Scott Fink, close to the mainstream lead battery industry for two decades, talks to Shona Sibary, about the threats, challenges and opportunities the lead battery industry faces.
Let’s get the bad news out of the way first. But not to forget that there are bright points elsewhere.
The Covid pandemic disruptions are showing little sign of improvement, according to Scott Fink, president of Sorfin Yoshimura, which supplies and delivers equipment and expertise across the world.
“Supply chain difficulties aren’t really alleviating,” he says. “There are shipping lines that are taking advantage of the abnormalities and using them to really jack up pricing.
“The inefficiencies of global trade that we’ve seen since Covid are going to continue in some form because the pandemic was a catalyst that unfortunately moved the world from a globalized place and reverted it back to being regional.
And the result of that is more and more people are trying to have relationships that are closer in proximity from a geographic perspective to alleviate the supply chain risks.”
He says this has also affected firms hiring staff.“It’s hard to explain what the real drivers are, but in many of the geographies around the world, availability of labor is an extreme hardship and we’re not seeing that alleviated here in the US.
“In Europe and several other economies around the world, Japan as well, having enough labor to do what it is that we need to grow and thrive has been an obstacle and I think it will continue to be.
“And the answer is, we’re seeing many more folks move towards automation because they just they don’t have reliable ways to staff and that’s a big challenge.”
When asked if the major battery leaders are working at full volume at the moment and if there is a sense of panic or, perhaps, complacency, Scott believes that firms are taking a strategic view.
“The main lead battery companies are trying to become more agnostic to chemistry and view themselves as energy storage device makers,” he says.
“They’re starting to utilize some of their resources to develop skills to manufacture other chemistries. So then they can, depending on their customer base — if their customer wants a lithium, lead, zinc solution or something else — they’re able to pull that out of their toolbox and just give it to the customer as needed.
And that is a very appropriate strategic approach and what a lot of the large lead acid battery factories and manufacturers have been doing strategically relative to their lead capacity. Most firms are operating close to capacity depending on geography. You have certain macroeconomic factors and certain geographies that might keep things a little bit less robust, but that’s not really demand driven.”
Scott happily admits to not being ‘a battery guy’. He isn’t an engineer and his background — in business development — saw him working in different industries before joining his father at the family firm. But he’s always known he wanted to be in international business. “I love the idea of understanding cultures, people and the different perspectives of what’s going on around the world,” he says.
This view might go some way in explaining his opinions on the challenge that China presents to the lead battery industry — which some could see as controversial. But Scott insists that trying to isolate China is not beneficial to anyone.
“We’re seeing a lot of folks move away from reliance on Chinese manufacturing, but I think the world would do itself a big favor by trying to work out how to have them as a partner of goods and services. They are a very big player today and will be in the future.
“On the lithium side of things, they’re obviously well ahead of the rest of the world. But with regards to lead, they also have some really nice, lower cost solutions to certain parts of the process that are desirable.
“And if you’re trying to utilize all these things for everybody’s goals and targets and getting an optimized solution, you have to try and look into your toolbox and pull out whatever it is you need to be successful. And China has a lot of available tools. It would be a shame not to use them.”
Closer to his US home he sees legislation as being a potential showstopper for the industry but feels there is still ‘a lot of runway left,’ for lead batteries.
“It’s really about trying to ensure that the legislation continues to hold space and accommodate lead battery solutions for the long term,’ he says. ‘We are obviously big proponents for the viability of the of the chemistry, and we believe it’s by far the most sustainable option for storing energy as it exists today. But, you know, the legislators themselves have to agree.”
On a more positive note, Scott sees it as an exciting time for the industry.
“I think a decade ago folks were looking at lithium as a really big potential threat and challenge to the lead battery space. I don’t think that exists today in the same way. People understand the world is electrifying. Our reliance on fossil fuels will be less and less over the course of the next decades. The timing of it isn’t clear, but the thought is clear.
As we move to using renewables storing energy becomes absolutely crucial. Demand is definitely going to outpace supply for decades which means that lithium won’t be a threat to lead. I see all energy storage chemistries winning in the long-term.
“We’re not going to be able to catch up with the global demand — whether it be in automotive power, or stationary backup for data centers that are now going to be enhanced by AI. All of these things are going to continue to drive the critical need for storage devices of all sorts.
“So I don’t see lithium as a threat. I see it as something that maybe decades down the road we could start to really optimize and say: ‘Oh, well, this chemistry is really perfect for this application’. But for the moment, it’s going to just be whoever has capacity to fill the need is going to receive some business.”
Scott: the personal side
Scott is married with twin 16-year old girls who, he admits, keep him busy outside work. But despite having worked in different industries before joining his father’s company he says he would rather be together with the family, for the family, than anything else and he describes his journey to becoming president of the firm as a “magnetic pull”.
He says: “We run this very much as a family business with less than 100 people globally. We just really tried to keep things as a little tight-knit global family.
“My father started the business in the ‘70s with another gentleman called Tom Yoshimura, and now the second generation, myself and Taco, Tom’s son, are running it as co-headquarters in New York and Japan. Taco and I are like brothers from other mothers!
“Our fathers are not involved in the business anymore, they’re retired. But they’re alive and obviously available for insights and consulting works.” He pauses. “That’s its own blessing and curse, right?”
