Dallas—Mohawk plans to build a luxury vinyl tile plant in the U.S. after it completes a plant in Europe. CEO Jeffrey Lorberbaum announced the project at Mohawk’s annual Solutions meeting, which hosted 500 retail accounts and 1,200 customers.
No timeline or location for the project was announced. In other news from the meeting, Lorberbaum discussed Mohawk’s new web “cloud” tools to drive more customers into its aligned dealers’ stores.
Lorberbaum also told dealers Mohawk has invested $2.2 billion in 2013 in new equipment and acquisitions. Its recent acquisitions of Marazzi and Pergo give Mohawk a 40% share in both ceramic tile and laminate flooring. With the acquisitions, the U.S. represents 65%-70% percent of Mohawk’s total business. Lorberbaum said he anticipates that new home starts will rise 25% next year to over 1.1 million units and he thinks growth in the flooring industry will outpace the overall economy by at least 2%-3%.