO and what’s next for the business.
In 2005, you and your team made the decision to eliminate most of Kryton’s 150 products and keep only 12 so you could focus on the core business of concrete waterproofing. Tell us why and how that decision paved the way for future growth.
Kryton was started by my father, Ron, in 1973. His first invention was our Krystol technology which waterproofed concrete by way of growing billions of hairlike crystals that would grow throughout the concrete. Krystol was used to waterproof new and old concrete.
In the following decades, Kryton manufactured and distributed Krystol in North America and globally. At the same time, we developed many other products and systems for the protection and longevity of building surfaces and concrete. We made specialized epoxies, urethanes, roof membranes, sealers, cleaners, grouts and coatings and other niche materials.
As we grew in size, we hired more staff to support our customers with the awareness and use of our products. Meanwhile, our Krystol Internal Membrane or KIM waterproofing admixture was growing in sales quite exponentially. KIM was able to help builders to waterproof the concrete without the time, cost and problems of using membranes and coatings as an additional step in the construction process.
Although our epoxies and other products were growing at that time, we felt that trying to market and sell such a wide range of technical products diluted our marketing and technical sales efforts. We thought that if we could focus on a much smaller group of products that had real uniqueness and competitive advantage, we could grow even faster and focus our resources on the clear value we bring our customers.
We planned for a year-long transition so that we could help our customers who loved our coatings and problem-solving products to find alternative suppliers. We planned for a dip in our revenues due to the discontinuation of these products. However, we barely felt a speedbump as we could now focus all of our time, people, and resources on the attributes of the Krystol technology and specifically our KIM admixture.
It was a bold move that my father was not keen on, but, he said, “You are the CEO so it’s your call.” Fortunately, it worked out and we continued to grow at an even faster rate and were recognized with the Most Innovative Product Award, creating a new category of waterproofing globally. We manufacture and distribute to six continents with offices and factories in Vancouver, Calgary, India, USA, Europe, the Middle East, Mexico and Singapore.
You’re highly sought out as a speaker because of your expertise in construction-industry risk management and global strategy. Tell us about that.
I think sometimes people are intrigued with a second-generation family business that exports globally. My brother, Kevin, Kryton International’s vice president of product development, and I think it’s normal because we grew up with the business and meeting international customers that came to visit.
Keep in mind that we went out and found distribution partners in dozens of countries worldwide at a time before the internet. We built factories in India and China in the 1990s and had to learn as we went along. Not everything works out perfectly, but I think those make the best stories to share.
Perhaps it’s also that I am a woman CEO in a male-dominated industry. My experience in getting new technology adopted in a very conservative engineering world was not necessarily a cakewalk. I think people like that I am willing to share the good stuff but also share my mistakes and challenges.
I like hearing from people that something I said really resonated with them or that they took a leap not letting their fear get in the way. I wouldn’t be doing what I am doing if it wasn’t for other speakers and mentors who shared their stories with me and encouraged me to leap and be bold during my journey.
What’s next for Kryton?
We love that we can change the way people build so that it costs less and lasts longer. So just like introducing our Krystol Internal Membrane to the world to integrally waterproof concrete, we bought a company that invented a new way to make concrete abrasion and erosion-resistant. The product is called Hard-Cem and although it has been in use for over two decades and has over 80 million square feet in service, it is relatively unknown.
Owners, developers and contractors that use Hard-Cem love that they can add it right to the concrete and pour it in place enjoying faster construction, a lower carbon footprint and lower maintenance and repair costs including service downtime. Our mission is to create awareness that this innovative award-winning technology is something to consider for building our cities’ concrete infrastructure or anywhere abrasive wear is a concern.
